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Lead Critic for the site, as well as serving as an editor when needed.
Todd Phillips is one of the most interesting filmmakers working in cinema today. Arguably, he’s a comedic director before anything else. However, 2019’s Joker surprised audiences everywhere. Moreover, with the sequel, it appears Phillips is making a mockery of his own film…on purpose.
Joker: Folie à Deux is essentially a controversial film. However, it’s nowhere near bad. The film’s budget is on display in surely every aspect. There are a few plot points that play like a bad joke. They feel like Phillips was attempting to treat the film as such too. Of course, that is not to say it feels as if he didn’t care or had no idea what to do with this sequel. Rather, it’s like he made two films his way, and they aren’t necessarily meant to be that deeply analytical, even if they can serve that purpose in some way. In simpler terms, it’s as if Phillips is attempting to tell the audience, “You’re a fool if you think this person truly believes in what you’re making him out to be.”
The first film’s inspiration derived from character studies of the 1970s, Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver being the most obvious and biggest one. In theory, Joker is a simple character study disguised as a comic book film about a mad villain. The former film also had the same reputation as Joker, even today. Audiences aren’t necessarily meant to imitate the actions of these troubled characters, though. No one can truly know the director’s intentions behind these chaotic stories either.
With Folie à Deux, Phillips had the opportunity to respond to the perhaps wrongly intended message his 2019 film gave to audiences. This time, the controversy is put on full display, and it’s either completely hated or loved by a few.
Setting the Stage
Joker: Folie à Deux begins with an opening cartoon à la Looney Tunes, of the night Arthur Fleck/Joker (Joaquin Phoenix) murdered Murray Franklin live on television at the climax of the first film. However, in an interesting turn, Fleck’s shadow stuffs him into a closet and dons the Joker’s makeup. In some sense, it’s as if the screenplay is saying that the Arthur Fleck who murdered a late-night talk show host didn’t really intend for it to happen the way it did. After his shadow murders Murray, Fleck’s shadow returns to its former self.
Todd Phillips and Scott Silver’s Screenwriting
The film’s best moments sometimes stem from its musical numbers, even if they are few and far between. The courtroom procedural aspect also works, with these moments seeking to strip down the mythos of who and what Joker really is. That’s how this sequel feels. Phillips and co-writer Scott Silver want to deconstruct, in the wildest way possible, the mythos of this character and what the audience thinks they want out of this world.
It would have been too easy and simple to have Fleck merge deeper into this persona society has put on him. He could have murdered a few more people, escaped prison, and awaited the arrival of some version of Batman. However, the exclusion of most of the Wayne storyline was welcoming. Joker: Folie à Deux essentially destroys everything Fleck ever stood for. Fleck enjoys the love he never knew, especially between himself and Harleen “Lee” Quinzel (Lady Gaga).
Lee feeds into the delusion of Joker as an idea as well. Her origin is similar, in theory, to the original story of Harley Quinn. However, she is much more aware of the supposed split between Arthur Fleck and Joker. She is revealed to be a psychiatrist, and weirdly, it appears or is implied to be Fleck’s own psychiatrist. Her role is more or less to attempt to feed into Fleck’s decent, but ultimately, he takes responsibility for what he has done.
Too Far, or Not Far Enough?
It’s a bold move for Phillips to be making a mockery of his own work. Having always felt like he just wanted to make his own art-house character study, it’s as if he wants the audience to retread their original thoughts. Joker: Folie à Deux isn’t meant to solidify Fleck as the Clown Prince of Crime, nor was that the original intent in the first film. Fleck, more than anything, is a mentally disturbed individual. He is an almost different person than he was at the end of the first film.
Joker or Not
Fleck enjoyed the attention he received as Joker, as this face the people wanted him to be. However, it looks too suffocating for him by the time he ultimately takes full responsibility for his actions two years ago. Moreover, once he accepts his actions, Lee is finished with him, and maybe the audience is too. She is through feeding into the psychosis of a mad villain seeking to bring about societal change that he cannot bring about. Likewise, the film has continued to be somewhat rejected by many audiences. It’s truly remarkable how different both films are at face value. It would be wrong to state that Joker: Folie à Deux doesn’t accomplish its goal by going in the opposite direction one would expect.
In the opening cartoon sequence, a poster of Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times is on a wall. Modern Times features Chaplin’s last performance as his character, the Tramp, where he struggles to adjust to the changing, industrialized world. This feels like an analogy for the whole saga of Arthur Fleck. The character was a struggling comedian his entire life and could never really adjust to his position as time went on. He was continually made a mockery of himself by society. However, like the Tramp, he eventually accepts his situation and takes accountability. This doesn’t necessarily make him a better person, but maybe he no longer feels the pressure to be the Joker. Then again, this is just one critic’s reaction to the film.
Technical Details
Unfortunately, Folie à Deux’s musical numbers could have been omitted, and the only real change would have been the film’s runtime. This isn’t to say they are bad, though. Many of the numbers derive from the mood of Arthur or Lee, and they seek to essentially just let the audience into the psyche of two truly odd individuals. The color work of the film is fantastic though.
Lawrence Sher’s cinematography is easily one of the film’s best aspects. It is reminiscent of his work on the first film, with wild coloring to match. The film continually shifts from warm reds, oranges, and yellows, then to calm blues and greens. It often feels like the colors are meant to also evoke the mood of the characters in that moment. The shift from the musical numbers back into the narrative at hand is smooth.
The costume designs by Arianne Phillips are also fantastic as well, as the little details with period pieces matter. In particular, the suits Harvey Dent (Harry Lawtey) wears help one perceive how vain he is. His demeanor is slightly more aggressive than one would expect.
Final Thoughts on Joker: Folie à Deux
Joker: Folie à Deux is not necessarily everything it was expected to be, although perhaps that’s a good thing. The film’s ending isn’t as entirely mind-blowing as it seems at first, either. There are two moments in particular that are great to see Phillips having pulled off. The courthouse is blown up during the film’s climax and the camera pans past an injured Dent, signaling his eventual descent into the criminal Two-Face.
Secondly, Phillips boldly decides to kill Arthur. A young inmate (Connor Storrie), who was obviously shadowing Fleck the whole film, asks to tell him a joke. The punchline is that the young inmate stabs Fleck to death and carves a smile onto his face out of focus as Fleck bleeds out. It is perhaps the most controversial moment of the entire film and a cautionary move. Could Arthur Fleck really have become the criminal mastermind so many had hoped for? Would it have worked as well as they thought? Ultimately, this ending is the most tragic of them all.
3.5/5 stars.
Todd Phillips and Scott Silver’s Joker: Folie à Deux is now playing in theatres!
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Lead Critic for the site, as well as serving as an editor when needed.
