Natalie Portman credited as playing...
Jackie Kennedy
- The Priest: There comes a time in man's search for meaning when one realises that there are no answers. And when you come to that horrible, unavoidable realization, you accept it or you kill yourself. Or you simply stop searching... I have lived a blessed life. And yet every night, when I climb into bed, turn off the lights, and stare in to the dark, I wonder... Is this all there is?
- Jackie Kennedy: You wonder?
- The Priest: Every soul on this planet does. But then, when morning comes, we all wake up and make a pot of coffee.
- Jackie Kennedy: Why do we bother?
- The Priest: Because we do. You did this morning, you will again tomorrow. But God, in his infinite wisdom, has made sure it is just enough for us.
- Jackie Kennedy: I believe the characters we read on the page become more real than the men who stand beside us.
- Jackie Kennedy: His favorite was Camelot.And that last song, that last side of Camelot, is all that keeps running through my mind. Don't let it be forgot, that for one brief, shining moment there was a Camelot
- Jackie Kennedy: There are two kinds of women, those who want power in the world and those who want power in bed.
- [first lines]
- The Journalist: Mrs. Kennedy? They told me to come up. And I'm so sorry for your loss.
- Jackie Kennedy: Have you read what they've been writing? Krock and Merriman and all the rest?
- The Journalist: Yes, I have.
- Jackie Kennedy: Merriman's such a bitter man. It's been just one week. Already they're treating him like some dusty old artifact to be shelved away. That's no way to be remembered.
- The Journalist: And how would you like him remembered, Mrs. Kennedy?
- Jackie Kennedy: [stammering] I...
- Jackie Kennedy: You understand that I will be editing this conversation just in case I don't say exactly what I mean?
- The Journalist: With all due respect, that seems very unlikely, Mrs. Kennedy.
- [pause]
- The Journalist: Right. Okay. Uh, so this will be your own version of what happened?
- Jackie Kennedy: Exactly. Come in.
- Jackie Kennedy: I wrote him a letter. That night, before we moved the casket to the Capitol. Do you know what I wrote? That I wanted to die. I wanted to die.
- The Priest: I understand.
- Jackie Kennedy: Do you?
- The Priest: I do. Unless you are asking permission.
- Jackie Kennedy: No, only crass, self-indulgent people kill themselves. No, I was just hoping... if I walked down the street next to Jack's body then someone would be kind enough to do it for me.
- The Priest: In front of the whole world... A famous life, a famous death.
- Jackie Kennedy: I never wanted fame. I just became a Kennedy.
- Jackie Kennedy: Objects and artifacts last far longer than people, and they represent important ideas in history, identity, beauty.
- Jackie Kennedy: The man would spend whatever it took for votes, but balked at buying a beautiful painting.
- Jackie Kennedy: How would you write that?
- The Journalist: She lights yet another cigarette and explains through her soft sobs that Jack wasn't perfect, but he was perfect for our country. And I ask about his flaws, and she explains.
- Jackie Kennedy: Perfect people can't change. Jack was always getting better, stronger. Sometimes he would walk into the desert alone, just to let himself be tempted by the devil.
- Jackie Kennedy: I think God is cruel.
- The Priest: Well, now you're getting into trouble. God is love, and God is everywhere.
- Jackie Kennedy: Was he in the bullet that killed Jack?
- The Priest: Absolutely.
- Jackie Kennedy: Is he inside me now?
- The Priest: Yes, of course. Of course he is.
- Jackie Kennedy: Well, that's a funny game he plays, hiding all the time.
- The Priest: Take comfort in those memories.
- Jackie Kennedy: I can't. They're mixed up with all the others.