Movie Review: 'Joker Folie a Deux' No Spoilers

Joker Folie a Deux

Directed by Todd Phillips

Written by Todd Phillips

Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Catherine Keener

Release Date October 4th, 1980

Published October 4th, 1980

I was not a fan of 2019’s Joker. I felt the film was nihilistic and wallowed in the misery of the main character while trying to provoke audiences in the same way edgy teens provoke their elders on social media. The film proceeds with a presumed cool that never emerges in the actual film, as if Todd Phillips were assuming we were all in agreement with his vision of this D.C Comics super-villain as an aggrieved incel out for revenge against a world that rejected him: i.e Elliott Rogers mythologized as a legendary troll. The film was like a bad subreddit come to life.

Now, however, after getting a look at Todd Phillips complete vision of the character of Arthur Fleck in Joker Folie a Deux, I have to admit, I was wrong about Joker. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think Joker is good on its own, it’s plagued by Phillips' desperate desire for us to feel as disillusioned and disconnected from reality as Arthur is. Phillips’ mix of Arthur’s reality and his fantasy is muddled in a fashion that is more confounding than it is revealing of Arthur’s character. But, now, with Joker Folie a Deux, I’m convinced that Todd Phillips has pulled off an elaborate prank that I find genuinely funny, even as I am very much among those who fell for it.

Joker Folie a Deux picks up the story of Arthur Fleck as he rots in Arkham Prison, awaiting his trial for his actions in the first film. He’s facing five murder charges as no one knows that he also murdered his mother. Arthur’s murder of talk show host, Murray Franklin (Robert De Niro) has made him a folk hero to a lot of disconnected, disconcerted, outsiders who identify with his desire for the world to see him, be nicer to him, and recognize his humanity, even if he has to kill a bunch of people to get the treatment he wants.

In Arkham, Arthur is still bullied and mistreated but the drugs make it a little easier to take. His time behind bars takes a slight turn for the better as he’s allowed to take a music course at the adjacent Arkham Mental Hospital where he meets and flirts with Lee (Lady Gaga), a Joker superfan. Lee taps into Arthur’s fantasies of a world where he’s seen and beloved by millions. This fantasy plays out in a series of musical sequences where Arthur or Lee or both, belt out standards from Frank Sinatra and the Cole Porter catalog. These musical sequences, like Arthur’s fantasies in the first Joker movie, are poorly integrated into the movie and induce as much confusion about the reality of Arthur’s world as it does reveal what Arthur is thinking and feeling.

Much of the action of Joker Folie a Deux unfolds at Arthur’s trial where his defense attorney, played by the brilliant Catherine Keener, tries to convince the world that Arthur and Joker are two separate identities battling inside Arthur’s mind. Under Lee’s influence however, Arthur leans into being Joker, fires his attorney, and performs an elaborate self defense while dressed as Joker and being edgy and dangerous in court. This will culminate in an ending that is bold, brilliant, and genuinely shocking. It’s an ending that recontextualizes EVERYTHING we think we know about Arthur Fleck and Joker.

I want to avoid spoilers because I want you to see it for yourself. All I will say is that the ending turned me around about Todd Phillips’ concept of the character. Joker and Arthur Fleck are two distinct characters and, as exceptionally portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix, the distinction between Arthur and Joker emerges as Todd Phillips’ larger purpose is the character of Joker not as the legendary D.C super villain but rather as a concept. How that concept will influence the rest of the D.C universe is open for your interpretation.

For me, Phillips is laying the groundwork for what Christopher Nolan and Matt Reeves have explored in how Gotham City became a teeming cesspool of corruption and crime that would provide a solid basis for a man to put on a bat suit and begin fighting crime. The world of Joker thus begins as outsized and cruel but also a familiar place in time that, because of Arthur Fleck and his conception of Joker, soon begins to devolve into the Gotham City we will come to know as Batman emerges as its savior.

I referred to Joker Folie a Deux as a prank earlier and I mean that in the best way. The term Folie a Deux is a real term for a shared psychotic disorder, a shared delusion created by one person and transmitted to another. On the surface, you assume that the delusion is shared between Arthur and Lee or Joker and Harley Quin. But the real shared delusion is between Todd Phillips and us, the moviegoing audience. Todd Phillips used the first movie to convince us he was making a D.C Comics villain movie and now he’s revealed to us that it was all a shared delusion, reality isn’t what we thought it was, and Arthur Fleck isn’t who we think he is.

I think that’s just vague enough to keep you guessing about the end of Joker Folie a Deux. I do hope you will see it. Having now seen Todd Phillips complete vision of Arthur Fleck, I am won over to his cause. Looking at both films as one story, the full vision comes into sight and it makes perfect sense. Or, at least, it makes sense to me. Reading other reviews of Joker Folie a Deux, it’s clear that a lot of people aren’t seeing what I am seeing. That doesn’t make me right or smarter than anyone else. It merely means that Todd Phillips created expectations that many felt were not met by Folie a Deux. My expectations were exceeded greatly and thus, I highly recommend the film.

Yes, I do plan to follow this review with a spoiler review discussing the ending but go see Joker Folie a Deux for yourself before you read any spoilers. Our spoiler conversation will be much more fun if we are all on the same page in terms of available information.

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