It is a truth universally acknowledged that clowns are not funny, but Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) is seriously not funny. In Joker, he went on a killing spree and became a figurehead of nihilistic fury. The film won the Golden Lion in Venice, as well as two Oscars, one for Joaquin Phoenix’s painfully, if not dangerously, rake-thin performance. Todd Phillips’s film also made buckets of money for its risk-taking studio, Warner Bros.
The inevitable sequel picks up with Arthur in jail, heavily medicated and jovially bullied by the chief prison guard, played with whistling nonchalance by Brendan Gleeson. A patient in a neighbouring psychiatric ward, Harleen Quinzel (Lady Gaga), is obsessed with Joker. But Arthur’s lawyer (Catherine Keener) argues that Joker is a part of his split personality, basing his defence on this.
The film itself has multiple personalities: it’s a musical, a courtroom drama, a prison movie and even a Loony Tunes style cartoon.
The setting, of course, is Gotham. Wayne Tower can be spied in the background and Harvey Dent (Harry Lawtey) is the prosecuting DA – all names familiar from the comic books and their many cinematic interpretations. But there’s real bleakness as the prisoners of Arkham slop out every morning.
It’s a big swing for all involved, but all the better for it
The first film channelled Martin Scorsese and the cinema of the ’70s. Here, Phillips is inspired more by Band Wagon, with numbers performed by Gaga and Phoenix to express their unhinged flights of fancy. It’s like Dennis Potter’s Pennies from Heaven but written by Alan Moore. These scenes play on Gaga’s strength, whereas Phoenix’s voice is more limited. But his brokenness fits the character and his solitary rendition of Jacques Brel’s ‘Ne Me Quitte Pas’ is truly a thing of beauty.
Phillips and co-writer Scott Silver are bold in not taking the obvious route and remaking the first film. Joker 2 feels both like a continuance and a reaction to its own success, with Harleen standing for the kind of superfan who is willing to stan Joker at all costs. Fleck himself is a more pitiable figure and the film has some longueurs as it refuses to take some obvious escape routes. There are no real action set pieces, unless we count the music numbers, no car chases, no fight scenes. We’re left with the tragedy of a broken man in a world only interested in sensationalism.
It’s a big swing for all involved, but all the better for it. Clowns after all are meant to fall on their faces, or as Phoenix sings: ‘The Clown with his pants falling down … That’s entertainment!’
Joker: Folie à Deux premiered at the Venice Film Festival. In cinemas worldwide Oct 4.