''The First Monday in May'' is a 2016 documentary film directed by
Andrew Rossi and produced by
Fabiola Beracasa Beckman,
Dawn Ostroff, and
Sylvana Ward Durrett.
The film chronicles the conception and execution of the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...
’s 2015 exhibition
''China: Through the Looking Glass'', curated by
Andrew Bolton. Framed around the planning of the annual
Met Gala
The Met Gala, formally called the Costume Institute Benefit, is the annual haute couture fundraising festival held for the benefit of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute in Manhattan. The Met Gala was and still is popularly rega ...
, the documentary explores the intersection of fashion, art, and cultural politics as the exhibition becomes the most attended fashion show in the museum’s history.
The film premiered as the opening night selection of the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival and was released theatrically in the United States by
Magnolia Pictures
Magnolia Pictures LLC is an American independent film distributor and production company, and is a subsidiary of Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner's 2929 Entertainment.
Magnolia was formed in 2001 by Bill Banowsky and Eamonn Bowles, and specializes in ...
on April 15, 2016.
It received generally favorable reviews from critics, who praised its access and visual style, though some questioned its critical distance from its subjects.
Plot
The documentary chronicles a year of planning for the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...
’s 2015 exhibition
''China: Through the Looking Glass'', as well as the annual
Met Gala
The Met Gala, formally called the Costume Institute Benefit, is the annual haute couture fundraising festival held for the benefit of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute in Manhattan. The Met Gala was and still is popularly rega ...
that accompanied its opening.
Conceived by
Andrew Bolton, head curator of the
Costume Institute
The Anna Wintour Costume Center is a wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art The Met Fifth Avenue, main building in Manhattan that houses the collection of the Costume Institute, a curatorial department of the museum focused on fashion and costume ...
, in collaboration with
''Vogue'' editor-in-chief
An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...
Anna Wintour
Dame Anna Wintour ( ; born 3 November 1949) is a British-American media executive, who has been serving as editor-in-chief of '' Vogue'' since 1988. Wintour has also served as global chief content officer of Condé Nast since 2020, where she o ...
, the exhibition featured over 150 garments from 40 designers, exploring the influence of Chinese aesthetics on Western fashion.
The Met Gala, organized in tandem with the exhibit, serves as the Costume Institute’s primary
fundraising
Fundraising or fund-raising is the process of seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions by engaging individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gathe ...
event and generates millions in annual revenue.
The film also offers
behind-the-scenes https://www Googlefinans.co=
In filmmaking, behind-the-scenes (BTS), also known as the making-of, the set, or on the set, is a documentary film that features the production of a film or television program. This is often referred to as the EPK ( ...
insight into Wintour’s role in shaping the gala while raising questions about the legitimacy of fashion as a form of art. As of 2016, ''China: Through the Looking Glass'' ranked as the Costume Institute’s most visited exhibition and one of the most attended shows in the museum’s history.
Cast
*
Andrew Bolton
*
John Galliano
John Charles Galliano (born 28 November 1960) is a British fashion designer. He was the creative director of his eponymous label John Galliano and French fashion houses Givenchy and Dior. From 2014 to 2024, Galliano was the creative director ...
*
Jean Paul Gaultier
Jean Paul Gaultier (; born 24 June 1952) is a French haute couture and Ready-to-wear, prêt-à-porter fashion designer.
He is described as an "enfant terrible" of the fashion industry and is known for his unconventional designs with motifs in ...
*
Karl Lagerfeld
Karl Otto Lagerfeld also called Kaiser Karl (; 10 September 1933 – 19 February 2019) was a German fashion designer, photographer, and creative director.
Lagerfeld began his career in fashion in the 1950s, working for several top fashion hous ...
*
Baz Luhrmann
Mark Anthony "Baz" Luhrmann (born 17 September 1962) is an Australian film director, producer, writer, and actor whose various projects extend from film and television into opera, theatre, music, and the recording industries. He is regarded by ...
*
Rihanna
Robyn Rihanna Fenty ( ; born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, businesswoman, and actress. One of the List of music artists by net worth, wealthiest musicians in the world, List of awards and nominations received by Rihanna, her vario ...
*
Anna Wintour
Dame Anna Wintour ( ; born 3 November 1949) is a British-American media executive, who has been serving as editor-in-chief of '' Vogue'' since 1988. Wintour has also served as global chief content officer of Condé Nast since 2020, where she o ...
*
Wong Kar-wai
Wong Kar-wai (born 17 July 1958) is a Hong Kong film director, screenwriter, and producer. His films are characterised by nonlinear narratives, atmospheric music, and vivid cinematography involving bold, saturated colours. A pivotal figure o ...
*
Lady Gaga
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known for her image reinventions and versatility across the entertainment industry, she is an influ ...
Release
''The First Monday in May'' premiered on April 13, 2016, as the opening night selection of the 2016
Tribeca Festival
The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Enterprises. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. The festival ...
.
Following its festival debut, the film was released theatrically in the United States on April 15, 2016, by
Magnolia Pictures
Magnolia Pictures LLC is an American independent film distributor and production company, and is a subsidiary of Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner's 2929 Entertainment.
Magnolia was formed in 2001 by Bill Banowsky and Eamonn Bowles, and specializes in ...
. It became available for digital purchase and rental on platforms such as
Amazon Prime Video
Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...
and
ITunes
iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...
on May 3, 2016, and was subsequently released on
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...
and
Blu-ray
Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...
on August 9, 2016.
In May 2020, in response to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
,
Magnolia Pictures
Magnolia Pictures LLC is an American independent film distributor and production company, and is a subsidiary of Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner's 2929 Entertainment.
Magnolia was formed in 2001 by Bill Banowsky and Eamonn Bowles, and specializes in ...
announced that all net proceeds from the film's digital rentals and sales during that month would be donated to the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...
and ''A Common Thread'', a joint initiative by
''Vogue'' and the
Council of Fashion Designers of America
The Council of Fashion Designers of America, Inc. (CFDA), founded in 1962 by publicist Eleanor Lambert, and headquartered in Manhattan, is a not-for-profit trade association comprising a membership of over 450 American fashion and accessor ...
(CFDA) aimed at supporting individuals in the fashion industry affected by the pandemic.
Reception
Critical response
''The First Monday in May'' received generally favorable reviews from critics, though some noted its lack of critical distance from its subjects. On
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, the film holds an approval rating of 77% based on 60 reviews, with an average rating of 6.6/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "''The First Monday in May'' may not resonate far beyond its target demographic, but for fashion aficionados, it should prove utterly absorbing."
On
Metacritic
Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, the film has a weighted average score of 57 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews."
Peter Bradshaw
Peter Nicholas Bradshaw (born 19 June 1962) is a British writer and film critic. He has been chief film critic at ''The Guardian'' since 1999, and is a contributing editor at ''Esquire'' magazine.
Early life and education
Bradshaw was educat ...
of
''The Guardian'' awarded the film two out of five stars, describing it as "glossy, but frankly somewhat saucer-eyed." He criticized the documentary for its lack of critical analysis, stating that "there is obviously a huge amount of status envy going on; the film does not care to break that down too thoroughly."
Conversely, Wendy Ide of
''The Observer'' gave the film four out of five stars, praising
Anna Wintour
Dame Anna Wintour ( ; born 3 November 1949) is a British-American media executive, who has been serving as editor-in-chief of '' Vogue'' since 1988. Wintour has also served as global chief content officer of Condé Nast since 2020, where she o ...
's compelling presence and the film's insight into the meticulous planning behind the
Met Gala
The Met Gala, formally called the Costume Institute Benefit, is the annual haute couture fundraising festival held for the benefit of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute in Manhattan. The Met Gala was and still is popularly rega ...
.
Mark Dujsik, writing for ''
RogerEbert.com
''RogerEbert.com'' is an American film review website that archives reviews written by film critic Roger Ebert for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' and also shares other critics' reviews and essays. The website, underwritten by the ''Chicago Sun-Times ...
'', gave the film two stars, noting that while it introduces the debate about fashion's status as art, it ultimately prioritizes showcasing the spectacle over exploring this theme in depth.
Kate Lloyd of ''
Time Out'' also awarded the film four out of five stars, highlighting its captivating access to the event. She pointed out the film's exploration of cultural appropriation, noting that many of the featured designs were by Western designers inspired by a "fantasy" of Chinese culture.
Kimber Myers of ''
IndieWire'' commented that while the film attempts to address issues such as cultural sensitivity and
Orientalism
In art history, literature, and cultural studies, Orientalism is the imitation or depiction of aspects of the Eastern world (or "Orient") by writers, designers, and artists from the Western world. Orientalist painting, particularly of the Middle ...
, it "never really fully explores the topics it raises," instead offering a "glossy surface" view of the Met Gala and the
Anna Wintour Costume Center.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:First Monday in May
2016 documentary films
2016 films
Metropolitan Museum of Art
2015 in art
Films directed by Andrew Rossi
Films scored by Drum & Lace
Films scored by Ian Hultquist