Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga, amazing couple in “Joker: Folie à deux”

A few days before his trial, the grimacing prankster falls in love with a punkoid Harlequin. A rhythmic sequel, which mixes melodrama, trial story and musical comedy.

Lhe crazy law of the market being what it is, it would have been surprising if the triumph of Joker (more than a billion dollars in revenue) does not come with a sequel. But was it possible, after the live murder of the TV presenter (Robert De Niro), to push the scale of violence further? Joker: Folie à deux moderately fan the embers.

In any case, the fire seems to be out: when Arthur Fleck, alias the Joker, appears in his prison cell, he has aged and is only a shadow of himself, curled up, dazed by medication, frighteningly thin – Joaquin Phoenix impresses from the start and remains breathtaking until the end. A prison guard encourages him to make a joke, but nothing comes of it. Mute, Fleck is an undead awaiting trial for the five crimes he committed.

What will bring him back to life has blond hair and a powerful voice. Her name is Lee Quinzel (Lady Gaga), she is a fan of his stunts, a daring seditious, determined to sow chaos everywhere, by being in his arms. After they see a film together with Fred Astaire, their love bursts into a burst of liberating joy, almost in escape. The two begin to sing and will do so again at regular intervals. The songs are standards (That’s Life, For Once in My Life, Bewitched…) revisited, rearranged. In the singing, the actors are in unison: Lady Gaga, obviously more at ease, supports her partner. Who stands up and does a nice tap dance number. The two form a thunderous evil couple, dancing with an original blend of elegance and fierce buffoonery, makeup in majesty. Him, a sad clown scarred by his grin; she, punkoid Harlequin, dripping kohl.

Joker: Folie à deux thus mixes musical comedy, trial story and dark melodrama. A rather deviant cocktail, given the warlike universe of DC Comics and the expectation of an explosion aroused by the first opus. The film is a bit long and would have benefited from fleshing out the super “villain” – even if she is possibly just a mirage. Above all, he questions the disturbing duplication of the grimacing prankster (is he crazy or is he playing crazy?), the issue of testimony and pleadings in court. If he remains the mirror of a sick society, if he has fervent supporters gathered en masse in front of the courthouse and ready to fight, the Joker is an idol in spite of himself, foreign to the (populist?) uprising that he is the first to flee. Wherever he goes, he remains captive, all the more alone and desperate because he once believed in the sirens of love. His famous yellow laugh, loud and disturbing, ends up merging with deep sorrow. Sensitive in the oh so perilous but successful recovery of Don’t leave me. A moving Joker, who would have thought it?