Released to theaters on Oct. 4, “Joker: Folie à Deux” is ready to be met with praise and criticism alike. The film is a mix of a thriller and musical, a combination of genres that I’ve never seen before.
The first scene opens with an old fashioned style cartoon, portraying the Joker (Joaquin Phoenix) trying to perform at a stand up comedy performance. He is seen battling with his shadow, the shadow eventually overpowering him and taking over the show. Although I was initially confused about this cartoon, I later realized that it foreshadowed the struggles of Arthur Fleck, also known as the Joker, as he fights his internal battle between his two personalities. Fleck is a patient at a high security mental hospital, and is facing a trial over the murder of six people. The film deals with mature themes such as suicide, depression and other mental illnesses.
After a bit of quick research, I learned that “Folie à Deux” is French for “Madness for Two.” I thought the title was aptly chosen, as the two main characters are Arthur Fleck and Harley Quinn (Lady Gaga), also known as Lee. Both characters are known to be a bit crazy. The film follows their journey together. The cast members had great chemistry, and were excellent at portraying the familiar characters while adding their own twists.
I was impressed with the cinematography and set design — it felt like every shot and angle had been carefully planned out, giving the film a very professional and expensive feel. A particular detail I liked was when they would show Fleck on trial, they would show him in the actual courtroom, and then they would also show him on the screen of an old camera that was part of the set, televising the Joker’s trial.
Despite the creative elements and talented actors, I can’t say I was a huge fan of the film. It felt like there were some major plot holes, and I didn’t always understand the placements of the musical numbers. As a musical, it should be expected that the characters break out into song, but I didn’t think it fit with the overall ambience of the film. The film would have felt more cohesive if they sung the songs at different times.
As well as not being a huge fan of the musical aspects of “Joker: Folie à Deux,” while watching, I often found myself getting lost and confused about the abrupt switches between scenes. I think some of the confusion was intentional, as we were supposed to feel the turmoil faced by Arthur Fleck. Still, there were a lot of things that didn’t add up. I was bewildered by Harley Quinn and Arthur Fleck’s relationship, as it seemed like they went from being strangers to being lovers in the matter of a few minutes. The film was a wild whirlwind of emotions, drama and violence, and it felt like a fever dream. Without giving any spoilers, let’s just say the ending was just as baffling as everything else; it didn’t make sense to me.
Part of my confusion probably stemmed from seeing other Batman movies, specifically the Christopher Nolan ones. Since “Joker: Folie à Deux” had a different director (Todd Phillips), the team obviously took some creative liberties, causing the film to not line up with previous films by other directors. It felt like another universe entirely — timelines overlapped and characters didn’t match. Admittedly, I have not seen the successful film “Joker” from 2019 by the same director also starring Phoenix, which is probably some of the reason for my confusion. If I had not seen any other Joker films, these details wouldn’t have bothered me, but it’s something to note.
Although I didn’t like that “Joker: Folie à Deux” was a musical, I have to admit that the soundtrack wasn’t horrible, especially considering Lady Gaga was one of the main singers. Gaga and Phoenix did their own singing, and their vocals did not disappoint. I had never heard Phoenix sing, and was impressed by his clear voice which meshed nicely with Gaga’s powerful one. Still, it was not necessary for this film to be a musical. Especially since the prequel, “Joker,” was not. Why does the famous villain suddenly need to start singing and dancing? It didn’t seem to fit the familiar character.
Overall, I would say this film had the potential to be way better than it actually was. The star studded cast and crew was not enough to save a film with a poor plot, and while I never found myself being bored, I was more perplexed, trying to grasp what was happening. I definitely had higher hopes, especially after learning that the prequel (also with Phillips and Phoenix as the director and main actor) had a box office of 1.079 billion dollars and a budget of 65 million dollars. Contrarily, “Joker: Folie à Deux” had a much higher budget of 200 million dollars, and a much lower box office of 20 million dollars so far, proving the film to be much less successful. Though the box office for “Joker: Folie à Deux” should keep increasing, it is very unlikely that it will ever reach the heights of its prequel.
I would recommend “Joker: Folie à Deux” to anyone who likes musical thrillers and is interested in the film, but just keep in mind that it does have an R-rating for violence, mature themes and language. The movie has a very dark and depressing ambiance, with random bursts of unnecessary musical numbers. The cast was impressive and the acting was decent, but unless you have a super strong desire to watch this movie, I would say you could find something better to watch — I doubt I personally will watch it again.
“Joker: Folie à Deux:” ★★★☆☆
