I AM JACKIE O
US, 2020, 84 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Tanya Maryniak, Anna Wallner.
Derek Murray has produced the series of documentaries, I am…, For over a decade. They are 90 minute documentaries, portraits of the subject, effective compendiums of the subject’s life, character, personality, career – and indications why this subject is worthy of our attention.
Most of the series focuses on entertainment personalities, from Bruce Lee to Steve McQueen to Richard Pryor. However, there have been some political portraits, especially, five years before this one, I am JFK Jr.
There is a great deal of material available, of course, for presenting a portrait of Jacqueline Bouvier, of Jacqueline Kennedy, of Jacqueline Onassis. While there is a great deal of home video, there is also the footage of Jacqueline Kennedy’s presence during the Kennedy years and, as remember, his assassination and funeral.
The film fills in the background of Jacqueline Bouvier’s comfortable upbringing, her freewheeling father, her very strict mother. With her education and background, she had a personality with dignity but also with some kind of image.
There is a great deal of footage of Jacqueline Kennedy from 1960 to 1963, focus on her relationship with her husband, comment about her being forgiving in terms of his philandering, the birth and raising of their children, the trauma of the death of her third child, and the grating bonding with her husband. She didn’t always agree with her husband but he relied on her for her media and public presence for his political ends, but she also offered advice and this is shown with the crises of the presidency, Cuba, the missile crisis.
The documentary also highlights her public persona, the response of the media, her becoming a celebrity and treated as such, her contribution to fashion, but also her worldwide presence and popularity, scenes of her with Nina Chris Jeff, on magazine covers all over the world including the Soviet Union.
The film gives appropriate attention to the assassination of John Kennedy, Jacqueline Kennedy’s response, care and protection for her husband dead, the swearing-in of Lyndon Johnson, funeral arrangements, her walking in procession behind her husband’s coffin, with her children, and the famous salute by her son.
Aristotle Onassis is a presence for the Kennedys, especially his offering a yacht cruise to Jacqueline after the death of her child. With her fears about her children being a target for assassinations, especially after the death of Robert Kennedy who served as a kind of father figure for her children, she wanted to get away from the United States. She was friendly with Aristotle Onassis and his background is given (as well as his daughter, Christina’s hostility to Jacqueline).
Opinions are given about their marriage, the bond between them, the very Greek personality of Onassis – and his superstition against Jacqueline with the death of his son.
But, Jackie O continued in popularity after the death of Onassis, becoming involved in publishing and editing, a significant presence in New York City, conservation of Grand Central station, and a firm influence on her children’s life.
She died of cancer in 1994, 64 years of age. She was one of the highlight characters of the 20th century.
