Todd Phillips returns to form with Warner Bros.’ Joker: Folie à Deux, along with Joaquin Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck/Joker role. “Folie à Deux” translates from French to English as “Madness of Two.” This is a perfect title as Lady Gaga joins the main cast for this Joker sequel as Lee Quinzel, aka Harley Quinn. However, the ‘two’ could also represent the two parts of Arthur: himself and the Joker. Or are they just one entity? This film answers the question.
The film picks up with Arthur being admitted to Arkham Asylum while he awaits trial for the five murders he committed under the Joker moniker from the first Joker movie. Without giving too much away, Joker: Folie à Deux leaned heavily into the Warner Bros. studio name. The film began with a pseudo-Looney Tunes animated intro to the film, setting the tone for the movie ahead. Past that, the first act mostly builds up to Arthur and Lee Quinzel’s (Harley Quinn) meeting.
The overarching story and themes were fairly straightforward when you look past the hullabaloo and pandemonium of Arthur and Lee’s fantasy world. The film had a barebones depiction of jail life for a fictional world, nothing as colourful as Batman or CW’s Gotham worlds. It continued to lean into the concepts of the first film, stressing how badly a city could be ruined if social services were unchecked and not properly funded.
Also, it showed how one man or one idea could be the catalyst of martyr vs terrorist. Philips appeared to have taken inspiration from “The Man Behind the Red Hood!” and the iconic one-shot graphic novel The Killing Joke in terms of giving the Joker a backstory for his films. Again, without giving too much away, Joker: Folie à Deux flirted with the idea of really forcing the inappropriate depiction of mental illness from the last film but narrowly tweaked it to work for this film.
It also displayed a dramatic flair and attention to high-profile criminal court cases. Most recently, the Johnny Depp v Amber Heard defamation case was a loose comparison to when celebrities were broadcast live in court. From a story perspective, the musical moments flowed with the story fluidly for the most part. There may have been at least one song where the cut into their singing scene was abrupt.
The cameos of characters from Joker worked well for the purposes of Joker: Folie à Deux’s story; they were not just some random, fan service appearances—everything was meaningful. The actors and the characters they played were a masterclass. Phoenix, Lady Gaga and Brendan Gleeson (Officer Jackie Sullivan) all killed it. I would put Harry Lawtey’s (The Pale Blue Eye) Harvey Dent up there for his smarmy performance as the assistant DA on Arthur’s case.
Phoenix continued to kill his role in every shot, selling the Joker persona to all of Gotham. He still killed his weird dancing moments he did in the first movie, but he had some nice choreography in this one for the musical numbers. Phoenix’s commitment to slimming down is crazy, but I will always respect him for his dedication and method acting in the role for these films.
Lady Gaga’s Lee was a different style of Harley Quinn we have not seen. Rather, she is portrayed as having clear intentions who she loves, and she is not afraid to trust in her own abilities and independence to get her way. In some other Harley stories, her love interests become muddled, and she is overly obsessed and fawning over the Joker.
“The cameos of characters from Joker worked well for the purposes of Joker: Folie à Deux’s story; they were not just some random, fan service appearances—everything was meaningful.”
Lady Gaga’s performance in Joker: Folie à Deux was spectacular, really playing to the strengths of her singing voice. I felt like this style of movie worked because she could convey her emotions through song. This was what made her fantastic in A Star Is Born. Her voice strangely complemented Phoenix’s scratchier voice, but even Phoenix’s voice was so good on his solo songs. The melody choices really felt like Lady Gaga’s style of music, especially when she collabs with Tony Bennett.
Gleeson as the corrections officer, Jackie, was perfect. He delivered a stellar performance, playing both bad cop and good cop roles. There were subtleties in his happy moments with Arthur, but they still kept him in line. While he was more lenient on Arthur, he was tough on the Joker—catching the Joker whenever he slipped out. That is, if you believe the Joker is a separate entity.
“Lady Gaga’s performance in Joker: Folie à Deux was spectacular, really playing to the strengths of her singing voice.”
As strange as it sounds, Joker: Folie à Deux was indeed a musical! The score continued to be as epic and menacing in the moments it needed to be, with a twist of jazz and swing. Hildur Guðnadóttir (Tár, Women Talking) returned to compose the film after her Academy Award-winning work on the first film. If you got the chance to catch Emilia Pérez at Cannes or TIFF this year, this was another genre-bending play on the musical genre that worked for each film’s respective plots.
In terms of music and the set designs of Joker and Harley’s fantasy talk show world in Joker: Folie à Deux, it was like La La Land meets Rent. It was less on the rock side of Rent, but the emotional singing was a good match. The production design for the musical portions was like La La Land because the sets were made to look built but looked incredibly built—adding to the nuisance of each musical number.
The costume design and makeup were superb, delivering his iconic look at the end of Joker. Lee’s Harley Quinn makeup and costume was an interesting variation from other media and comic depictions. It felt more tame, but maybe this was to show that she was also still finding the right level of her wild persona. It was not as unique as Margot Robbie in Suicide Squad or as iconic as the harlequin playing cards.
Joker: Folie à Deux was a great sequel to a film that did not necessarily need a sequel. But if Philips is dishing out more of these highly stylized and wonderfully shot comic book-adjacent films, I am always down to give it a look. For the cinephiles who love different aspect ratios, this has a staple 4:3 for you. Fans of the first film will enjoy Joker: Folie à Deux as a follow-up. Just be prepared for more singing and dancing than the last one.
