Simply A Masterpiece

Powerful

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

This film is worth watching just to get a heads up on the time-share business. I saw this movie just before I went to Las Vegas. When I got to Las Vegas, I got caught in a sales pitch for a time-share. Well, I knew just what to say to fend them off and collect $100 without passing Go. This film shows how the time-share people do not respect the buyers (marks). Watching this film made me appreciate my life. This is a good example that Gordon Gecko can be wrong. In this film, greed is not good, particularly when you are not happy. This film gives an insight into conspicuous consumption, an unhappy dysfunctional family and proves that money is not everything. I would say, before you buy a time-share watch this film.

There's a lot that can be taken away from this documentary, and I believe that this is a documentary in the truest sense of the word. Cautionary tale is, however, not something I would take away.More often than not I believe that people become extremely wealthy by having some level of good sense. For those who fit that description I don't begrudge them whatsoever. I really don't have much to say against anyone who earns their fortune, be it large or small.Yet David Siegel is someone who built his empire getting people to buy into his properties with money down that the vast majority of them didn't have. Toward the end of the documentary David has the audacity to say they can't be living beyond their means. Yet he got his wealth by getting people to vacation beyond their means. I find no sympathy for him whatsoever.Meanwhile there is Jackie Siegel, the silicone built trophy wife who in one sense talks about the hard work she put into obtaining a computer engineering degree and working for her hometown company of IBM, and you almost want to feel something for her. But then you see her indulging in expensive beauty treatments, having animals she is incapable of taking care of, and seemingly clueless that when you rent a car you don't get a valet with it.All of this is played against the backdrop of two properties: the largest single family detached home based on the layout of the Palace of Versailles (90,000+ square feet), and the Planet Hollywood Westgate Tower in Las Vegas, the crown jewel of David Siegel's professional properties. The house was built on land the Siegel's owned and would have been built without financing, except he took a mortgage out on the house to reinvest back into the company. And they began building the house only to have a place to store all the stuff Jackie was buying up compulsively.Meanwhile the PH Westgate has opened and things are looking good until the sub-prime mortgage crisis of 2008 hit, and the construction company for the tower hasn't been paid in full. Most of the documentary is taken up by David's desperation to find revenue while having to lay of 7000 employees (which he feels bad about in passing comments) so that he can keep both his grotesquely huge house and his brand new tower.Some interesting underlying stories develop however when one of the few house staff who isn't laid off talks about her upbringing in the Philippines. Her father simply wanted to own a concrete house. What money she makes she sends a portion back to help family and friends. She's content to live in a playhouse for David and Jackie's children.The other stories surround the children themselves. David's oldest son is the VP of the company, and says he and his father have only a professional, business relationship, nothing close to resembling a father/son relationship. And while he acknowledges that the best advice is to let go of the Vegas tower and nearly all the money issues would be solved, he encourages his dad to hold onto it.The other children are much younger, and it's clear that they don't seem to be as interested in the money as their parents seem to be. They wonder why their father doesn't join them for dinner. One of David's daughters is rightly upset that her efforts to help the family out by learning to cook is going both unnoticed and unappreciated by her father. Their mother is buying so many animals that the kids don't even know what all their pets are. And it's clear that David and Jackie just don't work as a couple when they live out their version of financial hardship as none of the children in the home seems to really matter to either of the parents. David goes so far as to say his greatest accomplishment in life was building his business, and then gives passing mention to his children.I'd want to say this is a cautionary tale, but in all honesty I don't believe it is. It is more about how people are sold on an idea to spend more vacation time together by buying something they can't really afford with money they don't have (and may have to dip into their savings to get) by a man who has seemingly has all the money in the world but has little to no time for his own family, has no savings, buys property only to mortgage it in order to gain "cheap money" to be reinvested, gets mad at the banks for allowing him to do that and then wanting their money back, all to keep two properties that he doesn't really need. And the filmmaker just showed it all unfold.

The American Dream is classified as rising above what you started with. The Queen of Versailles is a documentary about living life on a pedestal and shows what the American Dream is all about. It also shows us how the American Dream can easily be turned into a nightmare. The documentary follows billionaire David Siegel, 74, his significantly younger wife, Jaqueline Siegel, and their eight kids (one of which was inherited). David owns the largest privately owned timeshare company in the world, and the fruit of his labor is very obvious. He and his family have private jets, yachts, a big house, multiple nannies and help, many pets, and an excessive amount of clothes and personal belongings. On top of it all, the couple is building what turns out to be the largest home in America. It's modeled after the palace in Versailles and it is 90,000 square feet. When asked why David wanted to build it, he says, "Because I can." Lorraine Barrett, a real estate agent, claims that "it's the jewel of the United States." During interviews, David immediately gives the impression that he is one of the most important people in the world and that his way of life is the most sensible one. When talking about lower- class people, he explains that, "If they don't want to feel rich, then they're probably dead." But not everyone in the household feels this way. Jonquil, their inherited daughter, came into the family from nothing. She says, "There's nothing normal about rich life." She brought reality to the family and humbled them. She says she doesn't want to be spoiled. Jacqueline also came from nothing, growing up in New York in a three bedroom one bathroom home. But she has embraced the royal-like lifestyle. She first met David through people in her modeling career, and she claims that they have a great relationship. In 2008, the stock market crashed, and chaos ensued. Alan Greenspan said it was a "once in a century financial crisis." The Siegels were no exception to being affected by this disaster. Since the company, as David says, was built on cheap money (money from banks), the company quickly went into debt and the banks did not relent. Jaqueline says, "I almost feel like the bankers are like vultures, like circling around waiting for the animal to die instead of helping out the situation." The family had to make major cutbacks on shopping, sell most of their assets such as their jets and yachts. David says that "I'm a victim of my own success, or failures." What this documentary does well is depict this family as the royals they feel like. David is instantly shown as the self- righteous "king," and his wife is immediately pictured as the trophy wife. However, as the movie progresses, it can be seen that the real victim in the relationship is in fact Jaqueline. One of their own children claims that he only married her for her looks and to show her off. Jaqueline genuinely loves him and believes that they are in love. He obviously has more interest in his business and success than in her. He even says in an interview that he doesn't draw any strength from their marriage during the hard times. The documentary also does a good job of showing how each of the members of the family is affected, as well as everyone involved in the timeshare company. The documentary shows that an economical crisis can affect anyone, even the once-financially sound. Although the documentary does show different aspects of the results of the crisis, the movie tends to jump around a little too much. The documentary shifts from focuses on the Siegels, then to families outside of the Siegels, and then back to the Siegels. The viewer expects that the main point of the movie is going to be how the Siegels are affected, not how everyone else is. However, even with the shifting focal points, the documentary still shows the issue at hand in a very real light. In conclusion, the documentary is worth watching. Even though at times the interviews and scenes are comical, the flaws and faults of humans are revealed throughout the movie. People are attracted to money and success, even at the risk of failure. The documentary tracks the process of the Siegels coping in a new lifestyle, and it shows that relying too much on one thing can be the end if things go south. Not one person is safe from anything. Unfortunately, the feeling of being invincible is another human flaw, and The Queen of Versailles shows us that invincible is simply something we're not.

David Siegel was a wealthy Florida developer of time share properties. He was so successful, that he influenced politics and expanded into Las Vegas. The Siegel was at the top of the world. His wife is Jaqueline Siegel. Together they have seven kids. They started to build a massive home in Orlando based on the French Palace of Versailles. And then the financial boom turned into bust.It would be easy to do a superficial ridicule of their family. He's a money grubbing Republican. She's a former pageant queen trophy wife. But they are more than 2-dimensional characters. Sure she could be a compulsive buyer. She could say dumb things, but she's not a simpleton. She started as a computer engineer, but had a troubled first marriage. And for him, there is something more than money in the Las Vegas property. Could it be pride and redemption?Of course, there is luck of the draw. I'm sure that the documentarians didn't foresee the financial meltdown. After the meltdown, the financial stress truly test the family relationship. How could anybody script Jaqueline asking the Hertz rental guy where the chauffeur was? But sometimes reality beats any script that the best writer can come up with.