Premise: A time share mogul and his wife are in the middle of building the largest single-residence house in the U.S. until the '08 market crash happens and makes them cash poor.
I'm not an "eat the rich" type, because I think it's a lazy way to look at things. That said, I'd be OK if we did eat some of the rich.
It's not that the Siegels, patriarch David and titular matriarch Jackie, are the worst people. Jackie is sort of nice in her own way. They are just out of touch. Director Lauren Greenfield smartly doesn't spend the movie trying to tear the Siegels down. The film isn't relishing in their abrupt financial struggles. It sort of feels like a release valve situation. Greenfield calmly captures the family's "plight" for long stretches, then takes an occasional dig at them to release the pressure, like a parent who yells at their kid after they've been annoying them about the same thing for 6 straight hours. You don't think the parent hates their child, but you just need to give them that moment on occasion.
What's interesting to see in The Queen of Versailles is something we all know but still have to remind ourselves of: rich people aren't any better than us. Jackie is completely unequipped to run a house without a full staff working for her. When the family has to cut back after the financial crash, the house is a mess. There's dog shit all over the floor. Pets are dying because no one feeds them. Every room is stacked with boxes and containers. There's nothing about how they are actually living their lives that I'm envious of. What's crazy is that they aren't even poor at that point. They still live in a mansion. They still have a full-time nanny and housekeeper. They throw extravagant parties. Jackie goes on spending sprees. Yet they still live like shit. This movie was oddly healing for me, because I was able to look around at my life and not feel so bad about it, even though I wasn't rich like them. Don't get me wrong, I'd happily trade bank accounts with them, but I don't feel like they are living a better life simply because of the fortune.
I love a right place, right time documentary. Something where the filmmaker came out to make one thing then finds herself in the middle of something bigger than she realized. Often it ends up like Icarus, in which the filmmaker isn't up to the challenge, and the movie mainly works because of the power of the story, not the effectiveness of the filmmaking. Occasionally, you get a Queen of Versailles, in which filmmaker Lauren Greenfield seems so ready that you'd think she predicted the '08 market crash. Her camera is at the center of everything going on with the family and she approaches it all with curiosity. The film realizes that regardless of what is happening, Jackie is the kind of person they want to profile. The adversity only makes it more interesting. This isn't an iron sharpens iron movie. It's more of an iron shatters glass movie. It began as a display of extravagant wealth and ended as a movie about the folly of extreme wealth.
My only regret is that I wanted them to add an 8 years later addendum to it. I've gathered that David Siegel is still worth half a billion. David hasn't traded Jackie in for two 20-year-olds yet. The oldest kid apparently died of a drug overdose at one point. That's all I could find out. Honestly though, I probably don't want to see how they are all doing now. They're probably back on their feet, having learned no lessons. The kids are all insufferable, entitled teens now. And who wants to see that? Greenfield did make a spiritual follow up in 2018, Generation Wealth, which I'm not as interested to see. That looks like it has much more direct "eat the rich" energy, and I'm not ready for more exhibitions of incredible wealth.
Side Note: I was howling every time they tried to blame the evil banks for trying to ruin them. Sorry, I'll cut the plumber making $50,000 a year some slack for not understanding finances enough to avoid ruin. The Siegel's are in trouble because they literally mortgaged their future for extra millions. Blaming the bankers is a move that's only allowed for people who are relying on 401ks. Nice try though.
Verdict: Weakly Recommend
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