The first teaser for Pablo Larraín’s Jackie, which stars Natalie Portman as Jacqueline Kennedy, invites you to remember Camelot and enter the striking world of this film, which defies biopic conventions. The trailer opens with the sounds of the finale from the Lerner and Loewe musical about the Arthurian legend that is now forever linked with the JFK presidency. Soon that show tune merges with score to create a cacophony of discordant sound, fitting for what The A.V. Club’s A.A. Dowd described as “a portrait of a famous dreamlife curdling into a public nightmare.”
The film only really covers a very brief period in Jackie’s life, spanning from the time John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas to his funeral. Interspersed, however, are scenes of the former First Lady’s famous televised White House tour, and an after-the-fact interview with a journalist played by Billy Crudup. Throughout the film Portman often appears dead center in frames. It is her performance—already seen as an Oscar frontrunner—that truly anchors the movie.
Jackie will enter theaters December 2.