A look into the highly complex and brilliant writer, as portrayed in the film Capote by the very talented Philip Seymour Hoffman who gives the performance of his career.

This film follows Truman Capote’s writing of In Cold Blood, a crime story that proved to be a landmark in the non-fiction novel genre. The narrative is split between the two killers, the four victims of the Clutter family, and other members of the Kansas community in which the heinous crimes took place.

Capote went to the town of Holcomb as soon as he heard about the murders, accompanied by the also famous novelist Harper Lee, in order to write about the impact on the community. After six weeks on the run, Richard Hickock and Perry Smith were taken into custody. And though the film depicts Capote saying “I don’t care one way or another if you catch whoever did this” in the early stages of the investigation, things take a turn when he develops an infatuation for the latter of the killers, Perry Smith.

Capote, however genius, and certainly possessing many good traits, does come across as a narcissist, which becomes apparent as the aforementioned infatuation takes its shape.

In a conversation with Harper Lee, for example, Capote says:
“It’s as if Perry and I grew up in the same house. And one day he stood up and went out the back door, while I went out the front.”

Further, when addressing Smith directly in the film, Capote declares: “We’re not so different as you might think.”

Capote’s falling in love with Smith therefore appears intertwined with his narcissism. But it’s a narcissism annexed with tragedy, for the capital punishment looming in the distance for Smith alludes to the self-destruction of Capote. Yet for Capote, this appears to be a necessary step for the completion and success of his novel, which is also an extension of himself.

Despite the success of In Cold Blood, Capote’s writing productivity subsequently dropped into decline, as the slopes towards the depths of alcoholism became steeper. But what could lead to such a state of instability? To what extent could Capote’s surroundings have to do with it?

Growing up in the deep south, living in the time that he did, as a homosexual, with his peculiar voice, one can easily picture a fish-out-of-water scenario, even if Capote dispels expectations and compels us to veer away from black-and-white assumptions by saying:

“It’s the hardest when someone has a notion about you and it’s impossible to convince them otherwise. Ever since I was a child, folks have thought they had me pegged, because of the way I am, the way I talk. And they’re always wrong.”

Parts of Capote’s frailties are drawn to the surface however in the stark contrast between his voice, and his description of Smith in his book, as purposefully read aloud during the film:

“Perry Smith’s voice was gentle and prim – a voice that, though soft, manufactured each sound exactly, ejected it like a smoke ring issuing from a parson’s mouth.”

Capote even prefaces this in one of the film’s opening scenes, mentioning a conversation with he’s had with James Baldwin about his novel, supposedly Another Country, to which he provides the laugh-evoking commentary of:

“He’s lovely, he’s a lovely man. And he told me the plot of his new book. And he said, “I just wanted to make sure it’s not one of those problem novels,” you know. And I said , “Jimmy. Your book is about a Negro homosexual who’s in love with a Jew. Wouldn’t you call that a problem?””

These glimpses into Capote’s frame of mind certainly provide a backdrop to the landscape whereupon his inner-storm at least appears to be comprehensible.

It is amidst all this hard logic that one can also conceive how Capote’s long-term partner Jack Dunphy sticks around, despite the lacking reciprocity and affection Capote shows this apparently kind, available and uncomplicated man who is also a writer, though admittedly a comparably less successful one, as could be said for any other writer in America at this time. This sub plot to the film is a fascinating development in and of itself.

So, consider this highly recommended as a character case study type film in this off-of-centre real life narrative.

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