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.
Lauren Greenfield instinctively knows what questions to ask, when to ask them, and, more importantly, where to put her camera to mine this overflowing treasure of events. She constructs a series of glowing metaphors to concoct a fascinating character study of parents, children, pets, and household employees as their privileged existence turns upside down. The end result is a portrait of a couple who dared to dream big but lose, still maintaining their unique brand of humility. –Sundance Film Festival
searing exploration not just of "rich people" and "consumerism" but of the American dream and the loneliness it leads to (I completely disagree that it vilified David. He knows the vicious circle he is caught in and that knowledge humanizes him like all of us who lead lives we know don't so much as approach our ideals & are incapable of changing)
Let me add EVERYONE, not just David and Jacqueline- but also the maid, the chauffeur, and J's friend Tina, the black couple that buy the timeshare are shackled by their "dreams". What is the purpose of life indeed? Why do we desire 'success' - financial or reputational? What makes us happy? Questions easy to evade by exonerating ourselves of what we accuse the screen characters of...
An interesting doc that starts out about the excess of the wealthy and then turns into something interesting as they get hit by the mortgage crisis and have to adjust their lifestyle. While the doc does a good job at humanizing Jackie by painting a sympathetic picture of her, it also rightfully vilifies her husband David who's obsession with money and success seem like his only motivations in life.
An overview of the 55th edition of the oldest continuously running film festival in the Americas.
An overview of what the critics are saying about the winners.
“Like a Theodore Dreiser novel for our time, infused with the vivid, vulgar spirit of reality TV.”
