Feud: Capote vs The Swans, A Review

The original housewives.

Feud: Capote vs The Swans follows famed writer Truman Capote (Tom Hollander, The White Lotus) and his titular ‘Swans’ as Truman’s latest piece of writing hits a real nerve and causes the women to cut him off for good, limiting his appearances in society and sending him down a real spiral. To begin with Truman and his Swans were the hit of every social scene, regularly getting together to gossip and spill secrets but after Truman’s writing then causes the death of one of their own, the rest of the group cut him off for good. Now without his friends Truman turns to drink and finds himself unable to finish the book that started the whole mess in the first place. Before it’s too late can the old friends put aside their differences and reconcile or will this feud be the unfortunate death of all?

This was an overall fun romp and I really liked the classic vibe and very elegant 60s/70s feel. Truman and the Swans were obviously a wealthy bunch and this was massively shown through their costuming and the multiple set designs throughout, the entire series was visually stunning. Large parts of each episode were just spent brunching and it really reflected that higher class of lifestyle, very reminiscent of the Housewives of today (hence the series tagline). Even though the actual storyline wasn’t my favourite (more on that later), Feud Capote vs The Swans looked absolutely stunning and I really enjoyed watching from this visual standpoint.

I also liked the emphasis the show put on friendships and how gossip can very much be a double bladed sword. Truman initially thrived because of all of these stories he had to tell, often making fun of those lower down that him with the Swans and generally showing his worth through who and what he knew. This also ended up being his undoing however when his greed got the better of him and he spilled secrets on those closed to him, ignoring how it would make them feel in the long haul. Telling secrets can be a dangerous thing, especially when friends get involved and I liked how Feud looked at the duality of this and how Truman was only useful when he was spreading information but how this also ended up being his downfall.

I think my main issue with this series is that despite its title we didn’t really see any actual feuding? Unlike the first season with Bette and Joan this was more like a historical miniseries on Capote’s life and most of the actual fighting was minimal and one-sided. Granted we did see the fallout from Capote’s writing in the first episode with Ann’s (Demi Moore) suicide and the Swans vowing to cut him off but really the only one who actually stuck to this was Slim (Diane Lane), with the others going back to him in the next two or three episodes. What’s more I don’t think we ever actually got a scene with all six swans together? Demi Moore’s character was killed off instantly and Molly Ringwald (Dahmer) seemingly had nothing to do with the others despite being on the poster with them. I think going into this I was expecting cat fights and bitchiness and general high drama more it was more like a dramatic interpretation of Truman and his final days and if I’m being honest I wanted a lot more drama.

Despite my issues with some of the writing here I cannot deny that the casting was spot on and Tom Hollander as Truman in particular was brilliantly accurate. I remember back in uni when I studied In Cold Blood we watched a lot of interviews with Capote as well as the 2005 film and I can only describe Capote as annoyingly brilliant. In the same way I think that Hollander captured that very needy aspect of the writer and his desperation to fit in and remain relevant. So much of the supposed drama here hinged on Truman spilling secrets to stay in the papers and the series really captured these negative aspects of his persona. The swans as well were brilliant and whilst I obviously can’t compare these to the real life figures I loved the group chemistry and performances, especially those of Watts (The Watcher) and Lane.

I hate to say it but I wasn’t the biggest fan of this show and I think it’s largely because it wasn’t what I was expecting at all. The first season of Feud was messy and bitchy but this was more like a historical miniseries with no actual fighting. I will admit the performances all around were brilliant but I went in expecting something a lot more fun when really this was akin to a history drama instead of a messy catfight like the title suggested.