Jackie

JACKIE (15)

D: Pablo Larrain

Fox Searchlight/Wild Bunch/Why Not/Protozoa (Darren Aronofsky, Juan de Dios Larrain, Mickey Liddell, Scott Franklin & Ari Handel)

US/Chile/France 2016

99 mins

Biopic

W: Noah Oppenheimer

DP: Stéphane Fontaine

Ed: Sebastian Sepulveda

Mus: Mica Levi

PD: Jean Rebasse

Cos: Madeline Fontaine

Natalie Portman (Jacqueline Kennedy), Peter Sarsgaard (Robert Kennedy), Greta Gerwig (Nancy Tuckerman), Caspar Phillipson (John F. Kennedy), John Carroll Lynch (Lyndon B. Johnson), John Hurt (The Priest), Billy Crudup (The Journalist)

Chilean director Pablo Larrain's biopic features a better performance than it does a story, though there aren't enough superlatives to describe how magnetic Natalie Portman's is as former First Lady Jacqueline Onassis Kennedy.

The plot adopts a non-linear route as an unnamed journalist probes Jackie with questions on how she remained dignified and graceful following the assassination of her husband, John F. Kennedy. 

Wisely steering clear of conspiracy theories and politics, the film focuses solely on a widow's grief and though Jackie may have lived at a very famous address, she was very much a human being.

Kudos also have to go to the production designers who recreate 1960's Washington perfectly, as well as the costume designers who completely recreate Jackie Kennedy's wardrobe.

The plot isn't particularly engaging, especially in a slow-building first two acts, but the lead performance of Natalie Portman is nothing short of tour de force, capturing the accent and mannerisms to absolute perfection.

7/10