This adaptation of Lawrence Riemer’s Capote’s Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song from an Era reveals its secrets while chronicling a tragic ending. . The title sequence is a cheeky delight, and the cinematography reflects Capote’s obsession with the perfect surfaces created by the swans, with the placement of flowers, place settings, and other exquisite details as well as the swans’ misery Its beauty also remains miraculously unsullied. , loneliness and bad marriages. Written by Jon Robin Bates and directed by Gus Van Sant, Max Winkler, and Jennifer Lynch, the show supports Capote’s view of outward perfectionism as both a talent and a tragedy. are doing. The camera aesthetically depicts him as a thematic outsider. Fashionably dressed but past his prime and struggling as a writer, he earns his place in these circles through juicy gossip and a cheeky but slightly snobbish approximation of friendship.
The program’s view of other stakeholders is even more ambiguous. Swan – A group that includes Diane Lane who plays Slim Keith. Calista Flockhart plays Lee Radziwill, Jackie Kennedy’s sister. Chloë Sevigny appears as CZ guest. And Naomi Watts is impressive as Babe Paley, the picture-perfect wife of CBS president William Paley, but has little depth. A loose study of a people obsessed with sophistication, it sometimes resembles the brutally colorful Esquire piece that inspired the show, “La Côte Basque, 1965.”
While that infamous short story was an even more vicious attack on some of New York society’s most carefully chosen personal brands, the series remains more agnostic than critical. Most of the people involved act nefariously, even vindictively at times, but the show rarely takes a stand on who is right or wrong.
If The Swan sometimes appears to have no fixed perspective on the events it depicts, it might just as well be said that it carefully recreates Capote’s contradictory feelings toward his friend. not. The author’s admiration for Babe’s perfection (which Watts also fully lives up to) is vividly expressed and coexists with a subtextual disgust for the elites who rejected his mother and who rejected him. There is. Tom Hollander creates a wonderfully whimsical Capote. believe One moment he was raving about Babe’s intelligence. Then we believe him when he dismisses her as inquisitive and “easily bored.” He judges her by what she sacrifices to produce her effects (such as being a good mother to her) and also hates other women who don’t meet the standards she sets. . and so on.
What holds this series back a bit is that it’s not particularly generative. tension. Most of us are familiar with the feeling of loving (or admiring) aspects of the rich and famous, and hating others for the same reasons, sometimes in the exact same moment. In other words, this Capote is more trivial and familiar than exceptional. Or great. His cheating is lightly psychologized, but not justified. The show depicts him as the most charming, socially savvy, observant, and kind, but also intentionally manipulative and cruel.
Every pity we feel for Capote (and I felt plenty) is accompanied by a full and rather damning explanation of his shortcomings, addictions, and flaws. That should heighten the drama at the center of the show. Will the “swans” forgive him? should They are? However, this subplot stalls for several reasons. One is the smallness of the swan’s world.we almost encounter them in In the fashionable restaurants where they held anti-Capote conclaves, it’s hard to gauge how much celebrity they were, or how much social influence they suffered from the Esquire article. The other is that their disagreements aren’t particularly interesting after all. The third reason is simple geography. As Capote wanders away from New York City and descends into addiction, the drama constantly cycles through themes of friendship, betrayal, regret, and forgiveness, much like water circulating down a drain.
While I’m relieved that “Swan” avoids posthumous hagiography, this dig at how gossipy friends turned on each other is interesting but a little forgettable. It’s easy. Perhaps that’s exactly what gossip is supposed to be. The drama is less about the conflict between (for example) a contradictory truth-teller seeking to expose the American elite and the lonely rich woman he loves who guards its gates than the delicate and corrupt nature of maintaining social relationships. Sometimes you start to feel like a sidekick to the work you do. . The defenses that Capote attempts to defend his actions work precisely because they are so ill-considered and inadequate. That explanation masks an impulsivity that he cannot fully explain. Perhaps at its root, the Esquire article is about the “love test” he deployed in self-destructive stages to see if the rejected people he feared the most would ultimately comply. did. Or just love him.
However, Capote’s criticism of the upper class in particular remains largely buried. Even when James Baldwin (played by Chris Chalk) steps in, he can’t sway Capote or the series to channel all the gossip into some greater purpose. Or claim.
If that doesn’t detract from the show’s other big question: What happened to the manuscript of Capote’s masterpiece “Answered Prayers” that he was writing (or failing to write) at the time of his death? , that would be no problem at all. Is “La Côte Basque” one of those evocative and fascinating excerpts from a book? and lament). It was a lot of fun to watch, but I can’t say the same for this version of Capote. Hooray.
Feud: Capote vs. Swans (all eight episodes) will premiere in two episodes on FX and FXX on January 31st, and will be available to stream on Hulu the following day, with subsequent episodes airing weekly.
