Movie Review: 'The Queen of Versailles'

What is the difference between reality television and a documentary film? Time.

One could argue that television programs like 'Teen Mom,' 'Jersey Shore' and 'Kate Plus 8' are just as exploitative as award-winning documentaries like 'Hoop Dreams' and 'Super Size Me.'

The easiest way to evaluate the exploitative nature of a project is how much time the creator of the project puts into it. 

A show like 'Snooki & J-Woww' will turn around a season's worth of episodes in a number of months.

The director of 'The Queen of Versailles', Lauren Greenfield, spent four years making her film.

'Queen of Versailles,' which won a Directing Award at this year's Sundance Film Festival, tells the story of David and Jackie Siegel. Davis Siegel is a multi-millionaire, the owner of Westgate Resorts. Jackie is his wife. The beginning of 'Versailles' promises to depict the couple's plan to build the biggest single-family house in America.

When the stock market collapses in 2008, things begin to go very sour for the Siegels. The film zeros in on the Siegel's descent from thoroughly wealthy to barely scraping by (albeit while still living inside their smaller, other mansion).

It's a fascinating ride because these people really do not know how to fend for themselves. Jackie has no idea how to raise her children. When the servants and maids are all fired, the house begins to fill up with dog excrement. A pet lizard dies when no one feeds it. For the first time, Jackie is cooking dinner and trying to wrangle her eight children. 

All the while, David gives his wife no details about their financial troubles. At one point, Jackie says that she'll have to "watch the movie" to find out what's going on.

Many of the reviews of 'Queen of Versailles' have focused on how likable or unlikable David and Jackie Siegel come across. Some of the couple's behavior is reprehensible. Jackie Siegel feeds her eight children a steady stream of McDonald's cheeseburgers and fries. David Siegel works all the time, has no respect for his wife, and seems to spend no time at all with his kids.

It's difficult to avert one's eyes throughout this film, which feels like a slap in the face to the American dream. If the middle-class want to be wealthy and the wealthy wants to be even wealthier, when will we be satisfied? And what happens when it all ends?

I laugh because Jackie Siegel is having a hard time dealing with very basic familial issues, but I weep because it's always difficult to have one's life flipped upside down.

'The Queen of Versailles' is rated PG.

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