Review of The Queen of Versailles (2012) by Cody C — 22 Dec 2012

The best documentaries have an unforeseen plot development midway thru filming, to give the story more breadth than originally intended. The plot point here is the financial collapse that adversely effects the protagonist billionaires as they run out of funds midway thru their biggest-ever business venture concurrent with construction of their $100M palatial residence.

They suffer the same fate as the rest of us - they can no longer afford their lifestyle, only on an exponential scale. The great Ponzi scheme that is our financial system is laid bare as they continue to sell timeshares to investors who cannot afford the investment, so that they can keep their own properties from foreclosure.

I do not dislike these people and I take no pleasure in seeing their fall from grace, but I did enjoy being a fly on the wall for this uniquely American riches to rags story.