beyond grief

Jules 2022-03-26 09:01:06

Today I went to see "Jackie" (Jackie) starring Natalie Portman. Jackie is Jacqueline's nickname.

The Chinese translation is "The First Lady", probably because domestic audiences don't know much about her, but the original title has its inner meaning: Americans love her very much and regard Jackie as a nickname for her. At the same time, as she herself said, she's no longer the first lady, she's just Jackie -- Jackie is the first lady, but not every first lady can be like Jackie.

After the President was assassinated, the coffin was returned to the White House, and Jacqueline was still wearing a blood-stained suit


After watching the movie, I feel a little complicated. This kind of complexity comes not from the movie, but from history: the Kennedy family was miserable, the president himself died of an assassination, and his younger brother, Poppy in the film, was also a few years later. Died of an assassination; his son, the little boy in the movie who turned three years old when his father died, John F. Kennedy Jr., died in a plane crash before he was forty. Jackie himself died of cancer in 1994, and now only Caroline, the daughter of President Kennedy, is still active in public as a diplomat.

Sudden death in full view is itself the greatest fog that history can offer. What's more, the public and the media are tirelessly using various means to suspect and transform this history.

As Jackie, played by Natalie, said, "You all think I'm a fool, I actually read a lot more books than you think." Many people, including many later biographers, tabloid reporters and writers The gossip official account of the lace news has a very ridiculous stereotype of Jackie, as if she must be a stupid vase because she is too beautiful and elegant. It must be said that it is a very shallow prejudice.

Yes, many people know that Jackie later married the Greek ship king and divorced, but few people know that Jackie returned to the United States after the divorce, became a professional publishing editor, and worked hard to build a very professional and An accomplished career. In addition to being a beauty and a widow, she is also a professional woman who is very sensitive to art and literature, and uses her low-key second half of her life to interpret the stronger and more elegant things hidden behind vanity and luxury.

Then again, what woman doesn't like jewelry and pretty clothes? It is human nature to chase those beautiful things, and none of us are exempt from this. Don't just see her as a beautiful woman, it's not fair, she's a person first and foremost, and a very smart, strong, capable person, regardless of identity and gender.

The picture on the left is the famous news photo. On the way to the funeral of Kennedy, the ignorant young son Xiang


Natalie's performance can't be said to be bad. She played something deep in the soul of a historical figure, hard, sensitive, reserved, like a frozen lake. But I always feel that there is something missing. Maybe Americans still can't restrain themselves from over-interpreting the special image in their minds, so that the characters are given too many expectations that do not belong to her, but the trace of humanity is missing. Something in itself -

Jacqueline's life is not the first lady, far more than the more than two years she was first lady. When a biographical film about her focuses on the week after Kennedy's death, it is indeed full of conflict, contradiction and climax, but it is more like an over-consumption and disrespect for her.

When we stand in the downstream of history and look back, we can only see a vague back. All stories are overexaggerated and ulterior motives, and all information is deliberately revealed. It's as if we know that Jacqueline transformed the White House, redefined the image of the first lady, and led an entire era, but we don't really understand her life and career choices.

The only people in the back who can really understand and feel are the most real and common humanity: a smug man died suddenly, an ignorant child lost his father, a woman saw her husband with her own eyes after the death of two children. died in his arms.

There is no need to render more emotions and conspiracies, this is already the biggest tragedy, and one that each of us can understand. In addition to paying tribute to Jacqueline's grace, gentleness, and strength in her grief, all other speculations and doubts seemed too disrespectful.

View more about Jackie reviews

Extended Reading

Jackie quotes

  • Jackie Kennedy: He'll just be another oil portrait lining these hallways.

  • Jackie Kennedy: His favorite was Camelot.And that last song, that last side of Camelot, is all that keeps running through my mind. Don't let it be forgot, that for one brief, shining moment there was a Camelot