Susan Granger’s review of “The Queen of Versailles” (Magnolia Pictures)
F. Scott Fitzgerald observed, “Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me.”
That’s never been more evident than in filmmaker/photographer Lauren Greenfield’s socially relevant documentary about a billionaire family and their financial challenges, including foreclosure, in the wake of the economic crisis. Contemptibly irritable 73 year-old David A. Siegel made his money selling subprime time-share mortgages to people who couldn’t afford them and brags about how he got Republican George W. Bush elected president in ways that were not necessarily legal. Clueless, 43 year-old blonde, Botoxed and otherwise surgically enhanced Jackie acquired an engineering degree, modeled and was crowned a beauty queen before becoming Mr. Siegel’s trophy third wife.
In 2007, they decided to build a 90,000-square-foot mansion in Orlando, Florida, modeled on France’s Palace at Versailles. Larger than a 747-jet hangar, it’s the biggest private residence in America. Designed with 30 lavish bedrooms, 23 Jacuzzi-equipped bathrooms, 10 kitchens, a ballroom, a cavernous 60×120-foot long central grand hall, theater, bowling alley, roller rink, two tennis courts, full-sized baseball field, separate wing for their seven children (plus a niece) and a grotto with three spas behind an 80-foot waterfall, it has his-and-her offices with a 12-foot aquarium, formal gardens, an underground garage for 20 cars and family portraits in royal robes.
Out of the 19 servants they originally hired, 15 have now been fired, prompting Jackie to candidly confess: “If I’d known I wasn’t going to have nannies, I wouldn’t have had so many kids.”
After flying on a commercial plane, rather than a private jet, for the first time in decades, she rents a car from Hertz and guilelessly inquires about the name of her driver.
Since this film’s release, David Siegel has filed restraining lawsuits, alleging misrepresentation, and others have questioned the legitimacy and ethics of Greenfield’s shrewd editing techniques.
Nevertheless, on the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Queen of Versailles” is an extravagant yet surprisingly compassionate 8, a unique chronicle of the collapse of the real estate market.
