Joker: Folie à Deux – A Symphony of Madness or a Duet in Despair?

In Joker: Folie à Deux, we go back to the broken, decaying world of Gotham City where the only things more broken than the buildings are people’s minds. OBJECTS Todd Phillips returns to artfully ignite Joker (2019) in gasoline; this sequel is, consequently, a chaotic spectacle. And oh, what a wedding it is.

It’s Arthur Fleck’s* life back—gleaming as darkly as a broken streetlamp and slightly more optimistic about the role that he is suited to fulfill in Gotham City. The only difference being that he is not alone as he conducts his lunacy this time around. Here comes Harley Quinn played by Lady gaga with a new instrument to the band of doom. This is where you may argue this is not just Joker 2 but, Joker, the Musical, and the beautiful ballad Arthur and Harley share here is not so much love but rather psychosis.

Folie à Deux starts with the fire breaking through the wall, and it only mechanically and detachedly underlines that Gothic’s best years are over. It remains just as monochrome as it seemed to have been when seen through a lens of black and white and just as friendly as any crowd during the evening rush hour. The film was shot like a cousin to old Hollywood crime dramas, with Phillips emphasizing grime and decay; he is intent on reminding us that hope abandoned Gotham long ago.

Madness in Harmony

But now, it’s one thing to immerse ourselves in Arthur Fleck’s twisted psyche in the prior Joker, but here, Phillips swings a figurative hammer at the concept of sanity. Folie à Deux means “shared madness”, something you’ll find out is very relevant to these two singers. This is where Harley Quinn’s insanity is tragic; or rather, almost tragically delivered in the form of a songstress who has gone mad from a world that makes even less sense as being two souls choosing to live in Gotham willingly.

Oh how crazy Harley Quinn is, well done Lady Gaga but honestly she has not changed much from wearing strange outfits and acting strange either. What other maniacal position is in her career portfolio? Her dramatic pendulum of emotions ranges from frailty to instability with occasional episodes of psychotic breakdown, and while Joaquin Phoenix portrays Arthur Fleck in a promo movie where he is portrayed as the ‘love’ of this woman’s life, it’s better to understand it as a poorly-judged idea to date a would-be psychopath. It was like Romeo and Juliet, in prescription medications vs. the untreated wounds of the human spirit.

Still, though Gaga takes the role, she really goes through the motions as expected, while Phoenix steals the spotlight. It is the artlessness of the Joker’s villainous evolution where Arthur’s downfall in this movie is a slippery slope and not a rise to power. He stays the uncomfortable core of the movie, or rather of its focus, a cracked mirror that reflected the worse side of people’s indifference. But as always, Phoenix grace through his character, putting through an incredible performance to make us embrace the darkness along with him.

The Musical Interlude We Didn’t Expect

and then there’s the music. There are musical numbers in this Joker movie. But instead of taking us away from the dark pessimism they plunge us deeper into it The themes and the settings are marked by pessimism. It is a combination of Fred Astaire tap dancing while sleep walking and dancing through a fever dream. While it rather comes off as shocking, as if a director thought that the only way to portray Arthur Fleck’s psychotic break specifically is through dance and holding various songs.

If you though that the ‘classic’ Joker was cringing, you have not seen Arthur Fleck singing on jazz and whilst developing psychotic joy. It is an unsettling aural work that at any given time seems more like a funny suggestion because it is terrifying – and the terror is amusing. Maybe that’s the point. Humor is, really, the only way that Arthur knows how to deal with the present situation. In Folie à Deux, the laughter persists in that relentless manner where satire and comedy don’t get a chance to be silent when they should.

A Love Story or a Shared Delusion?

Arthur and Harley’s connection is the movie focus, however, labeling it a romance as in Titanic, is a joke. This is not love in any form or manner that could be defined—it is better described as two people participating in a slow suicide with backup music. If ever there was a difference between love and obsession, Harley’s love for Arthur is more on the obsessive side with Harley just looking for someone who shares the same level of quirkiness as she does. It is a folie à deux to the core because the two characters infect each other with madness until there is none intelligence left.

Such a chemistry might appeal to fans of a ‘toxic masculinity’ dynamic but experiencing them on the big screen is like watching a slow motion car crash. I use mess, violence and sometimes even perversion, which is why the book has always been, it seems to me, exceptionally close. The irrationally romantic scene in which, after being attacked by some thugs in a dark and seedy club, Arthur makes a song and dance to try and win Harley back also hit the essence of their relationship on the head. It is sweet, and if you prefer your sweets with a hint of poison say, arsenic, then it gets it right.

Final Thoughts: The Joke’s On Us

Ultimately, Joker: Folie à Deux is a bold, strange, and utterly unnerving film. It’s not for everyone—especially if you’re not a fan of musical interludes in your psychological thrillers—but it’s hard to deny its impact. Whether you love it or hate it, you won’t forget it anytime soon.

The film ends on a note that suggests Arthur Fleck and Harley Quinn’s madness is far from over. And perhaps that’s the biggest joke of all: in Gotham, insanity isn’t the exception, it’s the rule. As the credits roll, you might find yourself asking: are they mad, or are we? Either way, it doesn’t matter. In this city, the punchline is always the same.