In Joker: Folie à Deux (the French words translate into “a shared madness”), Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix, excellent, once again), emancipated in body and near-sterilised in mind by medicines, awaits his trials while incarcerated in Arkham State Asylum.

He exchanges smokes for jokes from the guards, watches television — but is not allowed to see a version of his life that’s depicted in a made-for-tv movie — and accepts the advice of his lawyer (Katherine Keener) to show his normal side in the oft-used, split personality plea that proves that the Joker of the past film was a divide of his psyche.

Arthur is aware of his celebrity. The inmates and the world outside of Arkham, cheer on the misconstrued insurrectionist ideals that are hyped up by the media and rallied on by young delinquents — the very beliefs that the Arthur of this film doesn’t believe in…if, that is, he ever believed in them in the first place.

Folie à Deux is not about a man trying to see the world burn. It is about one trying to escape from the collective madness of people that want him to keep up the image he inspires.

The brave and brilliant Joker: Folie à Deux is about a man trying to escape from other people’s expectations

Arthur, therefore, is caged — literally, in the small bare rooms and metal fences of Arkham, and metaphorically, by the facade of a killer comedian that people want him to masquerade as.

This is the film Todd Philipps (Joker, The Hangover trilogy) wants you to see: a study of forced mass media perceptions and the agonising fate of a man who wants to live free of his demons. The question though is: what film do YOU want to see? And to broaden the point: would that actually be a film worth making?

Folie à Deux, co-written with Scott Silver by director Phillips, is as “Elseworlds” as comic book films can be (Elseworlds was a DC comics imprint that often told grounded one-off stories of popular characters). One may see familiar names and references pop up — Arkham, Harvey Dent (Harry Lawtey) and Harleen “Lee” Quinzel (Lady Gaga) — but take a step back, and I implore that you do, and they will strip away their comic book origins.

This, then, is the unique idiosyncrasy of this brave enterprise, and the musical numbers — which Warner Bros’ PR has been shouting non-stop about since the film went into production — are a fundamental part of the story.

Early in the film, Arthur spots the unblinking stares of a woman in a music therapy session in Arkham. The woman, Lee, is a fan who insists Arthur give in to the mad Joker in him. The relationship is a recipe for disaster.

The musical sequences stem naturally as an extension of Arthur’s gradually unmanacling imagination. They’re not long, nor indulgent, and Arthur’s unrefined vocals place them in the centre of a strongly woven story.

Arthur is not a singer, and it would have been unwise if he were suddenly transformed into a master vocalist; this, again, is not that kind of a musical.

Lady Gaga’s singing is as wonderful as her perfect embodiment of Lee’s dark, twisted persona; infatuated by the Joker, she is a bigger antagonist than Arkham’s head-guard Jackie Sullivan (Brendan Gleeson), a jovial and sometimes kind abuser, who knows how to toe the fine line between being tolerant and prejudiced.

Folie à Deux, expertly directed with self-restraint and a lack of bombastic pomposity (which the last film had), offers the rare, unique originality one demands from cinema, without faux theatrics, even when the climax literally becomes a show of sorts (the court case is televised).

Even then, Arthur doesn’t morph into something he’s not. Contrary to expectations, he doesn’t deliver preachy sermons that chastise with holier-than-thou declarations, nor turn into an expert orator or an intelligent martyr that can lead revolts.

One realises that he is a lonely man who was manhandled by everyone’s idea of him. He’s been had — and the reverberations of this realisation creates a moment of significance in cinema.

Released by Warner Bros and HKC (in Pakistan), Joker: Folie à Deux, surprisingly, carries a PG-rating in Pakistan. Parents should be strongly cautioned: the themes are adult, and for adults who can appreciate them

Published in Dawn, ICON, October 13th, 2024