Like all the best biopics, it doesn’t attempt to cram a complete life story into two hours. Instead, it zooms in on one moment in that life and uses it to explore the character in depth.
It’s impressionistic, without losing sight of dialogue and storytelling. Natalie Portman gives the performance of a lifetime as Jacqueline Kennedy.
It’s sad and disturbing, perfectly capturing her mixture of shock, anger and loss.
Richard E. Grant striding around barking like Rik Mayall in The Young Ones – but with none of the timing or comic flair that made Mayall so hypnotically watchable – made for a drab and tiresome beginning. For characters to be interesting, you have to be able to relate to them or care about them.
It didn’t help that the DVD sound and picture quality were also terrible. I know it was set in the 1960s, but it looked like it was made in the 1960s as well – a cheap and nasty, faded-TV-drama feel.
I always wanted to know what all the fuss was about with this film, but I’m still none the wiser.
