Jackie (2016) * *

Directed by:  Pablo Lorrain

Starring:  Natalie Portman, Peter Sarsgaard, Gerta Gerwig, Billy Crudup, John Hurt, Max Casella

There is a compelling movie within Jackie waiting to break out, but it never does.    It is too cold, too stoic, too contemplative, and ultimately too talky.    Concentrating its story to within the first few days following John F. Kennedy's assassination, Jackie deals with the former first lady's grief, confusion and whether there should be a funeral march through Washington.   I was reminded of the issues facing Queen Elizabeth II in the far superior The Queen (2006).   

Jackie has the right look and feel, but I couldn't get past Natalie Portman's performance.    On a technical level, Portman nails Jackie Kennedy's look and speech, but I knew it was a performance.    I didn't feel I knew her on anything but a superficial level.    In a way, watching Jackie is like watching Jackie Kennedy in newsreel footage and on TV.    We see her, but we only gain a rough understanding of her through our own perceptions not based on any personal knowledge.    The movie, like the performance, keeps us outside. 

We pick up Jackie shortly after Kennedy's assassination.    Jackie's pink ensemble is covered in blood, while she hurriedly washes her face of the blood and debris from the shooting.    She refuses to change her outfit, noting the hostile Dallas population and saying, "Let them see what they've done,"    She is surely in shock and processing what just happened while standing by and watching Lyndon Johnson sworn in as the 36th President aboard Air Force One.     These are potentially powerful moments which never seem to hit home.   

The business of the Cold War and the government goes on, almost coldly and relentlessly, while the first lady tries to figure out a way to tell her children of their father's death.     When daughter Caroline continues to prod after being told in the sugarcoated way, Jackie tells her the truth and somehow this scene feels muted and robbed of its power.    It is as if the movie is holding things in reserve.   

The movie is told mostly in flashback as Jackie tells her story to a magazine reporter (Crudup) and engages in a tug-of-war with him over what should or should not be included in the piece.     Jackie is looking to protect her dignity, I suppose, and present a more sanitized version of events, while the reporter is looking to sell magazines and beef up the story with good quotes.    I'm not sure this is the proper way to tell this story.    I believe a story told as it happened without the benefit of hindsight would have served the film better.    I would have preferred to see a messier story, filled with conflicting emotions and strong external battles with others like Bobby Kennedy, who as played by Peter Sarsgaard is accompanying Jackie through her grief as more of a duty than a pleasure.     We gain hints on the superficiality of their relationship, which sets up for a fascinating subplot the movie doesn't delve into.

The movie hurries to touch bases with its various subplots, including footage of the first lady's televised tour of the White House, flashbacks to happier times with John, discussions about the meaning of it all with a priest (Hurt), and songs from the musical Camelot playing on the soundtrack.    All of it adds up to a missed opportunity.    The movie knows how it should look, and certainly the film captures the look of the era correctly, but it doesn't know how it should feel about its subject.