Dir: Lauren Greenfield
2012
***
The Queen of Versailles wasn't quite the documentary I expected, indeed I'm not sure it was exactly what Lauren Greenfield initially expected or intended either. Rather than a story about the family with the biggest house in the world, what you get is a 'riches to rags' story where you find that money has had nothing to do with the quality of these peoples lives, they are in fact quite unhappy. There is a very eerie quality about this film, the family are deluded for sure but they never really come across as unlikable, even when they say some quite shocking things (and when I say they I mean Jackie Siegel). A great essay on the fall of capitalism as it happens, the delusion of the rich and when the greedy go hungry. Lauren Greenfield got lucky but convincing the family to let her film their endless gorging on junk food and delusions of grandeur must have taken a lot dedication. The Grey Gardens of the times.
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