Melania The Beautiful Mystery.

By Greg Rabidoux

Depending on whom you ask, Melania “the documentary” is either a self-aggrandizing piece of Trumpy-trash or an Oscar-worthy film.

Trash or Treasure?

We are divided, as always, along our pre-existing political fault lines.

So, allow me to share my take. A bit of disclosure though. As a documentary filmmaker myself, I nit-pick. I do this with every film, including my own. You have now been forewarned.

For years, when someone said, “Hey, let’s watch a documentary film,” you either got the “fly on the wall” behind-the-scenes approach to filmmaking or you were transported somewhere smack dab in the middle of the Amazon jungle while the legendary David Attenborough lent gravitas with his narration. Melania “the movie” has both Sir David’s gravitas and its own “fly on the wall” shots to remind us that it is a documentary film after all, even if some scenes seem slightly to overly choreographed. Like much in this film almost nothing is left to chance.  Melania personally selected Hollywood’s Brett Ratner to direct and produce this project.

Why? Clearly, Melania wanted a more cinematic approach to her screen debut rather than a typical “raw” and unpredictable documentary. And she also chose to look beyond Brett’s fall from Hollywood grace due to past sexual misconduct allegations. Both had a lot to lose  with this film. For Melania it was a bit of a coming out party, despite her being a public figure. And first screen impressions tend to last forever. For Mr. Ratner it was his comeback story. And you only get one of those.

The result is a bit of a mixed bag. Intimidating. Distant. Beautiful but with a “look but don’t touch” vibe.

The film opens with Melania in her highly polished heels click-clicking across the highly polished Trump Plaza floors then downstairs through awning covered exits with red carpets and then into a waiting limousine. We see this similar sequence repeat itself a few times. This is one woman on the go to be sure. I started to get flashbacks to the opening of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1951 “Strangers on a Train.“ But unlike Hitch, Ratner did not end his opening sequence with Melania playing footsy with someone on a train. Unsurprising but a little disappointing.

What does happen though, is we hear the entire 4:01 of the Rolling Stones classic song “Gimme Shelter” while Melania continues to walk from place to place and then sit and stare out her limo window. At one point we see her profile as she peeks out of her limo window as grey clouds roll into view. We hear the lyric “Ooh, a storm is threatening my very life today.” Prophetic? Metaphorical? We’re not sure at this point. Later, we discover that Melania’s favorite music includes the Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson, and Elvis Presley.  She even sings along to MJ’s “Billie Jean” in the back seat while her cameraman makes a wise crack about Melania doing her version of James Corden’s “Car-aoke.” She briefly smiles. I wonder if said cameraman will later be banished to Siberia with no Sir David in sight.

Since the premise of the film is a behind-the-scenes look at the 20 days leading up to the transition of power from the Biden presidency to the Trump sequel, we see Melania in her natural habitat. Surrounded by beautiful things, talking about beautiful things, with men and women who have devoted themselves to making naturally beautiful people like Melania even more beautiful. You’ve watched this scene dozens if not hundreds of times in movies, right? The fashion designer, the artiste, you know, the one with the Euro-accent, snapping his fingers at minions all dressed in black with various piercings, while everyone, including the beautiful models, silently cringe. Not in Melania Trump’s World.

Here, it’s Melania, the former runway model standing tall at the center of this universe. She comes across as fully in control, knowledgeable, and with a clear vision of exactly what she wants. “Sharper,” she says, as her fingers glide across her designer hat. “This is too round.” Moments later, “It’s beautiful,” she coos to her fashion team, “except for” (uh-oh, is someone gonna join that camera guy on the flight to Siberia?) “the lapel.” It needs to be wider! My God people, if I wanted JC Penny quality I would have told the limo driver to take me to the mall. Okay, actually, she is far more gracious than I would have been there. But still. Early on I wonder if we’ll ever see the “real” Melania, or maybe, this classy, collaborative, but always in control gal is indeed the real deal.

At another point she talks napkins, golden eggs, silver, er, goldenware knives and forks with a designer/event planner and again, proves she’s no star-struck novice filled with wonder and amazement. They are all in her world. And only as invited guests. Validation and reassurance seem not to matter to this FLOTUS. Not only has she been through all of this, the White House Inauguration before (Trump 45), but it would seem she’s been at the center of fashion and elegance since her early teens. And that’s because she has. And it shows.

From pre-planning to zooming with Brigitte Macron (France’s FLOTUS) about Melania’s “Be Best” initiative and her tireless work on rescuing trafficked and exploited children, this film version of Melania never seems to not be in control. Of herself. And others. Brigitte calls Melania “strong, so strong” and then babbles about something in French, which Melania translates to English and jots down on her pad. Of course she does. At this point I am now wondering how she ever ended up with DJT. Then I recall he’s a billionaire and incredibly powerful. Right. Boy, that was silly.

For years, the dominant media narrative about Melania is that she is either a vapid trophy wife with a  funny accent or she’s a victim, trapped in the White House and crying out for help.

SNL mercilessly parodied FLOTUS  Melania in Trump 45. The talented and uber-liberal Kate McKinnon and/or Cecily Strong portrayed Melania as a kind of Lady MacBeth, a tragic figure who needed to be rescued from the evil clutches of King Trump. Lonely, helpless, confused. Man, if this documentary film is even fractionally accurate, they got her all wrong. Seems many do.

We hear Melania talk about the loss of her “beloved mother” and then we see her at the famous and dazzling St. Patrick’s Cathedral in NYC as she takes a “moment to herself” to remember her mother and to light a candle for her. Of course, she is about as far from being alone there as one can get. She is also followed closely by two disturbingly cloying priests who follow her every move. But I get it, it’s FLOTUS and the Obama and Biden years weren’t exactly dreams come true for Catholic churches. Still.

At another point she comforts a Jewish Hamas hostage victim and survivor who urges Melania to urge her husband and soon-to-become President again Trump, to intervene and bring her own beloved husband home. As the scene opens there is notable distance between the two women on the couch. As the woman becomes emotional, Melania gets up and sits next to her and they embrace. It certainly seems genuine. But if someone can ever get “truly emotional and moved” as Melania later shares she was via narration yet still be fully in control that was one such example.

Throughout the film we get snippets, visually and otherwise, of Melania with her husband, the president. They talk on the phone, and he sounds like he’s on the campaign trail “I won Pennsylvania, really, all the swing states by margins no one thought possible. It was a landslide,” he boasts. Melania is approving but not overly so. You get a sense that she knows this is just Donald being Donald. The call is over fairly quickly.

At yet another point “The Donald” greets her as she disembarks from a plane landing in  Washington DC. He briefly busses her on the cheeks and can be heard saying, “Wow, you look like a movie star.” She accepts the compliment and quickly moves forward. Melania, much like her husband, doesn’t seem to be overly sentimental even when she’s being sentimental. Though there is a brief moment where President Trump says on camera how Melania’s mother was a truly beautiful and brilliant woman and how they all miss her but then remarks how “this one (meaning Melania) really took it bad.” It seems telling that we get this second-hand.

What we do get first-hand is Melania the Slovenian-Mama Bear. She is highly protective of her family and interposes herself anywhere and everywhere she thinks it is necessary to do so. The inauguration moves indoors in large part because of her concerns. She shares the quick turnaround time that the White House staff has to change out the Biden stuff and update to the Trump stuff. She notes with a smile though that Barron’s bed needs to be bigger than the first time as “he’s grown so much.” Indeed.

At yet another point Melania persuades her husband to include the term “unifier” in his inauguration speech. Still, she’s no Hillary bulldozing her way through husband Bill’s presidency to push her own healthcare reform, no Michelle making it clear she has ample influence over every aspect of Barack’s life, personal and otherwise, and she’s no Jill “You answered every question Joe,” as she allegedly bullied White House staff behind the scenes to protect the crumbing political image of her husband at all costs.

No, she’s uniquely Melania. She has her own agenda. Her own vision. She is, by all accounts, always being her best and expects everyone else to at least try to be their best too.

So, is this documentary film with its highly polished gloss trash or treasure?

Far from trash, closer to treasure. How about a gem of a film that you should stream for yourself and then let’s talk?

You know Greta Garbo was a beautiful mystery that many are still drawn too years later. Melania might just have a little Greta in her. I just haven’t figured out if she too, is lonely, even when surrounded by so many people. I doubt I ever will.

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Greg Rabidoux is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and writer. He is the co-founder of ValMar Films.