When Feud: Capote vs. The Swans Episode 3 opens, we’re back in 1966, when Truman Capote (Tom Hollander) still had friends who loved him. Better yet, the renowned documentarian duo the Maysles Brothers—Albert (Pawel Szajda) and David (Yuval David)—are making a movie about his life, friends, and, particularly, a party he’s about to host. As a result, most of the episode itself is shot like a black-and-white documentary, as if we’re watching the unedited footage from the movie that the Maysles are making.
But before we can get to the glitz and glamor of the soirée, the Maysles need to introduce viewers to Truman’s inner circle. We meet Babe (Naomi Watts) before everyone else. Babe is Truman’s closest ally, his best friend, someone who loves him unconditionally. The pair meet for lunch at La Côte Basque in Manhattan, where Truman asks Babe to tell the cameras why she’s just enamored with him: “I love you because you understand,” she says about her friend, teary-eyed. “You just catch on very quickly. You’re like a very smart parakeet.”
A parakeet. That’s very different from an elegant swan—louder, brighter, higher-pitched. Truman, in response, says that Babe is “the absolute center of my world.” They go back and forth, but the main point is: Babe and Truman trust each other limitlessly.
The other swans meet them for lunch. Lee (Calista Flockhart) and Slim (Diane Lane) enjoy the pandering cameras, but C. Z. (Chloë Sevigny) says she can’t be herself while being recorded all the time. Both Lee and Truman calm her down: The Maysles are friends of Lee’s, and Truman says C. Z. has “nothing to fear but bad lighting.” Truman really knows how to get the ladies to put a sock in it.
Which Truman needs to do swiftly, because he has an announcement. He’ll be hosting a masquerade ball—the Black and White Ball, for this black-and-white doc—at the Plaza Hotel with a special guest of honor. Everyone is elated. But more importantly, they want to know: Who holds that prized title?
After Slim completes a one-on-one interview with the Maysles, the directors ask her for her guess off-camera. Slim gives a smug look. Isn’t it quite obvious? It’ll be her. She helped Truman with drafts of In Cold Blood, and his social circle revolves around her. But let’s remember what Truman said earlier: Babe is “the absolute center.” Everything about this guest of honor is quite precarious, and it’s delectably gossipy to have these behind-the-scenes interviews to see what everyone’s thinking about leading up to the party.
Next up is Babe, who is too shy for this interview. The Maysles tell her Truman is always talking about how perfect she is; Babe only giggles in response. What about Truman’s house? Did she buy Truman’s apartment? (The Maysles had heard a rumor that she had.) Babe has no comment. OK, Babe needs to give them something—does she want to be the guest of honor? Nope. She’s happy enough with their friendship. Special recognition means nothing to her.
But then, a scene later, the real Babe comes out on camera. While setting up for the party, Babe snaps at a caterer for including dishes better suited for a Labor Day barbecue. The caterer, Truman whispers to the camera, is Babe’s husband Bill’s (Treat Williams) latest “piece of ass.” Babe sobs to Truman off-camera, revealing her true, insecure self—and then, not a second later, we cut back to the perfect socialite we’ve been seeing in every other shot, licking envelopes with the invites for the masquerade.
C. Z. is put through hell when the IRS shows up at her front door, ready with an audit. She calls Truman for help, who eases her nerves with calm words and a glass of malt whiskey. After that, C. Z. finally, begrudgingly agrees to do a one-on-one interview with the Maysles. But she has some better news she’s ready to drop on them: Truman has selected her to be the guest of honor to make up for this IRS fiasco, although he’s not to blame for any of it. That’s all the Maysles get from her before, a minute later, C. Z. has another breakdown and asks them to turn everything off.
Truman then goes to see Slim, who is getting fitted for the party when she learns her arch-nemesis will be in attendance. Pamela Harriman (Alison Wright) stole Slim’s ex-husband Leland Hayward (Gregory North), a noted Hollywood theater producer, years ago, and Truman had the gall to invite her. Slim demands Truman uninvite her and shoos the cameras away while she screams at her “friend” through sobs. A second later, we cut to an interview with Slim, who laughs off the Maysles’ questions about their fight. That wasn’t a fight! Just a minor disagreement. Because of that snafu, Slim says, Truman has chosen her as the guest of honor.
Wrong again. The party begins with a presentation of the real special guest, Katharine Graham, the publisher of The Washington Post in 1966. Everyone celebrates Kay, who is much more excited to see the swans than they are to see her. C.Z. tells the cameramen that she knew it would be Kay all along, Slim says that she didn’t actually want the honor, and Babe says she was never in consideration anyway. Sure, ladies.
As Truman is breaking up a fight between Slim and Pamela, he receives word that party crashers have arrived. Oh, how thrilling! Truman gleefully races over to see the new masked guests: Ann Woodward (Demi Moore) and her son, Jimmy (Hudson Oz). Truman scolds Ann for showing face—doesn’t she know everyone here is whispering about the fact that she murdered her husband? Ann is furious with him for the rumor, but she still tries to make amends. She wants to be a swan again. Truman shoots back that she was never a swan. Well, she argues, her actions aren’t totally rude—didn’t Truman’s mother crash parties, too? Yes, Truman says—but his mother was also a miserable woman who died by suicide.
Ann makes a scene. “What you’re doing to us is so low, so poisonous,” she spits at Truman. “One day you will know what this poison tastes like.” Foreshadowing!
It becomes clear that the seeds of the swans’ future revolt were planted at this party. As Truman dances, Lee stares at him with spite. We cut to her confessional interview later in the night, where the Maysles ask if she was upset to not be named guest of honor. She isn’t. It’s good, Lee says, to be reminded of the fact that Truman is a bad friend who is constantly vying for power, always wanting to outdo himself. Truman is always calling certain women—who yearn for intimate relationships—his best friends, but a person can only have one best friend. Lee is tired of Truman already, as are C.Z. and Slim. Babe is the only one who is still content with the friendship.
Later, Truman watches the Maysles’ finished footage. He demands they do not release the documentary—the material doesn’t work as a film, he says. It needs to be a book. Truman is also worried about how everyone is reflected, which is why he needs to control the narrative. He then announces his next book: Answered Prayers, which he ultimately left unfinished at his death in 1984.
From Truman’s perspective, which is shown in color, we see one last scene from the ball. There’s another party crasher: Truman’s mom, Lillie Mae Faulk (Jessica Lange). Actually, that’s not quite true—Truman says he did invite her, but she’s always been one to come unannounced. She’s proud of her son, and Truman reveals that she’s the true guest of honor. Lillie is his real best friend, and she always has been.