Jackie

We've spoken glowingly in almost all of our reviews thus far in 2017 about the awards-worthy performances and career-best turns by this year’s actors and we’re treated to another virtuoso casting in Jackie.

Taking a different angle on the well-trodden story of John F. Kennedy’s assassination, Jackie presents itself as a semi-biopic (it only spans a week in the life) of the former President’s wife in the days after, and before, the shooting and how she came to terms with this devastating loss, whilst also carrying the burden of upholding his short-term legacy in the wake of public terror and a rushed new presidency.

Natalie Portman is on marvellous form here; graceful and elegant as the former First Lady but presenting just a hint of steel and spark not always in public view. The real Jacqueline was sharper than people gave her credit and Portman has a glint in the eye in these scenes that reveal this side of her personality (forcing through the, highly dangerous in the circumstances, funeral procession for example.)

In Director Pablo Larrain’s long shots of Jackie in the White House she looks so small but her force of character belies her stature as she looms large over the entire picture. Larrain shows fantastic technique by presenting much of the film in voyeuristic close up, not only echoing the public’s growing obsession with having her in the public eye (she was arguably one of the first celebrity First Ladies) but allowing Portman’s developing expression and radiance to dictate proceedings. She can flit between a forced smile and an outpouring of grief with ease and other characters are brought in and interacted with often as sidemen in these framings. It offers a biased view, sure, but does its job brilliantly.

The story, by choosing this angle, does feel slight and proceedings can wander at times but it is sumptuously told using a framing narrative of Jackie conducting an interview after the assassination whilst also intermittently flashing back to events across this traumatic week including, close to the end of the piece, the murder itself shown briefly, but devastatingly, with Larrain’s camera again showing Jackie up close before her husband’s body falls into her lap (can I, at this point, mention what a spitting image Caspar Phillipson is of the real JFK!)

Larrain chooses to take things further with Jackie removing the famous blood-soaked pink suit upon returning to the famous house, arguably the emotional centrepiece of the film; the aftermath to a famous image, the truth behind a myth which works as a metaphor not only for the film, but also of Jackie's actions throughout Kennedy's presidency.

A slight story very well told and a must for fans of biopics or historical film in general but, perhaps, not for everybody. Award nominations beckon for Portman.

4 stars ****