The FX series Feud offers plenty to admire, but not everyone will find its charms. It’s a limited series for fans with an appetite for period glamor and an interest in the outsize stars that populate its story.
Sarandon and Lange are a joy, as are Zeta-Jones and Bates. Truman Capote (played by The White Lotus’ Tom Hollander) provides a welcome counterpoint to the ladies’ self-sabotage.
Starring Susan Sarandon and Susanna Lange
FX’s Feud is a star-studded retelling of the battle over What Ever Happened to Baby Jane, and a good deal of its success hinges on the performances of Sarandon and Lange as rivals Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. The show’s pacing and the commitment to depicting both women as complicated and flawed help make it work, even when it succumbs to an excess of explain-y exposition and an awkward plot device (documentary interviews).
It’s impossible to imagine the real Davis and Crawford tolerating each other with the ferocity shown here, which makes it all the more satisfying that Sarandon and Lange are so convincing in their catfighting. Both actresses went deep into the research, studying their faces and voices to find their versions of Davis and Crawford.
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The rest of the ensemble is terrific, too, from Alfred Molina as embattled Baby Jane director Robert Aldrich to Judy Davis as gossip columnist Hedda Hopper to Stanley Tucci as producer Jack Warner and Kathy Bates as a cackling, dirt-spilling Joan Blondell. Mad Men alum Kiernan Shipka also joins the cast as Davis’ daughter.
Directed by Jon Robin Baitz
While the aforementioned actors are the backbone of Feud movie, it also benefits from a fine supporting cast. Tom Hollander delivers a surprisingly layered performance as author Truman Capote, while Diane Lane (Slim Keith), Chloe Sevigny (Lee Radziwill), Demi Moore (Ann Woodward), and Russell Tovey (John O’Shea) all bring their own unique charms to their roles.
Baitz, who co-wrote In Cold Blood and adapted the original Baby Jane, delves deeper into the friendship between Davis and Crawford than any previous screenplay. His understanding of the nuances of their relationship is a huge selling point for this series.
Feud movie is best enjoyed by those with familiarity with the history behind the infamous feud. However, it isn’t necessary to enjoy the glitzy production values or performances from Sarandon and Lange. A thorough familiarity with What Ever Happened to Baby Jane will also help. Karina Longworth’s excellent You Must Remember This podcast is an invaluable resource for any fan of this movie.
Feud Movie is Written by Baitz
As a stylish humanist, Baitz has been able to find humanity in even the most unsavory figures of our cultural past. And with Feud, he’s returned to the subject of Hollywood and older actresses — specifically, Joan Crawford and Bette Davis — in a show that combines his affection for those legends with a keen curiosity about their dark side.
Rather than simply depict the women as petty, bitchy rivals (which it could have done), Feud delves into how they got under each other’s skin, with the help of terrific performances from Sarandon and Lange. Catherine Zeta-Jones delivers glimmering, glam-infused acting as Olivia de Havilland and Kathy Bates is a cackling, dirt-spilling delight as Joan Blondell. Alfred Molina plays Baby Jane director Robert Aldrich with a mixture of button-pushing buffoonery and empathy for his thwarted aspirations to make a movie that was more than just a cheap horror flick about two faded stars.
With its lustrous wigs and costumes, and a cast of formidable divas, Feud is ceaselessly watchable. But as a story about the way the machine marginalizes older women, it sometimes lets its focus slip.
Starring Bette Davis and Susanna Lange
The story of Joan Crawford and Bette Davis fighting for relevance against a backdrop of Hollywood’s sexism and ageism is ripe for drama. And while Feud is never less than watchable, the show falters a bit when it delves into the specifics of the rivalry.
Fans will pause to admire every eerie wig and lust over closeups of wrinkles, but the series could benefit from more insight into their relationship as characters. Karina Longworth did a wonderful series on the pair for her excellent You Must Remember This podcast, and having that as background is helpful.
The series is at its strongest when it depicts how gossip and male ego (embodied here by Stanley Tucci as Jack Warner) corrode the best impulses of the movies. And while Feud’s exploitation of Crawford and Davis as camp icons does make for some grotesquerie, it also offers glimpses of their fragility. Watts and Sarandon are both tremendous, with a steely resolve that pierces the icy exterior of their characters. Moore and Lane are similarly formidable, bringing their own sense of haunted panic to the proceedings.
Produced by Jon Robin Baitz
The second season of Ryan Murphy’s anthology series Feud focuses on a fascinating period of American history that continues to resonate. It also happens to be quite good, bolstered by exceptional performances and interesting formal ideas, courtesy of screenwriter Jon Robin Baitz (Brother’s & Sisters).
Feud jumps back and forth between the events leading up to the publication of Capote’s thinly-veiled roman a clef, Answered Prayers, in 1975 and its aftermath. At the center of it all are two great and troubled actresses, Joan Crawford (Susan Sarandon) and Bette Davis (Joan Lamont).
Both have hit career peaks that will never be reached again. They are too old to play the demeaning, limiting roles Hollywood offers them and too tired to care anymore about the gossip that eats away at their dignity.
Their only refuge is their director, Robert Aldrich (Alfred Molina), who struggles to keep a vision and his dignity intact in an industry driven by the bottom line. Feud movie observes how cynicism, nepotism and male ego corrode the best impulses of cinema. And despite some anachronisms and unbelievable moments, it is mostly convincing. Follow Buzz Today for more!
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