The Consequences of cold-blooded lying

Rating: 9/10 (26 February 2006)

Some claim that pianists are human. And cite the case of Mr Truman
Ogden Nash, "Carnival of the Animals"
Truman Capote was not named after the piano-playing former US president, but you have to acknowledge he was human. Unfortunately, his humanity got in the way of his ambition and ego, a clash which eventually destroyed him as an artist and as a person. At least, that is the story told here, but given his propensity for the bottle he may well have finished up an alcoholic wreck even if he had never met the killers Perry Smith and Richard Hickock and not written "In Cold Blood", which is one of the finest accounts of a crime and its aftermath in the English language.
The remarkable feature of Philip Seymour Hoffman's performance as Capote (the Oscar is a certainty) is the way it projects the inner conflict between Capote's near-love for Perry and the need to get the work done, even if that means Perry getting strung up. Hoffman makes it clear that Capote, having decided the work was more important than the relationship, then, because he was human, could not live with the consequences. The bottle beckoned, and that was it. It is also made clear in the live reading of part of the book before a New York audience that a truly brilliant work resulted.
Dan Futterman's script, though loaded with Capote's own words, leaves enough room for Hoffman to use non-verbal ways of expressing his character's emotions. Capote was also a born liar, and like all good liars was great at sincerity. Hoffman carries this off beautifully. Sometimes you wonder whether Capote was a fantasist who believed his own lies but on reflection it seems more likely he was a ruthless realist, lying without compunction if it suited his purpose. Sadly, he could not live with the result. A moral tale indeed.