JACKIE
Theatrical release: February 1, 2017
Duration: 1h40
Director: Pablo Larraín
Main actors: Natalie Portman, Peter Sarsgaard, Greta Gerwig
Synopsis: November 22, 1963: John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States, has just been assassinated in Dallas. Faced with the violence of his mourning, his widow, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, First Lady admired for her elegance and her culture, tries to overcome the trauma, determined to highlight the political legacy of the president and to celebrate the man that he was.
There are many films and documentaries that talk about the most famous couple living in the White House, I of course want to talk about the Kennedys. We all remember Oliver Stone's excellent JFK, a film/documentary lasting almost 3 hours which put us in the shoes of the New Orleans prosecutor, Jim Garrison (played with panache by Kevin Costner), investigating the death tragedy of the aforementioned president.
Jackie could have been the sequel to JFK , as it looks in some ways like a documentary but isn't one.
And the first important point to support this thesis is the image format used to shoot the film, reminiscent of the super 8 film format used in the 1960s. This format is quite small compared to the formats used more recently (2.35 or the 70 mm format used in the latest Tarantino, The Bastard 8).
Second point, the use of video filters and the use of black and white used in certain scenes, making us believe in TV archives.
Third point, certain scenes where we see Lee Harvey Oswald (the same one having denied having shot the president) on TV being shot down by a sniper. These scenes broadcast on TV are the true archives of American TV.
With all of this, the film could have gotten away with it if it had been directed, by someone like Oliver Stone. Unfortunately the whole thing is a little boring, bogging the audience down in an hour and forty minutes of melodrama, to the point that one wonders when the torture will end.
There isn't really any energy in this film, and even if the story doesn't really lend itself to it, certain moments would have gained in perspective, in relief.
To console ourselves, we can admire the casting that closely resembles the presidential couple, I am thinking in particular of the actor who plays JFK.
