What is the future of Trumpism? “Melania,” the new documentary from Amazon, offers a striking answer. Following the first lady through the twenty days leading to her husband Donald Trump’s second inauguration, it presents her as a woman who exercises power—not by directly intervening in politics, as some previous first ladies have done, but rather by shaping the men who shape events. Melania emerges in the film not as a superficial fashionista, but as a queen determined to see her son reach the throne.
Donald Trump occupies a generous supporting role later in the film, but the film’s opening movement spends more time on Melania’s relationships with her parents and son. Melania is not interested in self-revelation. Her feelings are generally concealed behind her designer sunglasses. But she speaks movingly about her family, especially her mother, who passed on just two years ago. Melania’s father joins her on screen to recall his 58-year marriage; the moment is delightful, almost disarming, and it is here that Melania appears most at ease and even joyful.