Warning: Some spoilers ahead!
Liv Thomson
Far removed from the grit and grip of its 2019 predecessor, Joker: Folie á Deux is a bold foray into musical courtroom drama that somewhat misses the mark.
When last we saw Arthur Fleck/Joker (Joaquin Phoenix), he’d been locked away in Arkham Asylum in Gotham City. This followed his murderous rampage having reached the end of his tolerance for society’s cruelty towards him. Folie à Deux picks up in the aftermath with Fleck awaiting trial for his crimes. While imprisoned, he meets Lee Quinzel (Lady Gaga) and it’s with her that his journey moves forward.
The end of the 2019 picture was the first major indicator of the direction that director Todd Phillips would take Folie à Deux. While being interrogated, Fleck sings That’s Life, through bouts of his signature involuntary laughter. While opening weekend has brought mixed reviews, along with poor box office results of only $40 million, it seems Folie à Deux has not lived up to the hype.
The Acting
A constant thread of charisma that runs through the entire film is Gaga. Her artistic ability being a given, she carries her musical numbers with ease throughout, infusing her iteration of Lee Quinzel with the quintessential eccentricity and dark delight that makes the character so good.
Admittedly, however, the script lets her down. Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn is markedly removed from Gaga’s Harley Quinn, to the point where it becomes difficult to tell how the two will eventually intersect. Additionally, Gaga’s absence from much of the film was palpable. All in all, her screen time amounted to just under an hour. It has to be noted that several of the clips that made up the film’s initial trailer did not make the final cut. These included a staircase scene between Fleck and Quinn, and a kiss between Quinn and another woman. Phillips spoke on the deleted kiss, saying he nixed the exchange as it “got in the way” of the context of the scene.
“Raw portrayal of a man deeply disturbed and struggling with his mental health”
As for Joaquin Phoenix, he is the same powerhouse we saw back in 2019. His raw portrayal of a man deeply disturbed and struggling with his mental health is truly harrowing. It does, at times, make for uncomfortable watching. But of course, that’s the point. Mental illness is not glamorous nor pretty. In this respect, the theatrical aspects of the film do well to get the point across. Joker as a character and concept has always been a searing indictment of the mental health system, showcasing the extremes of what can happen to those left behind. The film does well to portray the deterioration of his mind, even if it falls short in other regards.
Music
The musical elements work well at points to illustrate the depth of Fleck’s mental state, although not all the time. Clever use of old classics like ‘Bewitched, Bewildered and Bothered’ become less clever through poor performance. The same can be said for ‘Oh When the Saints’, which is, unfortunately, overused to the point of annoyance.
The film walks the line between genius and camp. While often the plot falls to the wayside of the latter, the clear narrative structure serves to pull the characters and their story back on track in time before it all gets muddled and confused. Perhaps the most effective use of song comes through the courtroom scenes. Here, Fleck’s hallucinations lend itself to the drama and theatre that court cases can often be, and make for perhaps the most entertaining scenes of the entire film.
Overall
Perhaps the most memorable clip from the initial trailer is when Lee draws a lipstick smile on a prison divider window, behind which Fleck is sitting. The iconic imagery of Joker is carried throughout the film, with clever staging and lighting choices. Unfortunately, overall, what made the first Joker film great gets lost in the haze in Folie à Deux.
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Featured image courtesy of Josh Appel on Unsplash. No changes were made to this image. Image license found here.
Liv Thomson
Just another argumentative antithetical dream girl trying her best to make her sentences pretty. She has an undergraduate degree in psychology and is currently pursuing a Master's in broadcast journalism.