There¡¯s a scene near the end of ¡°Jackie¡± where the just-widowed first lady Jacqueline Kennedy (played by Natalie Portman) is talking with her priest (John Hurt) about the meaning of life and asks, somewhat bitterly, ¡°Is that all there is?¡±
In my head, all I could hear was the jaded cool of 1960s chanteuse Peggy Lee: Is that all there is ... to a presidential assassination? ¡°Well, let¡¯s keep dancing. Let¡¯s break out the booze and have a ball, if that¡¯s all there is ...¡±
Surely that is a better option than sitting through this turgid piece of ¡°worthy¡± Oscar-bait by Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larrain (¡°No,¡± ¡°Neruda¡°), who serves us close-up after close-up of Portman emoting mightily but with little to no context.
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