The term folie à deux in the title of the latest ‘Joker’ film refers to a shared delusion.
In Todd Phillips’ second instalment of the Joaquin Phoenix-powered franchise, delusion and mental illness take centre stage two years after the murderous events of ‘Joker’ (2019).
In a move that has been controversial with some fans, ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ (2024) doesn’t present the criminal clown in full flagrant force, having busted out of detainment and wreaking havoc on Gotham City while cackling into the night.
Neither is the character particularly akin to Heath Ledger’s nihilist, anarchist and thoroughly unhinged embodiment which birthed a legion of Joker devotees.
Instead, Phillips’ ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ pushes back against the titular character’s cult status. It defangs the protagonist with a daily dose of antipsychotics, locks him up in Arkham State Hospital and puts him on trial for his slew of murders. As advised by his lawyer, Joker’s defence is that he is a manifestation of mental illness as a result of severe childhood abuse.
As a cartoon sequence at the beginning of the film suggests, Joker is a shadow of failed comedian Arthur Fleck. For Harleen ‘Lee’ Quinzel (Lady Gaga), a patient he encounters in a separate ward of Arkham, Arthur is merely a container for something greater, a killer alter ego who Lee adores and attempts to draw out.
The film is also musical and its folie à deux plays out in a series of glossy, colourful hallucinations in which Joker and Lee sing of love, life, ambition and entertainment.
Lee is a disenchanted, trust fund baby and psychology major obsessed with Joker. Meanwhile, Arthur is actually locked up in Arkham where he is goaded by guards as he grapples with his traumatic past, his crimes, his defence, as well as the Lee and fan-fuelled tug of going full Joker.
The film is part courtroom drama, another part hyper-real musical and even, at times, somewhat of a romance.
Boasting incredible cinematography by Lawrence Sher, the film looks fantastic and both Phoenix and Lady Gaga are excellent, though Lee plays as a tad underwritten and thinly motivated.
In ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’, Phoenix as Joker is still an intense, disquieting and sympathetic character who has been let down by his mother, the state, society and the institution meant to rehabilitate him.
Bleak, lacking a little something in terms of plot, but with flashes of brilliance of cinematography, acting and music, ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ breaks the spell of a shared delusion through song and with style.
Want to win a movie ticket to see ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ (2024) or a movie of your choice at Ster-Kinekor? Simply answer the following question: What is a ‘folie à deux’? Email your name, cellphone number and answer to weekender@namibian.com.na with ‘MOVIE’ in the subject line.
– martha@namibian.com.na; Martha Mukaiwa on Twitter and Instagram; marthamukaiwa.com
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