The Queen of Versailles
2012 Directed by Lauren Greenfield
Synopsis
With the epic dimensions of a Shakespearean tragedy, The Queen of Versailles follows billionaires Jackie and David’s rags-to-riches story to uncover the innate virtues and flaws of the American dream. We open on the triumphant construction of the biggest house in America, a sprawling, 90,000-square-foot mansion inspired by Versailles. Since a booming time-share business built on the real-estate bubble is financing it, the economic crisis brings progress to a halt and seals the fate of its owners. We witness the impact of this turn of fortune over the next two years in a riveting film fraught with delusion, denial, and self-effacing humor.
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As a member of the lower-lower-lower middle class, I loathe the upper class. I dream of the day they are overthrown by the proletariat and we can feast on a stew made from their boiled carcasses.
But, in a deliciously ironic turn, I would also stop at nothing to join the ranks of the filthy rich. Yes, even murder.
The Queen of Versailles documents the fall of time share magnate David Siegel from billionaire to . . . I don't know, probably still a multi-millionaire through the eyes of his wife, Jackie. It's an entirely entertaining film that unfortunately never made me sympathize with its subjects. I am fully aware that the film was trying to point out how this vast wealth had turned these two people from unassuming starts into vapid, soulless ghouls. And while their story is interesting and ultimately quite sad, it doesn't change the fact that they are still vapid, soulless ghouls.
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The Queen of Versailles is a riches-to-rags documentary chronicling the demise of a wealthy family attempting to build their own Palace of Versailles in Florida. The Siegel family are perfect fodder for a documentary filmmaker. Via their vulgar levels of wealth they are utterly removed from the common man and everyday problems. They live in a world of excessive consumerism where everything can be bought but nothing has any value. When the 2008 financial crisis hits the family have to readjust their privileged way of life.
It is very easy to mock and be disgusted by a family like the Siegels. They are seemingly utterly unaware of anything other than their perfect manufactured and opulent bubble. They have nannies, maids,…
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Frankly, those who argue that the film presents the Siegels as contemptible villains of the financial crisis could not misunderstand the film or the financial crisis itself any more.
The Queen of Versailles is actually about how eerily similar its subjects are to the average American: they over-borrowed and overspent themselves into oblivion, completely ignorant of and/or complacent to the fact they were being played by the banks. Sure, they may have been financing a lifestyle thousands of times more extravagant than the average American's, but they really fell into the same trap.
On a similar token, the film shows what living beyond one's means can do to one emotionally. Here's a family ruined by stress, malaise, disconnect. It's the…
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I think that if anyone reads the description for The Queen of Versailles and then watches the trailer, they must think they're in for an hour and a half of feeling superior to some stupidly rich vapid assholes. However, this is a much more complicated story than it seems. What began as a project documenting the extravagant lifestyle of billionaires Jackie and David as they build the $100 million castle of their dreams turns into a story of ridiculously rich people having to struggle just like the rest of us.
The entire thing is a series of over-the-top performances and half-truths. I suspect a lot of documentaries are like that, but this one doesn't…
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'The Queen of Versailles' is a very compelling, blackly comic and chilling look at the American dream and excess beyond the point of excess.This documentary goes far beyond the point of merely exploiting this filthy-rich tacky family while also not treading onto realty television territory. As we watch their fall during the economic collapse from being billionaires to....well....being simply millionaires, this doc doesn't make up our minds for us as to whether or not we want to root for these people. For me that's why this film is as good as it is. This film shows the audience that although this family is revoltingly tacky and self centered they are first and formost, human.
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The Queen of Versailles was initially intended to be a documentary about a filthy rich family as they built their own americanized version of the famous french castle. Suddenly the global recession strikes and the project is brought to an abrupt halt. With that the film changes from solely documenting a life of excess, to being a cautionary tale about the american dream breaking down. At a rapid pace the family start to lose money and assets which forces them lay off huge numbers of employees.
Interestingly, the couple at the center of the story, he about 70 years old, she around 40, come from unprivileged backgrounds but have grown so accustomed to their wealthy lifestyle they're unwilling to give…
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The events of this movie are pretty much a filmmaker's dream, with the financial collapse occurring right around the middle of the movie and changing this from a standard "look at these crazy people" doc into a strangely moving portrait of a woman trying to keep a troubled family together (it's almost like a not funny, real-life "Arrested Development"). What makes this movie work is the sympathy the director Lauren Greenfield has for the family, especially Jackie, the matriarch. It would have been easy to try to get the audience simply to point and laugh, but Greenfield presents each member of the family as multi-layered, both with utterly abhorrent qualities (Jackie lets the dogs poop inside and just leaves it…
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Starts out as a profile of a family with obscene wealth, but thanks to the 2008 financial crises it turns into a picture of a family in freefall, finally shocked from their fantasy world into actually looking at their life.
Much of the appeal comes from tsking at their opulence in the first half, then enjoying the schadenfreude for the second half. The documentary doesn't rely on this entirely, doing a good job to humanize the Siegel's even while showing the depths of their delusion.
Especially powerful are the scenes with their nanny and their niece Jonquil. They get the most screentime of people who seem like actual humans in a crazy situation.
The whole thing loses effectiveness when they…
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Or, HUBRIS, THE MOVIE.
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Interesting docudrama about a Florida timeshare mogul's family, their rise to untold riches and their fall, unfortunately after they had almost finished building the largest private residence in America. It's very interesting and proves once again what many philosophers have theorized throughout the annals of time: "Mo money, mo problems..."
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Very fascinating. And perverse. And grotesque. There are many aspects to this documentary about mulit-million dollar real estate mogul David Siegel, his wife Jackie, their family and the life they live. Decadency. Ignorance. Eventually despair. You might get a little bit disgusted watching this film, yet there are some odd moments of humanity. In the end, somehow I've felt sorry for them. Also, some very interesting insight into the 2008's financial crisis, using the example of the Siegels and their downfall from riches to rags (quoting David Siegel).
“I didn't even know we had a lizard!”
Unbelievable. I laughed hard. -
This was a wonderful documentary, and I am very glad somebody took the time to make it. As I thin about it, I am updating my score from a 3.5 to a 4 star rating. There's just so much present in this piece that is very impressive for an observational documentary.
The rise and fall of an american family, the effect of wealth and materialism on people, american values, goals and aspirations, relationships, idolization. All really good and really real didactic anecdotes from this one families experience.
I think the only thing that was missing for me was a real emotional punch, which is nothing at all of fault with the filmmaker, only the documentation.
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Like a classy, well-produced reality TV show, the film perfectly nailed the formula that makes you feel guilty for watching and yet unable to look away. The filmmakers clearly got amazing access and tell a coherent story, yet the film itself is dripping with grim, banal misery, which doesn't make it very fun to watch. There are many cute and frankly cliché lessons to learn about the relationship of money and happiness, but viewing the film definitely resulted in a net increase in my hatred for the human race. I'm not sure if that's a recommendation or not.
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Fascinating look at the super rich before and after the 2008 financial disaster.
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'The Queen of Versailles' is a very compelling, blackly comic and chilling look at the American dream and excess beyond the point of excess.This documentary goes far beyond the point of merely exploiting this filthy-rich tacky family while also not treading onto realty television territory. As we watch their fall during the economic collapse from being billionaires to....well....being simply millionaires, this doc doesn't make up our minds for us as to whether or not we want to root for these people. For me that's why this film is as good as it is. This film shows the audience that although this family is revoltingly tacky and self centered they are first and formost, human.