The queen of pop and actress will be making waves at the Mostra on Wednesday with the official presentation in competition of the sequel to the film that won the Golden Lion five years ago.
Lady Gaga, who caused a sensation at the opening of the Paris Olympics in July by singing My feather thing, by Zizi Jeanmaire, on the banks of the Seine makes a stunning return to the red carpets for the most anticipated feature film of this 81e festival edition, Joker: Madness for Two (released in France on October 2).
Dark and provocative, subverting the codes of the superhero film, the first part, centered on the origins of Batman’s best enemy, won the Golden Lion in 2019 and then earned Joaquin Phoenix an Oscar for best actor.
The prize in Venice for a film from the DC Comics universe had surprised. The bar is therefore all the higher to convince the jury chaired by Isabelle Huppert to reward this sequel, which should have aspects of a musical comedy, a genre very popular in recent months, Barbie has Emilia Perez by Jacques Audiard.
Lady Gaga as an obscure psychiatrist
In this new installment, still directed by Todd Phillips, the actor dressed as a clown is joined by the singer, who broke onto the big screen in A Star is born a Bradley Cooper film centered on the figure of a singing star, after small roles here and there. She then played the “black widow” of the heir to the luxury brand Gucci in House of Gucci by Ridley Scott, a film in which she held her own alongside Adam Driver.
The wait is therefore high for Joker : Madness for twowhere the performer of the hit Bad Romance dons the costume of Harley Quinn, the companion and partner in crime of the Joker, a character played in the cinema by Margot Robbie in Suicide Squad notably.
In the mythology of the Gotham City universe, the character in the black and red checkered harlequin costume is a psychiatrist who forms a relationship with the Joker, interned in Arkham Asylum, and becomes his sidekick. Lady Gaga could give even more darkness to the role, in the wake of a first part that brought in more than a billion dollars but drew criticism for its almost nihilistic violence.
The film, in which crowds can be seen taking inspiration from the Joker to attack the rich and powerful, was seen by others as a critique of the wealth gap in the United States, against the backdrop of the victory of populism. A mise en abyme all the more striking since the film was released in the middle of the Trump presidency. There is no doubt that the presentation of the second film, in the middle of the American election campaign, will not leave observers indifferent.
