The (Erstwhile) Queen of Versailles

By Victoria Looseleaf

Building the largest house in America – 90,000 square feet – sounds absurd (and it even topped the Spelling residence…). What’s more ludicrous are the folks behind this American Versailles (named for the French chateau and Vegas’ Paris Hotel). Gaudier than the Donald (well, maybe not), Jackie and David Siegel tell us they’re just ordinary folks…but with more money. On hand to capture the couple’s follies, including their eight children and staff of 19, was the photographer/documentarian Lauren Greenfield, whose film, The Queen of Versailles, snagged best doc-directing award at Sundance this year.

A virtual fly on the wall of the Siegels’ “starter house” (at 26,000 square feet, that’s quite a start), Greenfield had met the former Mrs. Florida, Jackie Siegel, at a Donatella Versace party. She immediately decided to photograph the cosmetically-enhanced 46-year old in her Florida home. All was smooth sailing until the 2008 financial meltdown encroached on this family’s outré lifestyle.

And so the film became a metaphor for all the folks who lost their homes, dignity and whatever else in the economic crisis.  Sumptuously photographed with lots of risible moments (tiny dogs run rampant through the house, leaving poop everywhere; Jackie goes to McDonald’s in a limousine; one of the Filipino nannies wears a Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer suit at a Christmas party), the film brings F. Scott Fitzgerald’s quip to monumental life: “The rich are different from you and me.”

Except the Siegels’ story becomes a rags-to-riches-to-rags saga. See for yourself how the 1% live, or lived, as David, the time-share king of the world had put more than half a billion dollars in a 52-story Vegas property that the bank eventually takes. So much for cheap financing.

The flick has gotten rave reviews, and though we liked it quite a bit – click here for our KUSC chat with director Greenfield – we find it hard to relate to the Siegels as ordinary folk, even as allegory. Indeed, after the money dries up, David obsesses about getting it back, getting on top again. He holes up in his den and continually harps on the money. (“Who left the lights on?” he asks rhetorically, as if turning them off will save them some cash.)

 

Their Versailles, an unfinished monument to excess and vulgarity, stands half-built, with an asking price of some $100 million, even as Jackie, world-class shopaholic, continues buying stuff. Greenfield’s got a great eye and the story, which virtually fell into her lap, is well told. What Greenfield didn’t bargain for, though, was a lawsuit from David Siegel himself. Seems he ultimately didn’t like how she portrayed him. Hah! Another American story: When made to look like a fool… sue.

P.S. As for us, we’re going to check out Farewell, My Queen, a look at the relationship between Marie Antoinette (Diane Kruger) and one of her readers (Léa Seydoux), during the first days of the French Revolution. We understand that director Benoît Jacquot, who shot most of the film at the real Versailles, brilliantly captures the passions, debauchery and occasional glimpses of nobility that the Siegels could only hope to emulate.

 

About Victoria Looseleaf

Victoria Looseleaf is an award winning arts journalist and regular contributor to the Los Angeles Times, KUSC-FM radio, Dance Magazine, Performances Magazine and other outlets. She roams the world covering dance, music, theater, film, food and architecture. Have pen - and iPad - will travel! Her latest book, "Isn't It Rich? A Novella In Verse" is now available on Amazon. Thank you for reading! Cheers...
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