A Woman Named Jackie (1991)

Directed by: Larry Peerce | 423 minutes | drama, biography | Actors: Joss Ackland, Roma Downey, Stephen Collins, William Devane, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Wendy Hughes, Bob Gunton, Ashley Crow, Nadia Dajani, Boyd Gaines, Carlin Glynn, Eve Gordon, Brian Smiar, Tim Ranson, Dylan Price, Josef Sommer

There is often talk of ‘moments that you never forget’. For example, many people will remember to this day where they were and what they did on November 22, 1963, the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Over the years, numerous documentaries, miniseries, cinema and television films have appeared about the life and assassination of the popular president. Just as loved and popular as JFK, and perhaps more so, was his wife Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis.

‘A Woman Named Jackie’ shows the viewer the life of this famous woman, from her early childhood to the later years of her life. Not only the historical events (the marriage to JFK and his death in 1963) are reviewed. In every part of her life, divided into her years before, during and after her marriage to Kennedy, you can see both the happy and tragic moments. There are her parents’ divorce, Jackie’s struggle to become a recognized journalist, her father’s death, the miscarriage of her first child, the birth of her children, her second marriage and the happy years with Onassis and the birth of her first granddaughter.

Actress Roma Downey puts down a convincing Jacqueline Kennedy. With her modesty and her classical and elegant appearance and appearance, she plays the role of an elitist woman and at the same time warm mother. Her happiness and sadness are realistic. Unfortunately, the rest of the miniseries is not cast too brilliantly and most of the actors are B-type. Stephen Collins (known as father Eric Camden in the television series ‘7th Heaven’) has no charm at all like John F. Kennedy, who was adored by women in real life. Furthermore, director Peerce has been a bit too ambitious in the film adaptation and every little detail of Jackie’s life has been incorporated into the film. Of course this gives as complete a picture as possible of what her life was like, but unfortunately it also gives you the chance to look at your watch every now and then and wonder how many relationships a woman can endure before she leaves her husband.

A nice detail in the film is the phenomenon Marilyn Monroe. It is suggested that JFK is having an affair with her and may have something to do with her death, which has never been proven. For the real Kennedy-Onassis fans ‘A Woman Named Jackie’ is a must see, for the laymen it is a nice history lesson about her life. Nothing more and nothing less.