(Image via spotify.com)

Staff Writer: Brian Galindo

Email: bgalindo@umassd.edu 

Sometimes, art is confusing. Sometimes, art is deep. But sometimes, art is just bad.

Such is the case for the film Joker: Folie à Deux, a 2024 film directed by Todd Philips that serves as a sequel to the widely praised 2019 film simply titled Joker.

The film follows Joaquin Phoenix, playing the titular Joker, real name Arthur Fleck, as he gets put on trial for five of the six murders he committed in the original film. 

It also stars Lady Gaga as Harleen Quinzel, a character usually called “Harley Quinn,” though just called “Lee” in this movie.

The film is a musical, and while many critics panned it for this, I actually feel the musical scenes were well done. They portrayed one of the greater themes of the movie- that of being a spectacle and dehumanization of both people in the entertainment industry and the mentally ill.

Joaquin Phoenix uses the film’s song sequences to further divide the characters of Arthur Fleck and Joker as well. When Arthur sings, it sounds like he’s straining and has little practice, while Joker sounds like a proper stage performer.

Lady Gaga also sings in the film as Lee. While the singing is good (she is Lady Gaga, after all), Lee’s singing doesn’t have the same impact, and it just feels like they wanted Lady Gaga to sing in the movie.

The only other notable singers are the patients at Arkham Asylum, who sing a very impactful rendition of “When the Saints Go Marching In,” which is one of the film’s best musical scenes.

Despite my belief that the singing was not as bad as people made it out to be, Joker: Folie à Deux does have many, many problems.

To start, Lee Quinzel is exceptionally convoluted. Her motivations at every turn feel completely unintelligible. 

At one point, it’s revealed that she lied to Arthur Fleck to get close to him-  Fleck’s lawyer advises him to steer clear of her and warns him that she’s trying to screw him over. This is never explained or expanded upon, but it is the closest thing we get to an explanation.

It could also be that she lied just to meet him because she’s a fan, but even then, she does things that directly ruin Arthur’s case in court, so the lawyer is at least partially correct.

Her decision at the movie’s end is also just a complete tonal shift from where we see her character throughout the film.

Many critics say Gaga was underused in the film, and I heavily agree.

Another issue is the issue of Arkham Asylum. Fans of DC Comics know that this is an important place in Gotham for mentally ill criminals to be held. If you haven’t read the comics, this will never be explained.

I saw the film with my girlfriend, who is not a comic fan, and she was confused about Arkham and assumed it was a prison. This is because of the prison guards and the complete lack of mental health professionals.

It also was simultaneously an asylum for the criminally insane, where Arthur was held, and a general psych ward, where Lee could check herself in and out at her own whim.

Most of the film followed Arthur Fleck’s criminal trial, which was in itself a very well-done sequence, truthfully, and likely would have made a better film on its own.

Arthur’s lawyer tries to build a defense on the basis of him being mentally ill, suggesting that he may have a type of dissociative disorder (called “Multiple Personality Disorder” in the film, which is an antiquated term).

As his lawyer speaks to witnesses, she describes Arthur’s trauma in a way that causes him to have flashbacks. Her defense is likely the only way Fleck could be let go free to be in a mental health institution instead of receiving the death penalty.

Despite this, after pressure from Lee and his “fans,” Arthur Fleck fires his lawyer and chooses to represent himself in court as Joker.

This leads to what is undoubtedly the best scene in the film, where Gary Puddles, a coworker of Arthur’s whom he was friendly with, is on the stand.

After a strong witness from the prosecution, Joker gets up to speak to Gary. He starts by making fun of the fact that his last name is Puddles, asking if that was his “God-given name.” He then makes a show of asking him whether the men he killed were bullies and saying he never hurt Gary, like he promised.

Gary breaks down on the stand, saying that Arthur was the only coworker who was nice to him, and asks him why he’s doing all of this.

The scene shows that Arthur Fleck was just a guy with issues, but the Joker persona is a sensationalized form of those issues as a way to avoid responsibility.

Instead of the film focusing on strong scenes like the one with Gary Puddles, it packs up the end of its run time with multiple unbearable sequences in a row.

Without spoiling too much, the last ten minutes or so include:

• A scene where the guards assault Arthur that could be handled well, but it isn’t.
• A rushed sequence where the courthouse explodes, and Joker escapes.
• Joker and Lee’s last scene.
• A long, drawn-out last scene that ends in the most anticlimactic way possible.

Honestly, looking at the good scenes within the film just makes the bad scenes worse. Joker: Folie à Deux had so much potential, but it felt like it was trying to squish too much into one film.

Overall, Joker: Folie à Deux is a film that was ruined by lousy characterization, rushed pacing, and an inability to stick to what it was good at.