Being a history and film buff I had to see "Jackie" as it's a historical film of the memories and times of the life and assassination of President John Kennedy, as told thru flashback and grief trauma memories from the elegant and class act first lady Jackie Kennedy(in a beautiful performance from the wonderful Natalie Portman). Starting like an interview style of a film told by flashback flashback the movie takes place after the death of "JFK", as Jackie is interviewed about the experience and the memories of the death and the impact of the administration, all of this brings out sorrow and emotions from Jackie(as Natalie showed the grief and anger on screen so well)it's just like you as the viewer feel the pain of the first lady. Overall good film that's a showcase of memories showing how tragedy and loss can affect a strong lady along with a nation, this picture is a watch for any history or film buff.

As someone who loves history, I thoroughly enjoyed Jackie. For the most part, the facts were historically accurate as far as I am aware. I also really liked the score, I thought it was very refreshing and simply different. The film was slow-paced but I find that's to be expected with historical films. I liked that the cinematography was simple to give a real sense of the era, and the costume design was great. I also liked the ending.

Essentially this is a film where I liked everything, but didn't love much. The only things that I absolutely loved was Natalie Portman's acting as Jackie Kennedy. She really exuded her character and became Jackie Kennedy. it was great! The other thing I loved was John Hurt as the priest which was a lovely surprise.

Overall, this was a simple film but it wasn't daring. It didn't risk take like other films would and therefore in that regard may be a bore for some.

'Jackie' had a great story on paper going for it, based on the aftermath and impact on Jackie Kennedy of one of the most interesting and shocking events in history.

While it does have some great merits, 'Jackie' didn't do much for me, instead leaving me rather lukewarm. On the whole it doesn't do a good job doing a potentially great story justice, feeling rather Cliff Notes and overwrought with very little insight. The best thing about it is the performance of Natalie Portman which is brilliant and was deserving of its acclaim. Portman has never looked lovelier and clearly did her homework, with her performance seeming much more real than just a mere imitation or caricature.

Other members of the cast also fare well, with good performances from Beth Grant and Greta Gerwig and Casper Phillipson does well in his limited screen time. Faring best is the sincere and quite poignant (when reminded that he took this role not long before succumbing to pancreatic cancer) performance of John Hurt.

There are a few good scenes. The footage scenes of the Kennedys is where 'Jackie' is at its most interesting, while the air-plane, mannequin and shopping windows and Malick reference scenes (as agreed with a previous reviewer) are powerful moments. The other most impressive assets are the production and costume design and make-up, beautiful to look at and evocative.

However, not all the casting works. Billy Crudup is stiff and lifeless as a pointless character in scenes that are out of place and confuse the structure of the story. Peter Sarsgaard, normally a reliable actor, is aside from being physically wrong for Bobby at his most wooden. Richard E Grant was odd casting as well.

A big problem was agreed the music score. Too intrusive, far too loud (drowning out the dialogue), dirge-like and repetitive. The only good part was the Cassals piece, speaking as a lover of the cello and having it as my second instrument (singing is my passion). Even my dad (a cellist and conductor) said "I can most likely write better music than that and I can't even compose!" For all the work that went into most of the production values, it was cheapened somewhat by some sloppy and haphazard editing with shots that didn't flow that well from scene to scene. Too many close ups too, some serving no point. The direction is pretty insipid, as is the overwrought and half-baked dialogue that is masked by sound quality that vastly favours the music over the dialogue.

Sadly, the slight story also didn't grip. Intimacy is mistaken for tedium and there is very little that's illuminating or new, nothing that we don't know already and the film fails to make the characters interesting (while one cannot fault Portman's performance even Jackie was written in a shallow way).

The interview scenes don't belong and confuse the story structure in the earlier parts of the film. Some other scenes are pointless, especially an overlong and weird scene with Jackie looking very glamorous and behaving neurotically accompanied by the very ill-fitting "Camelot", that belonged in a completely different film altogether. Could have done without Jackie being covered in blood, that was far too melodramatic and gratuitous, at least to me. All this felt like padding and dragged the film down.

In conclusion, not awful but didn't do much for me, very mixed feelings. 5/10 Bethany Cox