The Queen of Versailles
The Queen of Versailles
PG | 06 July 2012 (USA)
The Queen of Versailles Trailers

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 their 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.

Reviews
SnoReptilePlenty

Memorable, crazy movie

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Spoonatects

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

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Kaydan Christian

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

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Philippa

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

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alexis-chantell

A tale from rags to riches... more like the opposite! "The Queen of Versailles" is morally intriguing and plays on the feelings of those who watch. Jackie and David Seigel both have this unintentional comedic presence about themselves. They will have you wondering whether they are being serious or completely ignorant which in most cases, they were being completely serious. They are characters without trying to be and honestly it gets a little tiring to watch. I mean, we get that you are going through a hard time, doesn't every human? Jackie Seigel is by far the most materialistic human I have ever come across. She literally doesn't understand the real world at this point because she has had a taste of what having things handed to her feels like and it has consumed her way of thinking. On the other hand, David uses his sense of humor to try and get through the family's struggles. You can see how the struggle is taking a toll on the family and you see that in its realness and a lot of people can recognize that. It shows the up and downs within a family, even a rich family and more people can relate to that. Although Jackie may be tiring to watch, she's full of life and and tries to make the best out of any situation and it is refreshing to watch. She never gives up and that sends a positive message upon anyone who decides to watch. The filmmaker Lauren Greenfield hits us with the shocking reality that anyone, even the rich go through hard times and that is okay to struggle because everyone does. Even those who are living the American Dream tend to struggle. The film does an outstanding job of relating a billion dollar corporation owner to someone who has lost everything and is finding a way to cope. That makes the film more real. It's the lives of real people. The motto for this film would be "Everything that glitters, is not gold," because it is basically saying that everything is never what it appears to be. Although it is a decent documentary, the film dragged on and on and still didn't come to a proper conclusion! Being bored out of your mind while watching the film doesn't really do anything for you. I would have rather watched sandpaper dry if I'm totally being honest here. Yes, it's an original tale but did I enjoy it as much as as I thought I would? Not exactly how I expected it to be.

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paul2001sw-1

How does one become fantastically rich? Through being more genuinely valuable to the rest of humanity than anyone else - or through working out how to make the system work for you? David Siegel made a fortune by pressure-selling timeshare accommodation; by taking a down-payment from and then arranging a mortgage for his customers; and then using those mortgages as collateral for advances from the banks, used in turn to pay for more development. In other words, even the collateral for his leverage itself took the form of debt! Underpinning this all was the magic of perpetually increasing house-prices, that promised to leave everyone in profit. But in 2008 the market stalled; no-one wanted to buy timeshare; exiting owners defaulted on their mortgages; and the banks would no longer take such borrowings as collateral for advances. Siegel's businesses went into free-fall.'The Queen of Versailles' started as an account of the construction, by Siegel and his wife, of America's largest house. And in spite of the monstrosity of the whole thing, the couple come across as reasonably down-to-earth and engaging. But once the recession strikes, the family are caught up in a financial nightmare. On one hand, under this stress, the masks fall off, and David in particular betrays himself as a mean man with an exaggerated sense of entitlement, without a trace of recognition that his extreme prior good fortune was not a simple result of personal merit. One can start to see the man who has upgraded his family (via divorce and remarriage to a younger model) on two previous occasions. His current wife, Jackie (who was in fact - surprise! - an actual model) may previously have seemed grounded but now we see her inability to stop spending money, even when (in theory) she has none.And yet one can almost sympathise with the family. The couple express incredulity when it's suggested that they solve their financial problems not just by selling their unfinished palace (which has become a millstone around their necks) but by moving into an apartment like anyone else. And yet - when you have nine children, dozens of servants, countless pets - how could you possibly live in an apartment? The world should surely not let anyone become as rich as it did the Seigels. And yet, it's hard to avoid feeling for them as they contemplate downsizing.It's a fascinating documentary. A glance on Wikipedia tells us what has happened since it was completed. Siegel is back in business, and is even working on completing his Versailles again. And one of the couple's kids is dead, at the age of eighteen, of a drug overdose. Maybe that sympathy was misplaced. Plus ca change, as they say, plus c'est la meme chose.

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nadjabem1

HAHAHAHAHA!!!! White trash in big houses going broke. I laughed my ass off. I hope they get arrested for animal abuse, corruption, fraud, and basically running a giant ponzi scheme. And the stupid twits want people to feel bad for them. Oh boo-hoo-hoo. Typical republicans. They think they are funny rigging elections, taking money from pensions to funnel into their illegal and endangered animal hide wallets. Everyone call CPS and animal control. Report them for the abuse that is documented in this film. Then call the US Attorney General and demand prosecution for his self admitted illegal crimes. I hope this asshole ends up in prison.

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evening1

The most amazing thing about this documentary is that the principals, David and Jaqueline Siegel, allowed so much access into their homes and unraveling lives. When the film begins, the May-December pair is sitting on top of the world -- she quite beautiful and happily managing a brood of eight children, he building a palace with a view of Disney World's fireworks that would be the biggest house in the world. He still seems to appreciate his hyper-sexy wife, who boasts obvious breast implants that she displays in clingy, low-cut dresses.By the end of the film, David Siegel is looking much worse for the wear. He sits alone in a disheveled home office, eating dinner from a tray, griping about petty wastes of money, such as when a family member leaves a door ajar. Due to crises in the economy, he has lost a lot of his fortune and is working to stave off bank creditors and foreclosure. This saturnine figure who freely admits he cannot separate business from family won't even give his wife a kiss.The film paints a highly poignant portrait of Jackie, who says she married a man 30 years her senior strictly for love. Apparently suffering from a need to shop compulsively, despite her family's financial woes, she is often shown gamely approaching her husband and trying to humor him or make a vain stab at chat.A great sense of sadness seems to pervade this clan, whose children nevertheless appear to have come through it all pretty well. One feels for the tunnel-visioned David and hopes that Jackie will somehow find some peace.

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