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Joker: Folie à Deux  (15) |Close-Up Film Review

Dir. Todd Phillips, US/Canada, 2024, 138 mins

Cast:  Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga

Review by Carol Allen

Joker: Folie à Deux  (Two Mad People).  Or perhaps Joker in love?   Alternatively The trial of Arthur Fleck?   Because these are the themes explored in this sequel to Todd Phillips’  2019 film Joker, which went into the back story of the character featured in the Batman tales.  

There’s nothing of Batman in this one though – he made a brief appearance as Bruce Wayne the child in the earlier film.   Phillips’ sequel tale just picks up where the last one left off, after Arthur was arrested for the murders committed in his alter ego character of the Joker.  This is not the manic laughing villain of the comic books however.  More a psychological study of madness with rather a lot of musical sequences.

Arthur is now in an institution awaiting trial for those crimes.  Played once more by a gaunt and skinny Joaquin Phoenix, life in jail is pretty grim.  Despite the occasional bit of brutality by the warders, led by Jackie (Brendan Gleeson), who appears to be much intrigued by his bi-personality prisoner, life in captivity is enlivened by music therapy classes shared with the inmates of a nearby mental institution.  

There he meets Lee Quinzel (Lady Gaga), who has been institutionalised for her self-harming habit and suicide threats plus a bit of arson on the side – and love blossoms between them.   Through her Arthur also discovers his love of music, resulting in a number of fantasy duets between them, charting their inner feelings.   I say duets – well – Lady Gaga is a singer, Phoenix sort of mumbles them – though he does at one point do an impressive bit of tap dancing.  These musical interludes do however lift what is otherwise a somewhat dour though sometimes spectacular tale. 

When it comes to the actual trial, bizarre reality takes over.   Arthur is interviewed by a British journalist (Steve Coogan), he clashes with his attorney (Catherine Keener), eventually sacking her to conduct his own defence, sometimes in his Joker persona and despite the somewhat dodgy evidence from a so-called expert witness Dr Victor Liu (Ken Leung) it should be obvious to a blind bat that poor old Arthur is suffering from multiple personality disorder and is mad as a hatter.

Like Philip’s earlier movie, this one is beautifully filmed.  The well staged musical sequences have been criticised by some as being irrelevant.   I beg to differ.   They illuminate the oddity of the love story, in a similar way to how the use of popular song did years ago in Dennis Potter’s tv drama Pennies from Heaven. Lady Gaga seizes her moments, both musical and histrionic, while Phoenix is both scary when required but mainly touchingly vulnerable. 

The dramatic denouement however leaves one wondering how The Joker ever makes it to be one of Batman’s antagonists.

JOKER: FOLIE À DEUX

Sequel to the 2019 Film Joker from Director Todd Phillips  Becomes Available for Premium Digital Ownership and Rental on November 4

4K UHD Limited Edition Steelbook, 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD Arrive December 16 in the UK

4K, BLU-RAY & DVD ELEMENTS

Joker: Folie À Deux 4K UHD and Blu-ray contain the following special features:  

4K UHD

  • Everything Must Go (4 Part Longform Documentary)
    • Can I Have A Cigarette?
    • Finding Lee
    • A Hundred Films In One
    • King of Nothing
  • The Character Of Music
  • Live! With The Joker
  • Colours Of Madness
  • Crafted With Class

BASICS

Premium Digital Ownership and Rental: November 4, 2024

4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD Street Date in the UK: December 16, 2024 

4K Languages: English, German, Latin Spanish, Italian, Canadian French

4K Subtitles: English, Danish, Finnish, Parisian French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Latin Spanish, Swedish

BD Languages: English, Castilian Spanish, Italian

BD Subtitles: English, Italian, Castilian Spanish, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish

DVD Languages: English, Castilian Spanish, Czech, Polish 

DVD Subtitles:  English, Czech, Castilian Spanish, Danish, Finnish, Polish, Norwegian, Swedish, Slovakian

Running Time: 138 minutes

BBFC Rating: 15 strong violence, language, brief sex

IFCO Rating: 15 

DVD: DLBY/DGTL

Blu-ray: ATMOS TrueHD, DLBY/DGTL, DTS-HD Master Audio

4K UHD: ATMOS TrueHD, DLBY/DGTL