Jackie

I'm surprised to see so many bad reviews of this film on IMDb. I would be interested to know how many of them came from people who are too young to remember the Kennedy assassination or much about Mrs. Kennedy.

Okay, several people were angry that John-John in the movie didn't salute the casket.

One review referred to the story as "horrible and morbid." Guess what - it is.

One review said Jackie was a "housewife." I won't dignify that with a response.

Natalie Portman was criticized for doing a "cringe-worthy" imitation. Her voice and accent were found hilarious.

And it was called "boring" over and over again.

I understand that to each his own, and I respect that. I'm just surprised.

I first of all did not find this film at all boring. I found it emotional, compelling, and interesting - and despite what someone said here, I did find out things I never knew.

I thought Natalie Portman did a brilliant job and, while the role didn't offer as much as Viola Davis' did in Fences, I would not have been upset to see her win another Oscar. There was nothing wrong with her accent, that's how Mrs. Kennedy talked. If you don't believe me, go to youtube and listen to the tapes.

The film focused on Jackie after the assassination, but it was shown, as were earlier times, such as her televised tour of the White House. I thought the film mixed with the actual footage was excellent.

The clothes were perfection. Like others, I did not care for the music and what I really did not care for was the music at the end.

The rest of the cast did an admirable job - John Hurt, Greta Gerwig, and Billy Crudup. I was disappointed in Peter Sarsgaard, but I think he was trying to convey Bobby's shock and grief. He's a good actor normally but not very successful here.

I found this a poignant film and a stunning portrait of Jackie Kennedy and what she suffered as a result of the assassination.

I'm not really familiar with Pablo Larraín's work. I hadn't seen any of his other films prior to watching Jackie. And yet I was still very excited for it because it sounded like something that was absolutely my cup of tea. Hearing reports that Academy members weren't liking it very much, and then hearing exactly why (because it wasn't your usual biopic and seemed to be more "out there" than most biopics) just got me more excited. It didn't disappoint at all. It was basically everything I wanted it to be. One of the finest, truest character studies of the year, completely driven by explorations into Jackie Kennedy's psyche. That sounds kind of pretentious, but I do think this film more than any other of the year deserves to be described that way. I would absolutely not be surprised if the Academy doesn't go for this at all, but I do wish it was popping up in more critic awards than it has been. More than any other film of the year it rests completely on its lead actress. Portman is just completely engaging and mesmerizing, and she adds to the film's poetry-like storytelling. Having seen both Portman and Emma Stone, I would be surprised if they gave the Oscar to Stone simply because Portman is basically her entire film and she's also completely immersed into the character in a way that Stone doesn't need to be. The latter's role may just be too light. Regardless, it's a performance to be talked about and remembered.

I appreciate when I leave a film feeling as though there's still so much left to unpack and to uncover about it, meaning that I wasn't able to completely discover all of its aims and goals in one viewing. To me that's the sign of a very well thought out film, a film that will leave a lingering impact. That's exactly how I came out of this. I'm sure not everyone here will take to it, but count me as one of its fans.

Pablo Larraín's "Jackie" covers the week following the JFK assassination in 1963 and is based on an unpublished interview of Jacqueline Kennedy (Natalie Portman) by Life Magazine. Finally released upon her death, the notes were blended with several other interviews to create this screenplay by Noah Oppenheim. For anyone interested in understanding the widespread panic and "what-now" of the time, you'll appreciate this film.

The scene ideas are painfully simple, though highly effective. From sharing the impossible news with her kids, to deciding when/how to move out, to asking million-dollar questions of the priest ("What kind of God takes a father away from his two little children?"), the movie includes moments we all know must have happened to Jackie but were buried under the public hysteria around the event itself. As intoned by the funeral planner, "The world's gone mad."

Jackie makes small talk in the hearse with Bobby Kennedy while her dead husband (his dead brother... America's dead president) lies in the hulking casket between them, causing our focus to oscillate between the weight of what we hear and what we see. Later, as she staggers through the White House at the end of the longest day of her life - still donning her blood-soaked pink dress that would soon find a permanent home in infamy - Jackie personifies crippling isolation in body and in mind. The non sequiturs that tumble out during these dreadful sequences ("How will we afford to put the kids through school now? Maybe we can sell some of the furniture?") are as heartfelt as they are ludicrous. No matter where she is or what she's doing, Jackie reacts like any commoner would. She just happens to be doing so as the First Lady.

The film works because Portman is the most believable Jackie O ever put on screen. From the outset, she is in total control of her confusion, fear, helplessness, exasperation, guilt, long-held duties as a mother, brand-new duties as a *father, alongside her esoteric responsibilities to the nation. Portman puts on an acting clinic by conveying her predicament through nuance. We learn as much about Jackie's state of mind from what she doesn't say as from what she does, because no matter how carefully she speaks or how badly she wishes to be understood, it becomes clear that no words could ever meet the moment.

Characters often stare pleadingly into the camera's eyebrow, as if searching for an escape hatch from the audience. The score is populated by discordant whole notes that produce similar unease. Even the photography is at once stunning and unsettling, given the underlying darkness that has eclipsed the light of society. In the end, we feel the world on edge, suspended in time, waiting for normal life to resume. This film concerns the looking back required before it is possible for Jackie Kennedy (or for any of us) to make sense of the loss and start again. The same looking back required "to let them see what they've done."

As the film is titled 'Jackie' you expect to learn more about her through the film, it should have been called 'JFK's widow one week following his assassination'. This is a woman who was powerful and had a background, a life, buried two babies. All we get from this film is a portrayal of a grieving, often selfish and self absorbed woman who smokes and drinks too much. Who wouldn't fall to that after something as traumatic? The film is flat and bland, it gives us no indication of the type of woman she was, her role in white house (aside from her expensive renovations and insistence on a huge funeral for her husband) We see nothing of her personal achievements. Natalie Portman and the excellent cast's acting skills are the only interesting thing to watch. Disappointing and does 'Jackie O' no justice at all.

Being a history and film buff I had to see "Jackie" as it's a historical film of the memories and times of the life and assassination of President John Kennedy, as told thru flashback and grief trauma memories from the elegant and class act first lady Jackie Kennedy(in a beautiful performance from the wonderful Natalie Portman). Starting like an interview style of a film told by flashback flashback the movie takes place after the death of "JFK", as Jackie is interviewed about the experience and the memories of the death and the impact of the administration, all of this brings out sorrow and emotions from Jackie(as Natalie showed the grief and anger on screen so well)it's just like you as the viewer feel the pain of the first lady. Overall good film that's a showcase of memories showing how tragedy and loss can affect a strong lady along with a nation, this picture is a watch for any history or film buff.