Feud, season 2: a portrait of the artist as an outcast, of infinite sadness (review)
By recounting the clash between Truman Capote and the New York jet set, the new season of the anthology produced by Ryan Murphy questions the place of the artist in society.
In the immense series factory run for several years by Ryan Murphy, productions are arranged by anthologies, under titles allowing you to better navigate among the ocean of in-house content. The “thrills” section is called American Horror Storythe major political-judicial subjects are classified in the section American Crime Storyand the last born, Monsterinaugurated in 2022 with the box of Dahmerpromises to return to the most chilling criminal cases in history… Hidden in the back room, Feud had almost ended up being forgotten. Seven years have passed since its first season, devoted to the flamboyant spats between divas Bette Davis and Joan Crawford on the set of What happened to Baby Jane?in 1962. There was once talk that season 2 would dissect the divorce between Charles and Lady Di, but who was going to want to see that after The Crown ?
so here’s Feud: the betrayals of Truman Capote (Feud: Capote vs The Swans in VO), which tells how the author of In cold blood declared war on his “Swans” (a gang of wealthy New York socialites), revealing their dirty little secrets in his book Answered prayers. We see, on the surface, the formal continuity of a season of Feud to the other: the pleasure of name-dropping and worldly gossip, a “decadent Hollywood” aesthetic mixing ostentatious luxury and the scent of wilted flowers, a casting of actresses whose fame itself has faded a little (Naomi Watts, Diane Lane, Demi Moore, Calista Flockhart, Molly Ringwald) to whom Murphy serves a comeback in majesty on a platter. All filmed by Gus Van Sant intoxicated by the arrogant opulence of this barricaded paradise on 5th Avenue, where time is killed with alcohol and gossip.
Social Seppuku
As is often the case in Murphy productions, however, the true intentions are hidden. The second season ofAmerican Crime Storya.k.a The Assassination of Gianni Versace, had been sold as a kind of kitsch and flashy show, before we understood that it was in reality a dive of astonishing violence into the bowels of American homophobic madness . Same here: the posters of Feud 2 adorned themselves in the United States with the slogan “The Original Housewives” – a nod to The Real Housewives, a reality TV show about wealthy housewives – in order to attract an audience fond of cathodic hair-combing. But it is the absolute sadness of the tone that is immediately striking. By publishing his scandalous writings, Truman Capote commits himself to social seppuku, which will precipitate his destiny as an absolute freak, a suicide of (high) society. Tolerated for his eccentricities (and his irritating diction, rendered with relish by Tom Hollander) as long as he stays in his place and serves the interests of the wasp establishment, the writer when he disturbs is quickly pushed to the margins , where he finds his old demons – shame, alienation, self-hatred, internalized homophobia.
The series is called Feud but other names from the Murphy house would have suited it just as well, as the mogul’s productions revolve in a concentric, more and more obsessive way, around the same themes. And the program camp with the retro scent of finding yourself somewhere at the crossroads of Monster (that’s how Capote sees himself),American Crime Story (his writings kill, sometimes literally) and evenAmerican Horror Story, when a ghost played by Jessica Lange appears in episode 2… It is a compilation of the great systemic horrors and the small, ordinary monstrosities of US society. An anthology of Ryan Murphy anthologies.
Feud: the betrayals of Truman Capotecreated by Jon Robin Baitz, with Tom Hollander, Noami Watts, Diane Lane… On Canal + Séries and MyCanal.
