[ Review of Melania (2026) ]

Melania reads as a pro-America icon: opulent, Toback-styled camerawork, couture as political architecture, and a Ratner soundtrack that flexes movie savvy over Scorsese. From “Gimme Shelter” to “Let’s All Chant,” the film puts FLOTUS in the fight to save America.

Not just a pro-MAGA prop, Melania functions as a pro-America prop. That meaning sits behind the film’s opulence: camerawork lenses grandeur—in the style of late-era Toback—alongside the freedom and responsibility the once-and-future FLOTUS finds within it. She brings her architecture and fashion background to bear on inauguration ensembles, teaming with gay sophisticates—especially in her notes on structuring the navy coat and wide-brimmed hat—in response to four years of lawfare and assassination attempts, obliquely referenced during inauguration planning.

When Melania, armored in couture and armed with stilettos, doesn’t do the talking, Ratner’s soundtrack one-ups Scorsese. He opens with the Stones’ “Gimme Shelter”—“Rape! Murder! It’s just a shot away!”—then pivots to American anthems “Beat It” and “YMCA,” song choices from a woman who inserted “unity” into Trump’s speech as they return to save America. Ratner then adds “Bolero” from Femme Fatale and “Then He Kissed Me” from Adventures in Babysitting for BTS inauguration-week footage. Only thing missing: Melania’s recrudescence of “Aquarius.” Finally, he deploys “Let’s All Chant” from Eyes of Laura Mars to score Melania’s iconic White House portrait, placing her in a lineage with Bess, Mamie, and Jackie.

We, and the big screen, are worthy.