Today I just finished watching the documentary Queen of Versailles (which some in the movie pronounce Ver-sass) which is about David Siegel, a rich time-sharing mogul, and his comically-large-breasted, much-younger wife, Jackie Siegel, and how they got caught up in the financial crisis of 2008.
Their claim to fame is that, before the crisis, they were building the largest private residence in the country – 90,000 square feet, and costing $100 million. It was going to have its own ice skating rink, among other crucial features. Siegel was heavily leveraged, though, and as the documentary progresses, you see the family get swallowed up in their worsening financial problems.
I confess, I watched the movie thinking I would really dislike this couple, but that didn’t happen. Sure, the old man is really shallow about his wife – – it’s painfully obvious that he married her because of her body, and she tells her things like “when you hit 60, I’m trading you in for three 20 year olds” – – and the woman isn’t exactly a rocket scientist. But they both seem decent, and the husband in particular is really trying to do his best during a terrible crisis in his business.
Far more nauseating is watching the people who push the time share properties (this was before the crisis took place). We see one morning sales meeting, which I suppose must have been a daily occurence, in which the lead guy is getting them revved up and telling them that they “save lives, just like doctors”, since people who take vacations are healthier. These time share places are, let’s face it, not great investments, and the poor suckers getting into these things are being goaded into doing so, therefore it’s a little disquieting seeing the salespeople being told what a noble thing they are doing.
Anyway, if you have Netflix, give it a watch. It’s a pretty fascinating view into the lives of two really everyday people who, for a while, just happened to be surrounded by a lot of flashy cash.
Here’s the trailer, which captures the film beautifully:
