I skipped the first season of Ryan Murphy's "Feud" anthology, but I was curious about the second, which is about a scandal involving Truman Capote (Tom Hollander). Murphy managed to assemble quite the cast, including several actresses who we don't see much of anymore. Capote is a celebrity from before my time, and I didn't know anything about his "Swans," the group of high society women that Capote was friends with. Listing out all of their credentials would take a higher word count than I'm willing to spare, so let's just call them Babe (Naomi Watts), Slim (Diane Lane), CZ (Chloe Sevigny), Lee (Calista Flockhart), Ann (Demi Moore), and Joanne (Molly Ringwald). Babe, Slim, and CZ are the most important, and only Babe really gets close to the same amount of narrative emphasis as Truman.
Because despite the title, "Feud: Capote vs. The Swans" is all about Truman Capote. We move backwards and forwards in time, but the inciting incident for the feud is the 1975 publication of chapters from Truman's in-progress novel Answered Prayers in "Esquire," spilling the secrets of the Swans, and driving one to desperate acts. Most of the eight-episode miniseries is spent charting Capote's downward spiral, from the break with the Swans to his death in 1984, Answered Prayers still unfinished. We get to know his romantic partners like John O'Shea (Russell Tovey) and dear friends like Jack Dunphy (Joe Mantello). We learn an awful lot about his relationship with his deceased mother (Jessica Lange), whose phantom occasionally drops by to have uncomfortable conversations with Truman.
Some of the story is told from Babe's POV, because she and Truman had the closest friendship, and she suffered a particularly tragic end. Naomi Watts gives one of the better performances in the show, as the fragile, lovely Babe, who wavers about burying the hatchet with Truman, and seems the most hurt by his absence in her life. None of the other women in the show are given quite enough attention to make me care about them, despite some good narrative hooks. Ann might be a murderer. Slim is wrathful and betrayed. CZ maintains friendly relations. Lee - well, Lee is so underwritten that I had to look up who she was in Wikipedia. "Feud" isn't really interested in these women outside of their relationships with Truman, and it's a pity, considering the caliber of the talent recruited to play them.
However, "Feud' is pretty successful at being about one the most famous gay American men of the twentieth century self-destructing under enormous pressure and scrutiny. Tom Hollander has no trouble with Capote's accent, mannerisms, or ability to switch from charming, loquacious raconteur to petty, cruel muckraker. We see him at his best and his worst, from the peak of his celebrity in 1966, after the publication and success of In Cold Blood, to his final days as an alcoholic and drug addict. There are some interesting conceits here, such as a totally fictional meeting between Truman and fellow gay writer James Baldwin (Chris Chalk). The two discuss Truman's work and relationships from a more critical angle, giving the events some historical context, and offering some explanations for his ruder behavior. And then there's the finale, which can best be described as a collection of fantasy interludes that allow Truman to go out on his own terms.
Ryan Murphy didn't have much to do with the production of this season. Gus van Sant directed six of the eight episodes, and Jon Robin Baitz wrote all of them. However, "Capote vs. the Swans" has all the usual hallmarks of Murphy's work - opulent production design, fabulous costuming, and a focus on gay narratives and women's stories. The particular focus here is on the friendships between wealthy women and gay men, and how those relationships can go as sour as any other relationships. While there's some of the expected lionizing of Truman Capote and his work, I respect that "Feud" gives us a pretty balanced portrait of Capote. He was wildly talented, but also deeply troubled, and despite winning the friendship of so many influential, powerful people, managed to alienate just about everybody in the end.
This probably could have been six episodes instead of eight, and I wanted more of the Swans, but the series eventually won me over. I'm a sucker for high society scandal, literate dialogue, and impossibly well-dressed characters, and "Capote vs. the Swans" is rife with all of them. It's not the best take on the material, but it's good enough. Those who don't have an interest in the subject matter might find it slow or repetitive, but for the right audience, this one is a treat.
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