5 Out of 5 Stars
On November 22nd 1963, a week after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Jacqueline Kennedy spoke with journalist Theodore H. White in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. The resulting interview, which ran in Life Magazine was later dubbed the “Camelot interview” since it contained the first reference to the Kennedy Administration as Camelot. Jackie, which originated as an HBO miniseries and screened last week at the Philadelphia Film Festival is based on this piece and the subsequent notes which chronicle the days following the Kennedy assassination.

Unlike what some might think, Jackie is less your standard prestige biopic and instead is more of a snapshot of the four days following the Kennedy assassination. Using the Life interview as a framing device the story picks up immediately after the grassy knoll with moments interspersed from a TV tour of the White House to illustrate happier times. The film portrays a woman gripped by loss, but focused on crafting the legacy of her departed husband and how he will be remembered by the nation. While we know how he was remembered, it’s fascinating to see how it came to be and how much of that originated from this tumultuous time period.


Jackie as a film is very timely, given she was one of the most influential first ladies to grace the White House. The film does an excellent job at being very present in the moment while still giving context to the events unfolding throughout the film. While it took a few moments for me to get used to the accent Natalie Portman uses in the film, she quickly disappears into the role that is the kind of career defining performance you sometimes see only once in a lifetime of an actor. There’s a wounded determination in Jackie that Portman creates by giving herself completely to the character in a performance we will be hearing a lot about come Oscar season.

Assisted by amazing performances by Peter Sarsgaard, Greta Gerwig and Billy Crudup, the film itself is flawlessly paced thanks to its narrative structure that slowly pulls back the curtain on the events that brought Jackie to the point when we first meet her in the film. Pablo Larraín directing from a script by Noah Oppenheim manages to dig deep into their subject as we see America begin to tear itself apart as Jackie tells her story of the man and the myth of Camelot that will start the healing. I also have to applaud given the film’s modest budget how they were able to re-create history with a mix of production magic and archival footage.


While bio-pics featuring “great men” are a dime a dozen, we know we have at least one this year that shows how one woman was able to single-handedly bend history to her own will. Jackie is an unflinching portrait of one woman carrying the weight of an entire country through one of the darkest moments in our history, while trying not to lose her way.

Jackie was a Centerpiece Selection at the Philadelphia Film Festival and will open in theaters December 2nd.