When The Clowns Come Marching In, ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’

A delusion shared by two individuals, folie à deux is the premise of Todd Phillips’ sequel to his 2019 film Joker.

DC’s Clown Prince of Gotham and Arthur Fleck’s Joker persona don’t have much in common other than sharing the same brand of green hair dye, greasepaint and living in Gotham.

The Joker has always been an enigma, unlike the rest of the characters that populate Gotham’s dark streets. The Joker is the only one without a definitive origin story; Jack Napier, Jack White, Arthur Fleck… he’s a real John Doe.

There have been numerous iterations of the Joker, but none of them have been as visceral, uncomfortable and repugnant as Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) in Joker (2019). He is perhaps the only Joker with an extremely fanatic fanbase both on and off-screen. If you were a die-hard Batman fan, then Joker (2019) is a film that needed to be put in a lead container and shipped off to the universe where Gotham became No Man’s Land and no one had the means to watch this film.

Arthur Fleck in Joker: Folie à Deux is a pale shadow of the man he was in the first film.

The film makes this distinction amply clear from the beginning. The opening animated sequence ME and MY SHADOW which is a recap of the finale of the first film tells the viewer that it was not Arthur that pulled the trigger, but the Joker. Arthur simply let the jack out of the box and was at the wrong time and the wrong place, taking the fall for a volatile version of himself.

Another name in the long list of names that have let him down.

Now Arthur spends his days locked up in Arkham Asylum where the guards are no better than the criminals they keep in line. With his lawyer Maryanne Stewart (Catherine Keener) working to get him transferred to a facility where he can actually get psychiatric help, there is a glimmer of hope for a path of redemption for this gaunt broken man.

A chance meeting with a deranged fangirl at a music therapy class causes the train to switch tracks. Harleen Quinzel aka Lee (Lady Gaga) is a girl enthralled by the very idea of the Joker. So enthralled is she that she checks herself into Arkham and begins to woo Arthur, winding up the jack in the box that he has buried deep inside of him.

Normally in the DC Universe, we see the Joker manipulate the naïve shrink, Dr. Quinzel into a life of insanity and crime. He is the ‘puddin’ who she lives for. Now, DC is of course trying to split the clown duo by bringing in Punchline (Harley’s replacement) and making Poison Ivy as Joker’s replacement.

This isn’t the first iteration of the subversion of Joker and Harley. Telltale’s Batman series also has a version of Harley taking the reins and Joker following her orders (until he comes into his own).

But here that relationship dynamic is completely turned on its head. Harley carefully cuts off all of Arthur’s escape routes and sources of help, completely isolating him and molding him into what she wants him to be. She makes it quite clear from the get-go that she will build a mountain from a little hill. If Arthur doesn’t comply, he’d get promptly pushed off the cliff. Ironically enough, this is the best portrayal of their toxic abusive relationship on screen to date.

Arthur, who is absolutely smitten, ignores all the warning signs, which is how his downward spiral begins, not that he had made much headway going uphill.

Folie à Deux goes out of its way to rewrite all the character development Arthur had in the first film. Here, despite whatever misgivings and hate you felt for his character in Joker (2019), you can’t help but pity him. You are now convinced that his lawyer’s theory is sound. That he’s a victim himself and a product of the miserable existence endured from the day he was born.

And at the very end, Arthur realizes that not even the Joker is there for him. He started a joke but he was the only one crying. He didn’t see the joke was on him. Missed opportunity to include the iconic Bee Gees number in this one.

Just like The Hangover should have stopped at the first one, Todd Phillips should have pulled the plug on the clown, instead we are subjected to a musical thriller. Perhaps the reason why Lady Gaga was brought in as Harley Quinn.

A musical set in the dark universe of DC, is something not even the inmates of Arkham Asylum could fathom. When the film was announced, the joke was that there would be a scene where the Joker would just break into a song in the middle of Arkham’s halls with everyone joining in. With the frightening accuracy of the Oracle of Delphi, this is exactly what happens. 

Every time the music starts, you curse the orderlies that thought music therapy was a good idea. It helps absolutely no one. There could have been so much time saved by just putting in one line of communication instead of dedicating three to four minutes of precious screentime and budget to a song.

It gets so painful that even the Joker begs and pleads with Harley to “Please, stop singing.”

She doesn’t listen. Maybe she went deaf with all the cacophony and explosions around, or maybe it started all the way in the beginning when Lee serenades Arthur with “Get Happy.”

“When the Saints Go Marching In” is a constant refrain throughout the film. The allusion to Arthur being a saint is not lost on the audience, anyone can become a saint enduring that singing for 139 minutes.

Lady Gaga has also released an album to commemorate the occasion titled Harlequin. She shines not when she’s singing the jazz standards but rather the original compositions; “Folie à Deux” and “Happy Mistake.”

The film somehow fails to live up to its description as a musical with both Phoenix and Gaga abruptly breaking into song in vintage stage play like sets. It comes out of nowhere and breaks the continuity of the already frayed narrative. 

Part musical romance part court room drama, the film is confused as to what it wants to be. Is it supposed to be a reflection of Arthur and the Joker? The courtroom scenes just serve to recap the events of the first film with a lot of pointless exposition. Arthur’s self-representation in court can be summed up neatly in the viral Ace Attorney meme: You are not a clown. You are the entire circus.

The screenplay written by Todd Phillips and Scott Silver lost the plot early on. Nothing could be done to salvage what could have been a melancholic macabre tale of a clown gone wrong. 

The cinematography is where the film scores. The dark, moody lighting, the juxtaposition of the bright umbrellas held by the guards while Arthur in the dull beige and brown Arkham walkway is drenched in the rain, the shot of Joker singing with the spotlight shining on him, Arthur picking himself up and making his way out of the rubble. Meeting Lee at dusk, after limping his way up on those iconic steps, in a complete contrast to how it was in the first film, where he triumphantly dances alone in broad daylight coming down. The fantasy song sequence where Joker and Harley dance on a rooftop with a No Vacancy at Hotel Arkham sign illuminated at the back.

The disappointment that is Joker: Folie à Deux will probably upset the frenzied fans of the first film.

Just like the clown clique grows disillusioned with their clown prince in the film, so will his off-screen supporters.

Folie à Deux is a cautionary tale of what happens when you cannot get a handle on that fire you started and how easy it is be discarded by the same people who put you on the pedestal.

On the bright side, we shall never get a third instalment.

That’s life
That’s what people say
You’re ridin’ high in April
Shot down in May