Dir. Bennett Miller, 2005, Canada/USA, 98 mins
Cast: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Chris Cooper, Clifton Collins Jr, Mark Pellegrino, Bruce Greenwood
Review by Lorna Allen
‘’More tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones’’
This is the final epigram of Bennett Miller’s tragic biography of flamboyant and sharp-witted author Truman Capote (played here by Philip Seymour Hoffman) who became the publishing phenomenon of the sixties and whose internationally best-selling book In Cold Blood became the first ’non fiction book’ and influenced the future of writing. It is also a line from Capote’s final book Answered Prayers which sadly never fully materialised. In fact, after writing In Cold Blood Capote never finished another book. For years Capote claimed his next work would be a ‘Proustian masterpiece’ and its substance and content was shrouded in mystery and rumour (and is still something of an urban legend to this day). Several instalments appeared in Esquire in the seventies and took the form of an expose of high society where facts were thinly disguised as fiction subsequently alienating the, by this time, deeply troubled author from many of his acquaintances and cronies. Answered Prayers seems like a self-destructive act – a wilful punishment, if you will. Capote’s career peaked when In Cold Blood was published but it marked the beginning of the end. It is believed that Capote’s exploitative behaviour of his ‘subjects’ , Perry Smith (Collins Jr) and Dick Hickock (Pellegrino) haunted him for the rest of his days - ‘’I’ don’t think I’ll ever get over it’’. Perhaps Answered Prayers was his way of punishing himself and exercising his self-hatred for his betrayal of a man who could so easily have been him had their circumstances been different.
Miller’s film, based on Gerald Clarke’s book ‘Capote’, documents the six year research process and writing of Capote’s ‘non fiction book of the decade’ which was inspired by a 300 word article on the back page of the New York Times in November 1959. The article, about the brutal murder of four members of a middle class farming family in rural Kansas, gave Capote, fresh from the success of his iconic portrait of literary heroine escort Holly Golightly in Breakfast At Tiffany’s, the idea for an article of his own. He succeeded in pitching his ideas to the New Yorker and headed off to Holcomb, Kansas with his trusty childhood pal, Nelle Harper Lee (an understated and distinctly less glamorous Keener), the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of To Kill a Mockingbird, as his assistant. Together Truman and Harper win the trust of the locals including Alvin Dewey (Cooper). When the perpetrators are apprehended several months later in Las Vegas Capote realises that he is now dealing with the subject matter of his next novel – the collision of two Americas.; the wholesome middle class rural family life of the Clutter family contrasted with the extreme poverty , neglect and amoral antics of their murderers. The murder suspects - Hickcock and Smith - waive their rights to an attorney in the hope of creating favour with the judge after receiving some rather dubious advice. Capote immediately senses a sensitivity and intelligence in Perry, who reads, keep a diary and sketches, which draws him to the prisoner and leads him to mould his story around him. He sends to New York for a high fashion photographer and finds the boys a lawyer earning the men’s trust and friendship – he even tenderly nurses the weakened Smith back to health when he goes on hunger strike.
The ambiguity in the film resides in the fact that Capote’s initial desire to befriend and get to know the men and prolong their lives soon becomes replaced with a burning and ambitious desire to finish his real crime book which cannot be done until ‘justice’ is done and is therefore predicated on their execution. It’s hard to know what his true intentions are and the audience sense that Capote is at a loss as well. Capote is therefore torn between his feelings for Perry, with whom he shares a particular bond, and his driving ambition and his desire to garner praise and accolades for his work. He barely disguises his frustration when he finds out he men have secured another appeal – and denies the men’s later requests for a new lawyer, turning his back on them - refusing to come visit or answer their calls. Finally he is shamed by Harper Lee and his long-time partner Jack (Bruce Greenwood) to go pay one final visit before the execution.
In Cold Blood transformed Capote’s life. It acquired him international notoriety and critical acclaim but it destroyed his soul – leading him on a downward spiral of drugs and alcohol abuse. Bennett doesn’t dwell on these addictions however as is the standard in the ‘biopic’ (see Ray and Walk the Line as examples), and Capote’s internal conflict and decline takes precedence and is subtly evoked in Hoffman’s nuanced and controlled performance. Instead, the film depicts the turning point where and the reasons why his life went into decline.
After a string of impressive supporting performances in films like Happiness, Almost Famous and Boogie Nights (to name but just a few) Philip Seymour Hoffman’s masterful performance as the diminutive writer, which involved six months of extensive preparation and the shedding of 40lbs, is currently the toast of Hollywood and the buzz around the film is likely only to increase in the coming weeks. After scooping numerous Best Actor awards, including the Golden Globes, BAFTAS and the Screen Actor’s Guild the money’s on him to walk away with the Oscar to boot! Capote has also received the great honour of being praised by Harper Lee who has described it as ‘’a film that told the truth about Truman’’ in a two page letter she wrote to the director after seeing it.
Capote was indeed an eccentric and complex character and Hoffman has nailed his rather peculiar accent – a rather odd melange of Andy Warhol sleaze and Cartman (from South Park) nasal childlike monotone drawl. Hoffman’s Capote is wholeheartedly and outrageously effeminate, a rather brave admission given the decade, and minces around showing off his Bergdorf scarf and designer rags in Hicksville central without hesitation – intending to shock. Depicted as the ‘life of the party’ in New York high society Capote always plays to this enthralled audiences and laps up the attention lavished upon him with his tall tales and sharp wit. A man who suffered loneliness, isolation and a sense of being on the outside as a child there seems to be a desperation about him to be loved and praised – perhaps that is something all truly great artists experience. A shameless self-promoter he even pays the porter on the train to complement him in front of his best pal Harper Lee. Smooth, sophisticated and charming when he wanted to be Capote could turn into a dummy-spitting petulant child in the click of a finger – turning on an intense, dispassionate stare. Hoffman’s portrayal reveals a man who is obsessive and self-absorbed to the point where he is prepared to exploit and manipulate to get what he wants. He earns Perry’s trust and holds out the hand of friendship only to snatch it away when it is needed the most and throughout everything Perry remains grateful to him for his friendship which is a fraud, is it not? Well, that’s the ambiguity in the film. Capote at once is self-interested and single-minded in his pursuit ‘I’m desperate to be done with it’ he moans more than once. When asked by Nelle if he genuinely holds Perry in esteem he replies ‘He’s a goldmine’. However, in their interactions there would appear to be a general empathy between the two men who share stories of their upbringings and find similarities in their pasts despite the obvious differences. Capote acknowledges this in one scene when he remarks: ‘’It’s as if Perry and I grew up in the same house and one day he got up and he went out the back door and I went out the front’’
Kimmel’s cinematography is fitting with the austere and subtle style of the film which seeks not to distract attention away from the strong central performances and the dialogue, which, in the case of Hickock and Perry, was derived practically word for word from the letters they personally wrote to Capote (and he later lent to Gerald Clarke). The widescreen shots of flat, desolate Kansas landscapes in muted greens and greys are accompanied by Mychael Danna’s haunting instrumental score. The whole film is permeated with an impending sense of doom and tragedy.
Discuss this film here
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment have announced the UK Region 2 DVD release of Capote for 3rd July 2006 priced at £19.99.
Features include:
- 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
- English DD5.1 Surround
- English & Hindi subtitles
- Commentaries with Philip Seymour Hoffman, Director Bennett Miller and Cinematographer Adam Kimmel
- Documentary about Truman Capote
- "Making Capote" Featurettes Parts 1 & 2
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