3. October 2024
Perhaps no movie laugh is more powerful than Joaquin Phoenix’s in “Joker,” which showcases the 49-year-old’s full acting ability as he comes close to crying. Phoenix won him an Oscar, and Todd Phillips’ 2019 drama is considered by many to be a cult film that combines comic book adaptation, psychodrama and social commentary. Now the sequel, “Joker: Folie à Deux”, is coming to cinemas on Friday – and it’s taking an entirely different path.
So, this time Phillips is trying a surprising format: a kind of music. Lady Gaga took the second lead role. At least the movie team manages not to copy Part 1. Otherwise, the film will appeal especially to fans of Lady Gaga and Phoenix. Because just to watch the Phoenix, the film is worth it. Once again he plays the Joker – real name Arthur Fleck – completely appealing as a mentally ill, socially isolated man who goes mad.
Fleck is in Arkham Forensic Psychiatry after the murders he committed in Part 1. While awaiting trial, he meets his true love – embodied by Lady Gaga, who plays a version of the Harley Quinn comic book character named Lee. While Fleck struggles with both sides of his personality – as the violent Joker and as the traumatized Arthur – he finds his musical side alongside Lee.
Phoenix and Gaga perform several musical interludes in “Joker: Folie à Deux”, some of which are 1960s big band songs. And at the request of the pop star, the singing was done live during filming, as Phoenix emphasized at the Venice Film Festival: “I answered: ‘No, we won’t! You can sing live if you want. But I don’t.’ And finally we did it.”
In any case, music runs through the film. The duets between Joker and Harley Quinn only happen in the protagonist’s imagination. 60’s classics like Burt Bacharach’s “What the World Needs Now Is Love” contrast with the dark atmosphere of Gotham City. “I wanted the whole thing to feel like music that Arthur listened to with his mother when he was younger, music that she played for him,” said director Phillips.
In addition to the music, much of the film is taken up in the trial against Fleck. Although his lawyer hopes that her client will be found not guilty by reason of mental illness, the prosecution is demanding the death penalty. The more time Arthur spends with the manipulative Lee, the more his Joker personality reemerges.
But in the end, the audience doesn’t learn much new about “Joker: Folie à Deux”. The powerful moments that characterized the first “Joker” are missing. The film is much less spectacular than its predecessor. What songs resonate. And the acting of two excellent main actors.