At some moment in this film Jackie, recalling the past, admits her inability to distinguish between what was real and what was performance. That's the core of this very competent piece of filmmaking.
I sensed i might find something interesting for me in this film, so i came to it. What drove me away was the theme. Not being american, and being too young anyway for the Kennedy frenzy, i really have nothing to do with the mythology that surrounds it, one of those golden chapters in the epic book of America's self-idolization. Even less, i couldn't care less about the character of mrs.Kennedy. I know she created a certain role that to this day is followed by other public figures, not only american first ladies nor first ladies over all. But the public figure that i (and most people) am allowed to hear and see is simply not interesting: a kind of a construction, the creation of an interesting devoted wife, culture friendly backstage big woman. Could be an interesting character, but Jackie (the real one) was simply a bad actress.
Of course the circumstances of Kennedy's assassination are too cinematically, too rooted on a modern television moved society to be ignored, and Not recreated. So we have a couple who existed first For and On television, and we have a woman whose public life is the representation (the acting) of a life. That's dramatic, and that's what i think drove Larrain and Portman into this.
This director really knows what he's doing, this was his first film i saw, but i will look for more. The tension and pure cinematic pace is there. The sense of space as a scenery for the (acted) life of Jackie. The seamless integration of bits of public life that he recreates with bits of public life that we have filmed (the white house tour, the dallas bits), and the contrast to the unseen private life of Jackie. All that framed through an interview that a reporter makes, some time after the events.
Actually the framing of the Jackie story within her existance in the White House is crucial here.. Her "character" didn't exist before and is empty after her existance as a first lady. She is a character, a creation, a queen of masks.
Portman is in for the adventure. I think she does well. She understands what is needed, and indeed it wasn't easy. She is an actress putting on a mask and heavy makeup to represent a character who was, herself, a character, an invented person, created to be in front of the camera.
I wish to see this cinematic stance and craftsmanship applied to something that really matters.
I sensed i might find something interesting for me in this film, so i came to it. What drove me away was the theme. Not being american, and being too young anyway for the Kennedy frenzy, i really have nothing to do with the mythology that surrounds it, one of those golden chapters in the epic book of America's self-idolization. Even less, i couldn't care less about the character of mrs.Kennedy. I know she created a certain role that to this day is followed by other public figures, not only american first ladies nor first ladies over all. But the public figure that i (and most people) am allowed to hear and see is simply not interesting: a kind of a construction, the creation of an interesting devoted wife, culture friendly backstage big woman. Could be an interesting character, but Jackie (the real one) was simply a bad actress.
Of course the circumstances of Kennedy's assassination are too cinematically, too rooted on a modern television moved society to be ignored, and Not recreated. So we have a couple who existed first For and On television, and we have a woman whose public life is the representation (the acting) of a life. That's dramatic, and that's what i think drove Larrain and Portman into this.
This director really knows what he's doing, this was his first film i saw, but i will look for more. The tension and pure cinematic pace is there. The sense of space as a scenery for the (acted) life of Jackie. The seamless integration of bits of public life that he recreates with bits of public life that we have filmed (the white house tour, the dallas bits), and the contrast to the unseen private life of Jackie. All that framed through an interview that a reporter makes, some time after the events.
Actually the framing of the Jackie story within her existance in the White House is crucial here.. Her "character" didn't exist before and is empty after her existance as a first lady. She is a character, a creation, a queen of masks.
Portman is in for the adventure. I think she does well. She understands what is needed, and indeed it wasn't easy. She is an actress putting on a mask and heavy makeup to represent a character who was, herself, a character, an invented person, created to be in front of the camera.
I wish to see this cinematic stance and craftsmanship applied to something that really matters.