"Feud" TV Series

Binge-watching TV series is a thing today and I am not immune to this phenomenon, although nothing since glorious "Game of Thrones" really interested me enough to invest my time to follow episode after episode - out of curiosity I decided to check something fairly recent, since the subject appealed to me + combination of talents involved seems intriguing. Before you know it, I gulped three episodes, although the programme has only eight so this is not going to be punishing task.

Many years ago, I had read delicious "The Divine Feud" where Shaun Considine in detail discussed lifelong competition between two Hollywood biggest screen goddesses Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. As much as I can remember after all these years, it was very entertaining and engaging read, although between the lines one gets impression that two of them were curiously not so much different - both survivors in the fickle business, they were eventually reduced to play together in a horror B movie that most of the people remember them nowadays, still fantastic and chilling "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?". Its perhaps unfair that most of the audiences know associate them with this particular movie, because both ladies cemented their legends decades before this and their 1930s and 1940s work is in fact, the reason why are they celebrated. Behind the scenes, apparently, they were fiercely competitive, although I still have doubts about the truth of it, because it might have been part of Hollywood public machinery in order to whip audiences in frenzy.

"Feud" could have been a disaster and caricature, luckily it works surprisingly fine because instead of non-stop bitching, script focuses on the position of actresses in Hollywood and how the industry treated them once they came to certain age. Both no longer young, Davis and Crawford had to work hard just to get another chance to get back on the screen and even though initially they are perfectly fine with each other, publicists, media and almost everybody around only wanted them to fight - manipulated and encouraged, divas clash on the set (which drives director Alfred Molina almost to heart attack) but the script suggest that they were both aware of what was going on. To my knowledge, Davis enjoyed this adulation and continued trashing her co-star forever since, while Crawford kept her thoughts private, but she did pull out of the sequel. Oranges and apples, two ladies were clearly opposite side of the spectrum, since Davis was magnetic actress, while Crawford was glamour star - who knows how their chemistry might have worked if they collaborated back in the 1940s when they were at the top of the game, at this point in 1962. they were forced to claw on each other. Script cleverly suggest that behind the scenes they were both hard-working single mothers struggling to stay afloat and they might have even admired each other. 

So far I have only seen three episodes, but must comment on sensational acting: Jessica Lange might have unpromising screen start in 1976. "King Kong"  but ever since her unforgettable turn in 1982. "Frances" (where she played Hollywood star Frances Farmer who was a victim of industry) I was aware of her magnificent talent and here as Crawford she burns the screen, portraying glamour diva as deeply troubled woman who hides scars of abuse behind obsessive behaviour and constant demand for glamour that kept her all those years. Davis, on the other hand, was never a glamour girl and she was aware of it - Susan Sarandon had difficult task to bring this legend to life and depict her as a human being, with all her strength and vulnerability - she actually does great job and shows Davis as she actually might have been outside of spotlights. My guess is that both these wonderful actresses accepted this task not so much for Crawford/Davis feud as much for chance to point at the position of women in the movies than and now. Even though now we have women directors and whatnot, on deeper level actresses are still perceived as disposable girlfriends/wives/grandmothers and with occasional exception, they still head for twilight where they languish overshadowed by new, fresh faces. If they were alive today, Crawford would probably be a victim of plastic surgery (because her life was based on looks) while Davis would relish roles of mass murderers, since she was always willing to explore dark sides of human soul.