The Queen of Versailles

Title: The Queen of Versailles

Date: 2012

Media type: Documentary

Category: Families in Society, Internal Dynamics of Families, Family Resource Management

Keywords: work and family, family demographics, response to crises, financial management

Rating: PG

Audience(s): High School Age, College Age, Adults

Language: English

Film/Episode Summary: This documentary follows a once extravigantly wealthy family that has lost the lifestyle they could once afford. It focuses on the dynamic changes as the family has to live with less and less. The father and husband works constantly to try and salvage as much as he can from his once booming time-share business at the expense of time with his wife and children, not that he was very involved before they lost money though. The family struggles to understand the world that they have to start living in, a simpler and less entitled one.

Comments or Recommendations for Teaching: What roles does wealth play in the family system in this documentary? What do you think these individuals are struggling with the most? How can you relate to them and their situation? What role does the father’s job and business play in the individual family members’ lives? What about in the family system?

Places to view: Amazon Video, Vudu, Itunes, Hulu, Netflix

Contributor: Ian Brunzell-Looney