NEW ON THE BIG SCREEN / JACKIE
TRUE-LIFE STORY. With NATALIE PORTMAN, CASPAR PHILLIPSON and PETER SARSGARD. Director: PABLO LARRAÍN. 13D. Opens 2 March. This film looks at the trauma faced by Jackie Kennedy (Portman) after the assassination of husband President John F Kennedy (Phillipson) in 1963.
Anchored by a documentary featuring White House staff the movie uses dramatised flashbacks to depict Jackie’s courage.
True-life dramas tend to involve and satisfy viewers more than dramatised stories “based on real events”. The recent Hidden Figures perhaps glamorised the truth, but that cruel week in Jackie Kennedy’s life following John F’s death has never been portrayed in such a gripping, realistic way. Most movies about this traumatic event focus on how the American people and politicians were affected, but this is Jackie’s story.
It shows how she guided her children through those difficult times, communicated with the demanding new president, Lyndon B Johnson, and how politicians tried to influence and manipulate her – including instructing her not to walk alongside her husband’s coffin at his funeral procession. Yet she continued to honour him and the nation in her own way. The flashbacks are supported by the doccie made on Jackie’s request to show the inner workings of the White House.
It draws a tragic parallel to the collapse of Camelot, King Arthur’s idealised kingdom with which the Kennedy era was often compared.
Natalie Portman delivers an unaffected, brilliant tour de force that gives us a glimpse into the deep sorrow and fear of a president’s wife, the way she controlled her husband’s memorial service, and how she tried to stay strong for the sake of millions of TV viewers. Gripping, insightful and powerful viewing. – LEON VAN NIEROP