"MASTERFUL. A WICKEDLY FUNNY ALLEGORY ABOUT THE AMERICAN DREAM..."
"JAW-DROPPING, FRIGHTENINGLY HILARIOUS"
"GRADE A. SUCCULENTLY ENTERTAINING"
"FOUR STARS. COMPULSIVELY WATCHABLE"
"3.5 Stars. Beautifully constructed and frequently uproarious."
"GRADE A! SUCCULENTLY ENTERTAINING. The next big documentary-as-cultural touchstone."
"A SPRAWLING, RICHLY DETAILED STUDY OF AMBITION, DESIRE AND THE WILD SWINGS OF FORTUNE. A gaudy guilty pleasure that is also a piece of trenchant social criticism. If this film is a portrait, it is also a mirror."
"**** SPELLBINDING. ATTENTION MUST BE PAID. An appalling, absorbing and improbably affecting portrait."
"EXCELLENT AND UNEXPECTEDLY NUANCED."
"***** STARTLINGLY CANDID. Through a clear lens unclouded by politics or blame, it offers insight into the hazardous American practice of living beyond our means."
"JAW-DROPPING. EYE-OPENING. A FILMMAKING COUP. It combines the soul-revealing artistry of great portraiture and the head-shaking revelations of solid investigative reporting."
"THERE'S MORE GOING ON HERE THAN CLASSIC DERISION. It prompts us to think hard about what, exactly, we believe we’re entitled to."
"Hilarious and upsetting. Like a Theodore Dreiser novel for our time, infused with the vivid, vulgar spirit of reality TV. It’s often laugh-out-loud funny, but also has elements of profound tragedy and allegory."
"DELICIOUSLY APPALLING. Their lives take on a surreal, and eerily fascinating, squalor."
"FASCINATING. Director Greenfield has crafted a rather brilliant metaphor for the runaway American dream."
"A brilliant metaphor for everything screwed up about the U.S. economy and the culture that shaped it."
"RIVETING."
"JAW-DROPPING, FRIGHTENINGLY HILARIOUS."
"**** COMPULSIVELY WATCHABLE."
"IRRESISTABLE."
"YOU COULDN'T INVENT A BETTER METAPHOR FOR AMERICA’S ECONOMIC INSANITY."
"FASCINATING. What ultimately makes the film so intriguing is Jackie herself."
"UNEXPECTEDLY MOVING."
"OBSCENELY ENTERTAINING."
"Hilarious, infuriating, timely and involving. A barbed comedy of manners; an emotionally acute portrait of a marriage and family on the verge of collapse. Regards its all-too-vilifiable subjects with a complexity that should impress viewers of all economic and political persuasions."
"GRIPPING. A minutely observed implosion of the American Dream, packed with pathos over a predicament not commonly associated with the nation’s reviled 1 percent: losing everything because of the shaky economy."
"The perfect lens through which to view the bursting of the country’s economic bubble."
"MASTERFUL. A wickedly funny allegory about the American dream, greed, and privilege, the film is packed with quotable one-liners and is entertaining and engrossing throughout."
"A sad, funny film, full of the wonder of opulence and the shock of decay."
"Greenfield’s vision of a strain of nouveau riche both made and broken by imaginary economics stays with you: it's the wake-up call her subjects deserve."
"An oddly spellbinding, must-see documentary. A portrait of American cluelessness by way of absurd financial irresponsibility, and a cautionary tale about the cost of living an unexamined life."
"Fascinating. A revenge fantasy for the 99 percent."
"Hilarious – I was captivated. An equal-parts moving and funny post-recession commentary on the American Dream."
"A compassionate film that still packs a punch."
The Queen of Versailles is a character-driven documentary about a billionaire family and their financial challenges in the wake of the economic crisis. With epic proportions of Shakespearean tragedy, the film follows two unique characters, whose rags-to-riches success stories reveal the innate virtues and flaws of the American Dream. The film begins with the family triumphantly constructing the largest privately-owned house in America, a 90,000 sq. ft. palace. Over the next two years, their sprawling empire, fueled by the real estate bubble and cheap money, falters due to the economic crisis. Major changes in lifestyle and character ensue within the cross-cultural household of family members and domestic staff.
Cast:
Jackie Siegel
David Siegel
Directed by:
Lauren Greenfield