Natalie Portman’s performance as Jaqueline Bouvier Kennedy is masterful. If you thought there was nothing else that could be said about that fateful day when JFK was shot and killed in Dallas then you were wrong. "Jackie" has plenty to say about the events that occurred and the fact that it is told in such an artfully seducing way makes it all the more relevant.
Director Pablo Larraín (Neruda) dissects the incident through Jackie’s own eyes, as played by a hypnotic Natalie Portman in a career best performance that will be talked about for years to come. The film takes place, for the most part, in the hours following JFK’s death as the First Lady tries to comprehend the magnitude of the event.
Through the use of finely crafted flashbacks, Larrain strips the cinematic conventions that come with bio-pics and gets to the core of Jackie’s psyche both before and after the tragedy. Through Sebastián Sepúlveda brilliant editing and Noah Oppenheim's maze-like screenplay, Larrain finds the core Jackie's tortured soul.
Portman’s performance is a high-wire act of intrigue. She never fully reveals the exact reasons for some of Jackie’s behavior and though we can never truly know if there was manipulation involved with her grief, this is hinted at. In a way Larrain and Portman are playing with the audience with an immaculate mix of enigma, grief and cynicism. It’s an artfully crafted thing, this “Jackie.