‘Joker Folie a Deux’ has made its widely known debut this October, five years after its predecessor, Joker. In the short amount of time since it first graced the big screens the movie has caused ‘ripples in the pond’ with the mixed thoughts and reviews about the movie’s style, acting, and most importantly the plot.
‘Joker Folie a Deux’ takes place following the events of the 2019 movie, ‘Joker’. The first movie sets the stage for the events in the second, touching up on the background of Arthur Fleck (played by Joaquin Phoenix) before he starts to take on the identity of The Joker, and the events that lead up to his ‘psychotic break.’ ‘Folie a Deux’ picks up two years after the ending time of ‘Joker’, where Arthur is in Arkham, a mental institution, for the crimes he committed in the first movie and awaiting trial for the murder of five men. This is where he meets Harleen Quinzel (played by Lady Gaga), who goes by Lee, and they connect and find something more to live for in each other.
‘Folie a Deux’ takes a bit of an abrupt turn from the first movie by taking on a more musical style, which seems to be a given when adding a famous pop-star such as Lady Gaga into a main role. Whereas in the first movie where there was a good amount of background music and some small singing parts by Joaquin Phoenix, this movie has an entire albums worth of songs sang by the two main characters throughout the movie. This has helped with expressing the characters thoughts and feelings besides the usual dialogue. This certainly has brought more comic relief to the otherwise dark themes of the movie.
Another point of interest with the movie is the outstanding acting of Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix. Both of them did a fantastic job at becoming one with their characters; portraying two individuals, riddled with problems of the mind, scraping to find something to live for. The acting in this movie really aids in making this movie shine, making it easier to overlook some of the problems in the movie’s storyline.
The plot of this movie is a very controversial topic for viewers, with some even saying poor things about the movie such as it feels less like a sequel and more like a spin-off. Though the characters are complex and the acting is quite stunning, the plot itself can barely stand on its own. The movie seems to be two hours of badly made side plots all shuffled together without a promising end result. The sudden romance, confusing timeline, and somewhat random mental breaks do not make a clear well built storyline. Though when it is a story about struggling with insanity that may be the point. The only real constant in the movie is Arthur’s trial as it moves forward and comes to a not-so-shocking conclusion.
Even with all the mixed feelings on this film, the only way to make one’s own assumptions is to see the movie for themselves. ‘Joker Folie a Deux’ truly makes your thoughts start spinning, muddling one’s line between good and evil, right and wrong. It is definitely worth the watch if you like the more dark and conflicting type of movies. Who knows, it may even put a smile on your face.
