They say music soothes the savage breast. Perhaps that's why Todd Phillips' Joker: Folie à Deux starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga, with its musical tracks and crooning, struck us as a bit more tame than the same filmmaker's wild previous installment, Joker (2019), the blockbuster that won Phoenix the Oscar for Best Actor. This time, the Batman supervillain is in love. Joker, aka Arthur Fleck, meets Harley Quinn (Lady Gaga, in gothic style) in the halls of the prison. They are both just as crazy and only have one desire – to be together again.
In contention for the Golden Lion, the film was unveiled on Wednesday, September 4 at the Venice Film Festival, of which its 81th edition concludes on Saturday, September 7. Joker, honored in the Venetian competition the year of its release, was set in a dark and violent New York and ended in bloodshed with the title character killing (among others) his idol, a TV celebrity (Robert de Niro) who had humiliated him live on air. Folie à Deux marks a time of love and trial. The lawyer wants to plead insanity for Joker, aka Arthur Fleck, linked to a traumatic childhood with his abusive mother.
So the jury only has one question to answer: Was the defendant himself at the time of the crime or was he possessed by the demon Joker? Phoenix delivers another memorable performance, with the grimacing hero softening on contact with his loved one. The question of the hero's identity is a nagging, not to say tortuous, one that gives rise to numerous twists and turns, both legal and intimate, interspersed with songs ... and Harley Quinn herself is hiding a few secrets.
A courtroom film, Folie à Deux has the air of a musical, even if American director Phillips, who made his name with The Hangover (2009), rejected the term in an interview with Variety – perhaps for fear of scaring off his audience. In any case, Phoenix and Lady Gaga put on a rich show, culminating in a tap-dance number by the actor, accompanied by the pop star on piano.
The Joker and Harley Quinn essentially seem to be a pair of raving lunatics who calm down as soon as they come into contact with each other. The dangerous blonde is capable of setting fire to a movie screening with her fellow inmates to create a diversion and drag her lover away. The Joker hums a poignant "Ne me quitte pas/If You Go Away." The chemistry works, but for the rest, there's little invention in this somewhat mawkish and longwinded show.
American film by Todd Phillips. With Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga (2 h 18). In theaters October 2.