Do you ever watch a movie wrong? Sometimes I think I do. Jackie fell curiously flat for me. There were bright spots and lovely moments but overall I couldn't quite figure out what I was watching. I'm not really sure why and I don't feel confident that this movie was off base in any way. I think I just did it wrong.
First off, I was surprised by the scope of this story. For some reason, I expected this movie to be more about Jackie's life and it had an extremely narrow focus. This film centers around an interview that Jackie gave that covered the events of the assassination, her transition out of The White House and the planning for JFK's funeral.
I just read that this film is an expressionist biopic. I can see that. If I list things I liked from the film it looks like this: Jackie's rapturous face when listening to music, her monotone, matter of fact assessment of her husband's death, her urgent need to begin controlling her husband's legacy, her sassiness to the reporter, her bravery. I don't know how to put these things together into a cohesive experience.
Natalie Portman faced a tough task and handled it beautifully. The music felt like it was too insistent and the directorial choices left me constantly confused. So the film either needed to push the expressionism farther or it needed some opening sequence that set me up for what I was getting into? Or not. I could have just watched it wrong. It happens all the time.
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