Jackie (2016) - Pablo Larraín

Pablo Larrain's Jackie is not so much a biopic, but a tone poem of pain, loss, grief, and legacy, delivering a emotionally exhausting look at the first lady in the days directly following the death of her husband, the president of the free world.  Searing and intimate, Pablo Larrain's film attempts to examine the psychological effect which loss has on the  individual, detailing the emotional anguish of a woman whose life is turned upside down, with her own personal loss, one that is greater and more deeply felt, being constantly at odds with the loss felt by a nation.  Juxtaposing the decadence of the presidency, the grandoise spaces of the white house, with the dreary, cold exteriors of D.C. in wintertime, Pablo Larrain's film visually evokes the internal conflict of Jackie, a woman who is growing increasingly wary of her husband's legacy, second-guessing her own decisions and how they themselves will help shape how her husband is remembered.  The psychological effect of such loss is explored through Jackie's struggles, with Larrain's film profoundly capturing the inherent cruelty which time has on rememberance, as Jackie begins to grow wary of the forces around her, intent on making sure the man she loved is remembered for what he was, a good man who did what he believed was right.  While the film's brooding emotions can become quite labarous, I'd argue that is almost the point of Jackie, with the film pulling very little punches when it comes to capturing the troubled psychology of trauma.  The guilt, second-guessing, and protective nature of Jackie combine to create a moody atmosphere, with Larrain's film bordering on psychological horror film at times, detailing a woman who constantly struggles internally, questioning herself at nearly every turn.  The weight of a nation on her shoulders, Jackie's own internal grief is essentially co-opted by the nation and everyone around her, with perhaps the film's greatest achievement being how it contrasts this national tragedy, with the deeply personal pain which Jackie herself feels.  Portman's ability to balance the emotions of such a character is what makes her performance so compelling, crafting a portrait of a woman whose fragility and pain is constantly in conflict with her desire to defend her husband's legacy, protective against the  larger forces around her who simply need to move forward.  It isn't that these forces are toxic or evil in nature, but from the perspective of Jackie, who has first and foremost lost her husband and father of her two kids, she sees them as lacking personal empathy towards the man and his life, placing Jackie in a place of utter emotional solitude, being one of the only people who viewed him as a person first, president second.  Taking one of the most important and tragic moments in American history, the Assassination of JFK, Pablo Larrain has crafted a deeply intimate study of loss, grief, and legacy, a film which questions very nature of rememberance, examining the wide array of emotions experienced by a woman whose personal loss is mimicked by that of an entire nation.

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