The Queen of Versailles (2011)

dir: Lauren Greenfield

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. (Sundance12)

Cast:

stoker rated The Queen of Versailles

7 stars

stokes rated The Queen of Versailles

7 stars

pivic rated The Queen of Versailles

7 stars

pivic wrote about The Queen of Versailles

This is a modern-day, serves-you-right Shakesperian reality-yet-not-reality tragedy. An extremely wealthy family is hit by an economic recession and can't seem to fathom the human factors of life, only the glossy veneer of their former mundane existence. This might be the best view of economic horror and humanity since "Inside Job".

spolonio rated The Queen of Versailles

8 stars

fefu rated The Queen of Versailles

6 stars

herbivore rated The Queen of Versailles

8 stars

joe-williams added a review of The Queen of Versailles

Although it's a guilty pleasure, The Queen of Versailles is artful enough that both the prosecution and the defense could invoke it when the peasants cry "Off with their heads!" Read the review

joe-williams rated The Queen of Versailles

9 stars

bill-goodykoontz added a review of The Queen of Versailles

The Queen of Versailles is funny, sad, infuriating, instructive. It's the American Dream inflated to ridiculous extremes, until it bursts. Read the review

bill-goodykoontz rated The Queen of Versailles

8 stars

shawn-levy added a review of The Queen of Versailles

Watching The Queen of Versailles you don't know whether to laugh or cry. Read the review

shawn-levy rated The Queen of Versailles

8 stars

rene-rodriguez added a review of The Queen of Versailles

By the end, the movie has pulled off a small miracle: You become absorbed in the lives of these people for who they are and not what they own. Read the review

rene-rodriguez rated The Queen of Versailles

9 stars

rick-groen added a review of The Queen of Versailles

Everything about The Queen of Versailles, a documentary both sharply observant and deliciously funny, is jumbo-sized – the riches, the rags, his ego, her breasts, their steroidal pursuit ... Read the review

rick-groen rated The Queen of Versailles

9 stars

michael-phillips added a review of The Queen of Versailles

An indelible portrait of an American family at its most blithely macabre. Read the review

michael-phillips rated The Queen of Versailles

10 stars

kimberley-jones added a review of The Queen of Versailles

The Queen of Versailles encourages the very worst tendencies in the audience: to sneer at the Siegels, to marvel at their tackiness, to root for their fall from grace. Read the review