The Queen of Versailles

continued

of movie theaters, a sushi bar, and a closet that the filmmaker (or a friend) initially takes for one of the bedrooms. David Siegel boasts that he helped ensure George W. Bush's election in 2000 and that the means by which he did so were of dubious legality.

The life of the family (eight kids, five dogs) in their on-site temporary mansion of merely 26,000 square feet is already plenty luxurious, with an army of nannies, a plane, and a limousine from which Jackie Siegel emerges carrying fast-food takeout bags. A former beauty pageant contestant, she grew up in a modest neighborhood in Binghamton, New York. Returning there to visit, and eventually help out, an old friend, Jackie asks a car rental agent for the name of the driver who she assumes will be supplied with the car.

Then it all goes south. As the housing crash hits in 2008, work on the mansion is suspended, and it is put up for sale. The child care staff is cut to four; David Siegel broods in his chair; one of the dogs leaves its deposits in the midst of paradise. The family is by no means poor, but they're no longer in a position to aim for over the top, or even the top.