“I’m sorry for your loss.” Hollow words we mouth to one another in times of grief. And when the hand of fate spins in our direction, hollow words we expect to hear. Learned in childhood, regurgitated in adulthood, like the evasive small talk of “How are you doing?” “Fine.” “You?” “Doing away.” Questions we don’t want to answer, answers we don’t to give.

Unless, of course, you’re journalist Theodore H. White (Billy Crudup) who has been approached by Jackie Kennedy (Natalie Portman) to discuss her reaction to her husband’s death just one week after he was gunned down by “a silly little Communist”. A framing device utilised by director Pablo Larrain (Neruda) and screenwriter Noah Oppenheim (The Maze Runner) upon which to hang a story.

Namely, her story. Her version of what happened. To ensure that her husband’s legacy of fighting for a better world is not reduced to “a dirty old artefact to be shelved away” or “just another oil painting lining these hallways”. And to prove that she was more than “some silly little debutante” or just one of the “beautiful people”. A worthy endeavour, but like our cod words of sympathy: hollow.

Not much happens in the way of action or conflict. Sure, we are shown how she had to fight against the machinery of government and protocol to arrange a funeral, which would be a “spectacle” befitting of such a popular and progressive president (coffin closed, public procession, plot strategically chosen), but the closest we come to anything meaty or substantial is ten minutes before the closing credits when she discusses her faith or rather lack thereof with Father Richard McSorley (John Hurt).

“God is love and God is everywhere,” the priest tells her. “Was he in the bullet that killed Jack?” she fires back. “What kind of a God would take a father from his two children?” Difficult questions to which his blunt answer is: when you lie awake at night and contemplate “Is that all there is?”, you either accept it, kill yourself or stop searching for an answer. To which she replies, “Well, that’s a funny game he plays, hiding all the time.”

The only other moments when the pulse quickens – and they are only moments – is when Robert F. Kennedy (Peter Sarsgaard) expresses his frustration that both he and his brother could have accomplished so much more on issues such as civil rights, the space program and Vietnam; and when Jackie has to break the devastating news of her husband’s death to their two young children. “Mummy, why are you dressed so funny?” “When is daddy coming home?” To use a modern acronym: FFS!

Other than that, the pace is pedestrian, the drama lacks tension and the focus – that she “faced adversity and overcame it” and that “there was a Camelot” – is not strong enough to grip our attention. I’m sorry about her loss, I’m sorry about her children’s loss and I’m sorry about America’s and for that matter the World’s loss. But I’m not sorry about ending my review with a crass joke about what advice JFK would have appreciated: dodge this bullet.

Video courtesy of: FOX Searchlight

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Peter Callaghan
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