USA/Denmark,
2012, 100 min
Shown in 2012
CREDITS
- dir
-
Lauren Greenfield
- prod
-
Danielle Renfrew, Lauren Greenfield
- cam
-
Tom Hurwitz
- editor
-
Victor Livingston
- mus
-
Jeff Beal
- source
-
Magnolia Pictures, 49 W. 27th Street, 7th Floor,New York, NY 10001,aayers@magpictures.com
www.magpictures.com
OTHER
Employing the deft, insightful eye of director and acclaimed photographer Lauren Greenfield, The Queen of Versailles unspools a simultaneously grand and down-home tale. The film is a character-driven documentary about a billionaire family and their financial challenges in the wake of the economic crisis of 2008. With epic proportions of Shakespearean tragedy, the film follows two unique characters, whose rags-to-riches success stories reveal the innate virtues and flaws of the American Dream. The film begins with the family triumphantly constructing the biggest house in America, a 90,000-square-foot palace. Over the next two years, their sprawling empire, fueled by the real estate bubble and cheap money, falters due to the economic stagnation. Major changes in lifestyle and character ensue within the cross-cultural household of family members and domestic staff. This Sundance Film Festival favorite continuously surprises, enthralls and engages, as its audience gains unique access to a lifestyle few can even dream of, meanwhile seeing a little bit of themselves in every frame.
FACTOID #343
Director Sally Potter was the first person to be honored with the Festival’s Satyajit Ray Award. In 1993 she was interviewed onstage and her new film Orlando was screened. In 2005, she turned the tables by interviewing Peter J. Owens Award recipient Joan Allen.
