By Eric Bradner, 45分钟前发布于 2026年1月31日，美国东部时间上午7:00
印第安纳州卡梅尔市—
马拉·埃勒去年与家人一同参加了唐纳德·特朗普总统的就职典礼，她记得那是漫长的一天。
因此，周五当她观看梅拉尼娅·特朗普的纪录片时，看到这位第一夫人在经历了包括三场舞会、凌晨2点才返回白宫的一天后，脱掉了高跟鞋，她如释重负。
“这简直是一场考验，”她说，“你会真切体会到他们为了完成这样的活动必须经历什么，以及他们的一天究竟是什么样子。”
埃勒是附近韦斯特菲尔德市当选的财政官，周五在印第安纳波利斯东北部一家Regal影院，她是约100名观众中的一员——其中大多是老年女性——影院10排座位中除两排外几乎全部坐满，这是亚马逊米高梅工作室纪录片《梅拉尼娅》首批放映之一，该片记录了特朗普重返白宫前20天的生活。在卡梅尔市，一群约20名活跃于当地政坛的女性购买了下午12:45场次的电影票。
这部影片在首映日并非在所有城市都受欢迎。一些城市的影院几乎无人问津。在华盛顿特区，当天上午11:30在市中心Regal Gallery Place影院的首场放映上座率约为三分之一，而影院内几乎所有人都是记者。美国国家公共广播电台（NPR）、《华尔街日报》、《纽约时报》、《华盛顿邮报》和《大西洋月刊》的代表均在场。
放映前，一名男记者高声问道：“这里所有人都是记者吗？”
房间里传来一片齐声回应：“这里是。”“这里是。”“这里是。”
“有平民吗？”该男子追问。
“我是平民，”一名女子回答，她补充说自己是陪同一位记者朋友来看的。
批评者称这部耗资数百万美元的电影可能带有不可告人的动机。周四，总统驳斥了亚马逊米高梅工作室为获得版权支付的4000万美元可能构成腐败的说法。“我认为这真的会非常重要，”他在肯尼迪中心首映式的红地毯上对记者表示，“它展现了白宫生活，实际上这是件大事。”
在影片中，引来最多笑声的是总统而非第一夫人。一个场景中，唐纳德·特朗普问妻子是否观看了他的 election night胜利演讲，而她似乎急于挂断电话回应说稍后会在新闻中看。当特朗普被告知将与即将卸任的总统乔·拜登一同乘车前往就职典礼时，他回应道“那会是段有趣的旅程”，观众们发出了轻笑。
在伦敦，一些参加首映日放映的观众事后对影片表示不满。有人称“这就像维多利亚·贝克汉姆成了第一夫人”。
兄弟姐妹丹尼尔和伊莉丝·费尔韦瑟都不喜欢这部电影，尽管丹尼尔——称其“不合时宜”——表示他本人喜欢梅拉尼娅·特朗普。“她身边全是‘唯唯诺诺’的人，”伊莉丝·费尔韦瑟说。
尽管如此，周五在美国各地，许多特朗普支持者表示他们在首映日购票观看《梅拉尼娅》是为了表达对第一家庭的支持。
在洛杉矶一家AMC影院外，74岁的退休注册会计师、特朗普支持者玛丽·艾克说她早早到场观看首场放映。当被问及观影动机时，艾克告诉CNN：“现在她们终于该为这位美丽的第一夫人做点什么了。”
“这位女士美丽迷人、善良且坚强，”这位支持特朗普的洛杉矶居民说，“如果我有女儿，我希望她能像她一样。”
看完纪录片后，艾克向CNN表示，她和印第安纳州的埃勒有同样的感受。
“让我难以忘怀的是，她穿着高跟鞋站了22小时，22小时后依然美得令人窒息，”艾克说。
爱达荷州梅里迪安市Cinemark Majestic影院的73个座位几乎坐满。大多数观众年龄在50、60或70岁之间，且大多为女性。放映过程中她们反应较为平淡，偶尔有几声轻笑，例如当梅拉尼娅·特朗普致电丈夫并说“嗨，总统先生”，而他回应“嗨，亲爱的”时。
“看到第一夫人的角色以及了解她的工作内容很有意思，”梅里迪安市的肯尼·科马克说，他表示自己来看最早场次主要是为了陪同母亲和妹妹。
他说，最令他惊讶的是“她对装饰的影响力以及其中投入的心思。这部分确实给我留下了深刻印象。”
佛罗里达州朱庇特市，69岁的玛吉·利特尔表示她喜欢影片中的音乐——包括梅拉尼娅·特朗普在乘车时演唱迈克尔·杰克逊的《比利·金》以及随《乡村人合唱团》的《Y.M.C.A.》挥手的场景。
在加利福尼亚州，80岁的退休房地产经纪人、洛杉矶居民伊娃·哈克特说，她很欣赏看到“担任第一夫人需要付出多少工作”。
“我现在比以前更钦佩她了，”哈克特说，“我知道她很聪明，一直以来我都喜欢她的固执。我认为她让我们很好地了解了第一夫人的一切——以及漫长的一天和所需的耐心。”
许多观众指出的影片亮点时刻：当梅拉尼娅·特朗普看着当时的当选总统练习就职演说并寻找替代先前文稿的词语时，她建议使用“团结者”一词。总统采纳了第一夫人的建议，在演讲中说出该词后停顿，转身指向她。
在印第安纳州，52岁的韦斯特菲尔德烟草预防与戒烟项目青年协调员埃丽卡·斯特拉姆表示，她在观影时多次落泪——尤其是当梅拉尼娅·特朗普谈到与2024年初去世的母亲的关系时。
斯特拉姆说她想在首映日观影以表达支持。她表示并未从影片中了解到关于特朗普夫妇的新信息，但很高兴能“看到平时无法接触到的幕后内容”。
“我不知道会期待什么，但我觉得非常棒，这是那种看完后想鼓掌的电影，”她说。
本文由CNN的贝琪·克莱因（华盛顿特区）、鲍勃·奥尔特加（爱达荷州梅里迪安市）、兰迪·凯（佛罗里达州朱庇特市）、阿里·罗森布鲁姆（洛杉矶）和夏洛特·雷克（伦敦）共同报道。
From empty theaters to packed houses, response to Melania Trump documentary reflects America’s political division
By Eric Bradner, 45 min ago, PUBLISHED Jan 31, 2026, 7:00 AM ET
Carmel, Indiana—
Marla Ailor attended President Donald Trump’s inauguration last year with her family, and remembered thinking it was a long day.
So she breathed a sigh of relief on Friday as she watched Melania Trump’s documentary and saw that — after a day that included three balls and returning to the White House at 2 a.m. — the first lady kicked off her heels.
“It’s a gauntlet,” she said. “You really appreciate what they have to go through in order to get through an event like that, and what their day must really be like.”
Ailor, the elected clerk-treasurer of nearby Westfield, was one of about 100 people — mostly older women — who packed all but two of the 10 rows of seats at a Regal movie theater northeast of Indianapolis on Friday for one of the first showings of Amazon MGM Studios’ “Melania,” which documents a 20-day stretch leading up to Trump’s return to office. In Carmel, a group of about 20 women who are active in local politics bought tickets for the 12:45 p.m. showing.
The film wasn’t a hit in every city on its opening day. Theaters in some cities were nearly empty. In Washington, DC, the first showing of the day — 11:30 a.m. ET at Regal Gallery Place downtown — was about one-third filled, and almost everyone in the theater was a reporter. Representatives of NPR, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Atlantic were among those in the room.
Before the previews began, a male reporter called out, “Is everyone a journalist here?”
A chorus of replies came from across the room: “Here.” “Here.” “Here.”
“Any civilians?” the man asked.
“I’m a civilian,” said one woman, who added that she was there with a journalist friend.
Critics have alleged the multi-million dollar film might have been made with an ulterior motive. The president on Thursday batted away suggestions that the $40 million that Amazon MGM Studios paid to acquire the rights could constitute corruption. “I think it’s really going to be very important. It shows life in the White House. It’s a big deal actually,” he told reporters on the red carpet at a Kennedy Center premiere.
In the film, it’s the president, not the first lady, who draws most of the laughs. One scene depicts Donald Trump asking his wife if she’d watched his election night victory speech, as she responds — seemingly in a hurry to get off the phone — that she’ll catch it later on the news. Attendees chuckled when he’s told he’ll ride to the inauguration with outgoing President Joe Biden and responds, “That’ll be an interesting drive.”
In London, some who attended the documentary’s opening day panned it afterward. One person said that “it’s like if Victoria Beckham became first lady.”
Siblings Daniel and Elise Fairweather both disliked the film, even though Daniel — who called it “tone-deaf” — said he likes Melania Trump herself. “She’s surrounded by ‘yes’ men,” Elise Fairweather said.
Still, across the United States on Friday, many Trump supporters said they’d bought tickets to see “Melania” on its opening day because they wanted to demonstrate their support for the first family.
Outside an AMC theater in Los Angeles, Mary Eike, a 74-year-old retired CPA and Trump supporter, said she showed up early to catch the first screening. When asked what motivated her to come see the film, Eike told CNN she feels it’s “about time they did something with that gorgeous first lady.”
“This woman is beautiful and she’s charming and nice and just a strong person,” said Eike, a Los Angeles resident who voted for Trump. “If I had a daughter, I’d want her to be just like her.”
After seeing the documentary, Eike told CNN that she’d been struck by the same thing Ailor in Indiana had mentioned.
“What I couldn’t get over was 22 hours in heels — looking drop dead gorgeous after 22 hours,” Eike said.
A 73-seat theater at the Cinemark Majestic in Meridian, Idaho, was nearly full. Most of the theatergoers appeared to be in the 50s, 60s or 70s, and mostly female. Their reactions during the screening were largely subdued, with a few chuckles here and there, such as when Melania Trump calls her husband and says, “Hi, Mr. President,” and he responds, “Hi, honey.”
“It was interesting to see the role of the first lady and garner perspective on what she does,” said Kenny Cormack of Meridian, who said he’d come to the earliest showing largely to accompany his mother and sister.
He said the most surprising thing, to him, was “the influence she had on the decorations, and the thought that went into it. That part kind of impressed me.”
In Jupiter, Florida, 69-year-old Maggie Little said she loved the music — including Melania Trump singing Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” during a car ride and waving her hands to the Village People’s “Y.M.C.A.”
In California, Eva Hackett, 80, a retired real estate agent and a Los Angeles resident, said she appreciated seeing “how much work” goes into being the first lady.
“I have a lot of admiration, more for her now than before. I knew she was intelligent. I always liked the fact that she was stubborn,” Hackett said. “I thought she gave us a good insight into everything that goes into the first lady – and the long day and the patience.”
A moment many attendees across the county pointed to as a highlight: Melania Trump suggesting the word “unifier” as she watched the then president-elect practicing his inaugural address and looking for a word to replace what had previously been written. The president works in the first lady’s suggestion, and pauses, turns and points to her after delivering the line during his speech.
In Indiana, Erica Strahm, a 52-year-old youth coordinator for a tobacco prevention and cessation program from Westfield, said she teared up at times during the movie — including when Melania Trump talked about her relationship with her mother, who died in early 2024.
Strahm said she wanted to see the film on its opening day to show her support. She said she didn’t learn new things about the Trumps, but appreciated being able to “see the behind the scenes of what you don’t normally get to see.”
“I didn’t know what to expect, and I thought it was fantastic. I it was one of those movies where at the end I wanted to clap,” she said.
CNN’s Betsy Klein in DC; Bob Ortega in Meridian, Idaho; Randi Kaye in Jupiter, Fla.; Alli Rosenbloom in Los Angeles; and Charlotte Reck in London contributed to this report.