“Joker: Folie à Deux” might be the most hated movie in America. Critics hate it. Fans hate it. It’s bombing at the box office. But none of that matters.
Director Todd Phillips made a great movie. What “Joker: Folie à Deux” lacks in “action,” “plot” and “stakes,” the movie makes up with its aura — it strikes a chord and holds it throughout. It is also a beautiful and sad portrait of a tragic man, loved by a legion of followers who want to turn him into a revolutionary folk hero, but loved by no one all the same.
WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS
Arthur Fleck, aka Joker, is on trial for the killing spree he committed in the first movie. After spending two years locked away in Arkham Asylum, he is now facing the death penalty. The prison guards routinely abuse him. He is a gaunt mute, shuffling through the seemingly endless prison corridors, passive and afraid, awaiting death. Arthur is worse off than he was in the first movie. (RELATED: ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ Trailer Drops Featuring A Simply Terrifying Lady Gaga)
But he finds love with Lee Quinzel, played by Lady Gaga, whom he meets in Arkham Asylum. Lee is infatuated not with pathetic old Arthur, though, but his persona, the Joker. In order to win over his heart, she lies to him about her upbringing, telling Arthur she grew up in the same poor neighborhood as him and that she, too, was abused by her father. In reality, Lee is a clout chaser, a rich girl, the daughter of a doctor. She encourages Arthur to fire his lawyer and represent himself as Joker in court, which will surely lead to a guilty verdict.
Without giving too much away, testimony from Gary Puddles, the dwarf from the first movie who witnessed one of the murders, forces Arthur to reconsider whether he wants to embrace the Joker persona, or fess up to the murders and accept his fate. Puddles says that Arthur, after brutally stabbing the victim, made him feel small for the first time in his life. Arthur, in turn, feels like an a**hole.
The ending is depressing. Arthur gets his heart broken, and despite the awful things he has done, it’s hard not to pity him. His story is the story of the modern ghost, the man on the fringes of society who has no love, no family, no meaning in his life. Few movies, or books for that matter, dare to even attempt to look deeper at this person’s psychology, especially if that person is a white male.
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – SEPTEMBER 30: View of the carpet at the US Premiere of JOKER: FOLIE À DEUX at TCL Chinese Theatre on September 30, 2024 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Stewart Cook/Warner Bros. via Getty Images)
Critics are also not giving Phillips enough credit for taking risks in terms of style. The movie is thin on plot. There’s not a lot of “action.” But the schizophrenic tone, the disjointedness, from beginning to end, perfectly captures Arthur’s troubled mind. The movie cuts between delusion — the musical numbers with Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix — and Arkham Asylum’s seemingly endless, dull corridors and drawn-out courtroom scenes. You feel trapped with Arthur, trapped in his head, stuck with either grandiose fantasy or grim reality. The plot didn’t pull you to the edge of your seat, but that’s fine. There didn’t have to be dramatic stakes, because the movie’s aura was perfect.
“Joker: Folie à Deux” might be the best movie of the year. At the very least, the filmmakers took an honorable risk. How many studios and directors dare to take creative risks anymore? Phillips tried to blend a musical and a courtroom drama with a famous comic book character. If it weren’t for the success of the first “Joker,” no studio in today’s system would ever entertain that idea. We should admire Phillips for his audacity.
This article was originally published at dailycaller.com
