The true story of Feud: Capote vs. The Swans
The writer's fall from grace with his high-flying socialite friends in 1960s Manhattan is captured in a new Disney+ series
Truman Capote went from society darling to social pariah after publishing secrets about the glamorous women of Manhattan's elite.
"Much ink has been spilled" over the rise and fall of this "brilliant and troubled author of groundbreaking books like 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' and 'In Cold Blood'", said Vanity Fair. Now 40 years after his death, he "returns to the zeitgeist as the bleeding and bloated heart" at the centre of Ryan Murphy's Disney+ anthology series "Feud: Capote vs. The Swans".
What is the true story?
After the publication in 1965 of "In Cold Blood", a "revolutionary piece of narrative non-fiction" that "explored a notorious Kansas murder case", everyone "wanted a piece" of Capote, said The Independent.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
When he threw a "lavish" party, the Black and White Ball, at the Plaza Hotel in 1966, he "cemented his place at the pinnacle of high society".
Among the guests were his "swans", the group of "dazzling, impeccably turned out (and staggeringly rich) women who were practically American aristocracy". Chief among them was Babe Paley, former Vogue fashion editor and wife of the head of CBS. Capote had called her "the most beautiful woman of the 20th century".
A "brilliant observer of the human condition", Capote had spent the best part of two decades with some of these women, said Tatler, "two decades to explore the deepest recesses of their lives, two decades to understand them".
In 1975, he showed his authorised biographer Gerald Clarke "La Côte Basque 1965", an excerpt of an unfinished book, "Answered Prayers", based on "the lives of Truman's beloved swans and their friends".
Clarke realised that they "would recognise themselves immediately – and they would not be happy". Capote apparently replied: "Nah, they're too dumb."
He was wrong, and many of them refused to speak to him ever again. This resulted in "almost complete social isolation for the writer", said Harper's Bazaar, which was "said to have pushed him to new levels of drug abuse and alcoholism".
How has it been received?
The story has been dramatised for the screen before, most recently as the 2021 documentary "The Capote Tapes", and in 2005's "Capote", with the Oscar-winning Philip Seymour Hoffman in the title role.
The "fallout from the exposé is the focus" of this new series, said the Daily Mail. Based on Laurence Leamer's book "Capote's Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal and a Swan Song for an Era", it stars Tom Hollander as the writer and Naomi Watts as Babe Paley.
Despite having a "cast to die for", including the "wonderful" Hollander, the series is a "dud", said Lucy Mangan in The Guardian.
It is "peculiarly lacking in dramatic tension", said Mike Hale in The New York Times. And, although Hollander acts "his little pink socks off", it is "soulless, frequently crass, repetitive, confused and (by far the worst sin for a drama about gossip) downright dull", said Christopher Stevens in the Daily Mail.
Yes, there is a "certain coldness to the series", said Anna van Praagh in the London Evening Standard, but this is a "must watch". In an "age of algorithm-inspired amphetamine-laden mass market TV", the eight-part, eight-hour series from writer Jon Robin Baitz and director Gus Van Sant "feels like one from a bygone Hollywood era".
It is "luxuriously made and unhurried" and "as pleasingly daring and experimental as you would expect".
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Adrienne Wyper has been a freelance sub-editor and writer for The Week's website and magazine since 2015. As a travel and lifestyle journalist, she has also written and edited for other titles including BBC Countryfile, British Travel Journal, Coast, Country Living, Country Walking, Good Housekeeping, The Independent, The Lady and Woman’s Own.
-
The history of Donald Trump's election conspiracy theories
The Explainer How the 2024 Republican nominee has consistently stoked baseless fears of a stolen election
By David Faris Published
-
Two ancient cities have been discovered along the Silk Road
Under the radar The discovery changed what was known about the old trade route
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
'People shouldn't have to share the road with impaired drivers'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Discovering Perthshire, a Scottish wonderland
In Depth Make your own magic in this gateway to the Highlands
By Catherine Garcia, The Week US Published
-
Are celebrities ruining children's books?
In The Spotlight Keira Knightley's first novel has been met with frustration by writers
By Irenie Forshaw, The Week UK Published
-
Han Kang of South Korea wins literature Nobel Prize
Speed Read She is the first South Korean and first Asian woman to win the award
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
One great cookbook: 'Every Grain of Rice' by Fuchsia Dunlop
The Week Recommends The alchemy of Chinese home cooking made accessible
By Scott Hocker, The Week US Published
-
5 spellbinding new books to read in October. Witches and colonization tales included.
The Week Recommends Ta-Nehisi Coates shines a light on Palestine, and Louise Erdrich takes us to North Dakota
By Theara Coleman, The Week US Published
-
Rolex presents the first history of the Submariner watch
The Blend The first book to be authorised by Rolex takes a deep dive into the history of the Submariner watch
By Bill Prince Published
-
Sally Rooney's Intermezzo: does it live up to Normal People?
The Week Recommends This 'transcendent' novel sees the writer reach the 'full potential of her prowess'
By The Week UK Published
-
James Bond: what's next for 007?
In Depth It has been three years since Daniel Craig's explosive departure in No Time to Die
By The Week UK Published