'Jackie' Exclusive Clip: Natalie Portman as Grieving First Lady Moves Forward With Son's Birthday Party

Natalie Portman is collecting raves for her performance as Jackie Kennedy in Jackie, Pablo Larrain’s unconventional portrait of the former first lady, which focuses on the week immediately following the 1963 assassination of her husband, President John F. Kennedy. It’s a powerhouse turn just about guaranteed to secure a Best Actress Academy Award nomination for Portman, who previously won that prize for Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan in 2010 — and who was Larrain’s first and only choice for the role.

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Portman’s quiet, sorrowful intensity is on full display in a Yahoo Movies exclusive clip from the film (watch it above), dubbed “Happy Birthday.” Though still grieving her spouse’s murder, Portman’s Jackie is nonetheless compelled to celebrate her young son John Jr.’s birthday, which naturally involves the presentation of a candle-decorated cake and a sing-along (and which, for the audience, will inevitably call to mind Marilyn Monroe’s historic sultry serenade for JFK at his 1962 birthday gala). No amount of forced joviality can mask the grief consuming Jackie, however, and the look on her face speaks volumes not only about her misery, but about the tense relationship between her interior emotions and her carefully composed external appearance — a dynamic central to Jackie’s drama.

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The sequence’s combination of Portman’s uneasy expressions, the sight of military generals standing around at a kid’s birthday party, and Mica Levi’s chilling score all conspire to create the sort of haunting, surreal intimacy that defines Jackie, which benefits immensely from an impressive cast including Peter Sarsgaard, Greta Gerwig, Billy Crudup, and John Hurt. Jackie is in select theaters now.

Natalie Portman and Peter Sarsgaard on preparing to portray Jackie and Bobby Kennedy: