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Film club screens Queen of Versailles Saturday

The American Dream, excess, these are some of the ingredients of our next documentary, The Queen of Versailles.
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The documentary Queen of Versailles will be shown by the Williams Lake Film Club on Saturday at 2 p.m. in the Gibraltar Room.

The American Dream, excess, these are some of the ingredients of our next documentary, The Queen of Versailles, showing this coming Saturday, March 29, at the Gibraltar Room.

The screening is at 2 p.m., back doors open at 1:30 p.m.

The documentary is about a billionaire family who plan to build the largest privately-owned home in America, a 90,000 square feet palace.

They are one of the biggest players in the time-share business and their rags to riches stories reveal the innate virtues and flaws of the American Dream.

Their future palace is only a golf ball hit away from the home of Tiger Woods.

The Queen of Versailles is a morality tale, and it is a character study.

The Queen, Mrs. Siegel, certainly demands our attention.

A 40 something, with huge boobs, eight children (she does like excess in everything), she has no problems telling her story to the camera.

She and her husband had decided to hire a documentary film maker, Lauren Greenfield, to record their biggest achievement, the construction of their palace.

It is quite mind-boggling to listen to her explain all of the details.

To watch her shop. To listen to the kids.

To see their pets suffer and die.

And then the real estate bubble burst.

They will not be able to finish their palace. They will have to down-size, imagine that. Her husband might have to trade her in for two 20-year olds.

This film left me quite stunned.

It is called wickedly funny, deliciously witty, compelling, shallow and shrewd and tough, and fun. Sorry, I missed the soul.  But then, maybe that is what is wrong with this ever expanding dream. Is there any soul?

I was amazed how the Siegels went on with their story, kept the film maker in their lives when their lives fell apart. And in that intimacy, it is a great documentary. A very close look we never thought we could get.

We are bringing you this film by request of some of our film club members, and I am glad they asked.

Admission is $5 per person.

If you bring your kids, I might be lenient, but they have to be under 14.