The Queen of Versailles
Rated: PG
Run Time: 100 mins.
Genre: Documentary
Directed by Lauren Greenfield
Opens: Friday, August 10th
By Lisa Minzey
Over at the Phoenix Film Festival, we have been checking out some of the new movies in theaters, one of them being this week’s documentary release of The Queen of Versailles. Director Lauren Greenfield won the U.S. Directing Award for Documentary Film at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival for her work on this film.
What started out as a documentary profiling David & Jackie Siegel, billionaire couple, David being the founder/ owner of the Westgate Resorts building their dream home, quickly turned in to a much different story due to economic circumstances. Westgate Resorts at the start of filming in 2008 was one of the largest timeshare companies in the world. Life was grand; business was doing well, everyone was happy and David and Jackie were on track to building one of the largest homes in America, inspired by the grand French palace Versailles. The home was estimated at about $100 million in value when completed. The Siegel’s life was truly a rag to riches story, as Jackie & David both came from nothing and worked hard to build the American dream.
When the crash of 2008 happened, no one actually knew how much this would affect Westgate and their holdings, especially Jackie. Jackie is a smart woman, but much of her attention is placed on other things & people such as her 7 kids, her charities, shopping trips and other luxurious activities. David, on the other hand, is watching the money like a hawk; trying to figure out a way to save his company and everything he has worked his entire life for, is now slipping away.
It’s a fascinating look on the flip side of economic recession, and how it affected those that are in a higher economic bracket. It’s a rags to riches back to rags story that you should definitely check out when it hits theaters Friday August 10th.
