The Real Housewives of Truman Capote's New York
Time|February 12, 2024
WHAT IS IT THAT MAKES RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN queer men and glamorous women so intimate-and so volatile? Consider Jennifer Coolidge's tragic White Lotus character, Tanya, who wandered off with a crew of fortune hunters she memorably described as "high-end gays." Or Andy Cohen playing ringmaster to a universe of pugnacious Real Housewives.
JUDY BERMAN
The Real Housewives of Truman Capote's New York

Half a century ago, the Andy Cohen of the Upper East Side was Truman Capote, and the women whose world he insinuated himself into were A-list socialites. For two decades, the author of In Cold Blood and Breakfast at Tiffany's heard their confessions and dried their tears. Then, in 1975, he published a story in Esquire that exposed their deepest humiliations. FX's Feud: Capote vs. the Swans, the long-awaited second season of a Ryan Murphy anthology that began with 2017's Bette and Joan, traces the friendships and eventual schism. It's a messy rendering that, at times, reverts to cliché. But beneath the distracting artifice is a psychologically rich, wonderfully acted portrait of an artist torn between his work and the life that fueled it.

Tom Hollander (the lead villain in Lotus) is well cast as the diminutive Truman, in a story that spans from the mid-'50s through his death in 1984, hopping between eras with confusing frequency. At ladies-who-lunch mecca La Côte Basque, he charms the adventurous C.Z. Guest (Chloë Sevigny), banters with brassy Slim Keith (Diane Lane, excellent), and taunts wild-eyed Ann Woodward (Demi Moore), who he insists killed her husband. A standout episode, framed as footage for a Maysles brothers documentary, revisits Truman's exclusive 1966 Black and White Ball, which marked the height of his influence.

This story is from the February 12, 2024 edition of Time.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the February 12, 2024 edition of Time.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM TIMEView All
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo is reimagining the Olympics
Time

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo is reimagining the Olympics

When Paris kicks off the Olympic Games on July 26, it will be with athletes floating on an armada of boats down the Seine River, rather than marching in a stadium as it has always been.

time-read
5 mins  |
May 13, 2024
TIME 100 HEALTH-TITANS
Time

TIME 100 HEALTH-TITANS

Last May, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued an advisory about the profound consequences of loneliness and isolation-a departure from the type of standard medical conditions his predecessors prioritized.

time-read
6 mins  |
May 13, 2024
TIME 100 HEALTH-CATALYSTS
Time

TIME 100 HEALTH-CATALYSTS

It's been a long time since there was good news about Parkinson's disease, a neurodegenerative condition that affects more than 8 million people worldwide.

time-read
6 mins  |
May 13, 2024
TIME 100 HEALTH-LEADERS
Time

TIME 100 HEALTH-LEADERS

'Catastrophic.' -BASHAR MURAD ON THE HEALTH SITUATION IN GAZA

time-read
6 mins  |
May 13, 2024
TIME 100 HEALTH-PIONEERS
Time

TIME 100 HEALTH-PIONEERS

In the wake of the pandemic, a new era emerges-marked by fresh discoveries, novel treatments, and global victories over disease. These are the most influential people in health in 2024

time-read
6 mins  |
May 13, 2024
A Man in Full, adapted and redacted
Time

A Man in Full, adapted and redacted

TOM WOLFE'S A MAN IN FULL IS A MASSIVE BOOK, IN MORE ways than one. The 742-page social novel about a swaggering Atlanta real estate mogul, which took Wolfe over a decade to write, sold a jaw-dropping 1.4 million hardcover copies after its publication in 1998. The book's themes-money, power, race, masculinity--are just as grand.

time-read
2 mins  |
May 13, 2024
The golden age of Ryan Gosling is upon us
Time

The golden age of Ryan Gosling is upon us

IN DEREK CIANFRANCE'S 2010 LOVE-ON-THErocks heartbreaker Blue Valentine, Ryan Gosling plays a husband and father, Dean, who appears to be nothing but an annoyance to his wife, Michelle Williams' Cindy, a harried nurse.

time-read
5 mins  |
May 13, 2024
A MARRIAGE OF FOOD AND FICTION
Time

A MARRIAGE OF FOOD AND FICTION

In the kitchen with Rachel Khong, author of Real Americans

time-read
6 mins  |
May 13, 2024
Greek Revival
Time

Greek Revival

PRIME MINISTER KYRIAKOS MITSOTAKIS IS DETERMINED TO MAKE GREECE THE COMEBACK STORY OF THE DECADE

time-read
9 mins  |
May 13, 2024
HOLDING COURT
Time

HOLDING COURT

AT 20, DEFENDING U.S. OPEN CHAMPION COCO GAUFF IS MOVING INTO A NEW PHASE OF HER CAREER

time-read
10+ mins  |
May 13, 2024