‘Joker: Folie à Deux’: Languishing Musical Sequel Misses the Nihilistic Fury of Its Predecessor

Alci Rengifo

When Todd Phillips’ “Joker” premiered in 2019 it was a polarizing pop cultural phenomenon. The nihilistic, grimy reimagining of the iconic character seemed to tap into the public mood. It went on to gross $1 billion and receive 11 Oscar nominations, winning for its music and Joaquin Phoenix’s despairing performance. The film felt like such a self-contained, overwrought curiosity, with no link to DC’s planned expansion of new Batman films, that it didn’t leave much narrative space for a natural sequel. But money talks, and now we have “Joker: Folie à Deux,” a pretentiously-titled follow-up that is its own kind of curiosity. Phillips’ premise is a half-baked romance, a yawning courtroom drama and an imbalanced musical. 

Still set in the 1980s, the plot picks up five years after the events of “Joker.” Arthur Fleck (Phoenix), the loner who snapped on live television and murdered a late night host, is now at Arkham Asylum. He is still quite a depressing sight, while enduring the taunts and abuse of guards like Jackie Sullivan (Brendan Gleeson). Arthur’s lawyer, Maryanne Stewart (Catherine Keener), is preparing his case for trial, with the angle that Arthur’s murderous acts were the result of a split personality disorder. His six victims were really the targets of his alter ego, Joker. When Sullivan takes Arthur to a music therapy class, the patient sees Harleen “Lee” Quinzel (Lady Gaga). She is not only a fellow loon, but a big fan of Joker. It turns out a hit TV movie was made about Arthur’s crimes and Lee worships him. As the trial approaches, Lee lightens up Arthur’s mood, even as the world threatens to completely swallow him up.

There is a strange lack of energy or even urgency to the narrative of this film. Folie à deux means a shared psychosis or delusion between two people. Phillips’ gimmick with writer Scott Silver is to have two disturbed lovers within a movie which is itself a case of split personality disorder. To say you are doing a musical about the Joker in that context promises a wild time. Instead, “Folie à Deux” prefers to be about nothing while languishing first in Arkham, then in a courtroom. The first “Joker” was essentially a veiled homage to Martin Scorsese’s dark character studies, profiling a disturbed man with pseudobulbar affect living in his fantasies of being a stand-up comedian but really operating like a dangerous recluse. Arthur’s stresses, insecurities and frustrated desires, like his crush on neighbor Sophie (Zazie Beetz), exasperated by a crippled mental health treatment system, build up until he kills. There were real fears in 2019 that the film would become a rallying cry for incels. Pop culture debates swirled over whether “Joker” was a commentary on our current mental health crisis, Trump’s MAGA followers, or both. 

“Folie à Deux,” which brings back much of its predecessor’s technical crew, will inspire no such debates. The basic structure is that we spend time with a languishing Arthur who cheers up thanks to Lee. She pushes him to do silly things like croon before press photographers in the rain after she starts a fire in the asylum. We get our first ever Joker sex scene when they find a spot to do the deed. The musical angle comes in when Phillips cuts to Arthur’s inner thoughts, where it is his clown-faced Joker who lives out fantasy moments. Purposefully singing out of tune like a cast member from the 2012 version of “Les Miserables,” Phoenix joins Gaga to twirl under the moonlight during “Folie à Deux” (an original song written for the film). This is a number that at least goes with the movie. Other selections feel tacked on without much joy, like the recurring use of “Oh, When the Saints” being played by an inmate with a trumpet. Even harder to process is why Phillips and cinematographer Lawrence Sher keep the musical moments so bland, robbing them of twisted grandeur in a production that cost $200 million. When Phoenix sings Motown Records’ standard “For Once in My Life,” while watching a news report about him, the scene lacks edge or pathos. The only fiery moment happens when Arthur fantasizes about Lee and himself in a ‘60s-style variety show, belching “Gonna Build Me a Mountain” as a duet. Not a single scene matches the brief yet unforgettable moment Arthur danced down a stairway to Gary Glitter’s “Rock ‘n’ Roll” in “Joker.”

The presence of Lady Gaga will no doubt generate excitement over this film, but also due to the use of music. Somehow, she is very much underused. Lee is never allowed to truly become a dynamic, scene-chomping character. She is kept to the margins, spending long stretches sitting in court, watching Arthur’s antics while trying to defend his case. One should assess a film on what it is trying to do and not what we wish it was, yet fans might agree this should have been a demented lovers on the run story. Phillips could have easily looked to “Natural Born Killers” for inspiration, not “The Band Wagon” (which is the movie night selection at Arkham). A disturbing, promising story is hiding in the margins of Lee pushing Arthur to always be Joker, discarding the need to heal his very serious emotional and psychological scars. The thread is lost because the couple is separated for most of the film. Courtroom moments feel needless and more like an excuse to briefly bring back some faces from the first movie. Dialogue resolves little and never attempts to give a window into what is happening inside Arthur. Phoenix keeps him visually intriguing considering all the weight he has lost yet again. Images, however, need substance in this kind of project.

Even more than the 2019 film, “Folie à Deux” can not truly be considered part of the Batman canon. Sure, these comic book movies all deal with multiverses, but Phillips clearly has no interest in evoking anything tangible of the franchise. The introduction of Harvey Dent (Harry Lawtey) as the prosecutor feels like a quick bone thrown for fans to delude themselves into thinking this is a Batverse flick. The ending will prove especially infuriating for some circles. It may also be the one bold moment in this movie, where Phillips seems to be announcing he means it when he says he doesn’t want to make a third entry. Could it also be a director releasing his own frustrations over being cornered into a sequel? “Folie à Deux” can feel unplanned, like something the filmmakers had to make because the first movie made so much money. Was everyone just too burned out on comic book plots and studio demands to bring any drive to this? 

Playing the Joker has become one of those coveted do or die roles. Phoenix is the second actor to win an Oscar for playing the character, after the late Heath Ledger won posthumously for his unmatched performance in “The Dark Knight.” Had Gaga been given more space to make Lee into something special, surely it would have outrun Margot Robbie’s bubblegum take. The pop diva never flies in a “Folie à Deux” that feels too hollow. Eventually, her character simply walks away – literally. Hildur Guðnadóttir’s music score sounds like a sole track on repeat, its brooding strings copied over from the first movie. When someone explodes a car bomb, we almost feel relieved that something is happening in this movie that cannot justify its 2 hours and 19 minutes. The audience is left with a frowning clown, laughing at nothing and dancing without a proper tune. 

“Joker: Folie à Deux” releases Oct. 4 in theaters nationwide.