After the explosion of JokerGolden Lion at Venice in 2019, it is an understatement to say that we were impatiently awaiting what was presented as a sequel, always with Todd Phillips behind the camera, and Joaquin Phoenix in front, in the shoes of the sworn enemy of Batman, but without Batman, only facing himself, his neuroses and his psychopathic tendencies.
Did you expect something? Phillips sneers as he suggests the opposite. The story? After his terrible misdeeds, Arthur Fleck is interned in the Arkham penitentiary psychiatric hospital where he survives, like an emaciated zombie, with a blank stare. The spark comes when he meets a young woman, also a resident of the establishment, who quickly admits the fascination he exerts on her. Him, or rather his alter ego, Joker, both evil but above all revealing the decay of the world, as proven by the support committees from which he benefits.
Very quickly, a romance emerges with Lee Quinzel (Lady Gaga), fueled by a shared madness and Broadway-style musical comedy sequences that we didn’t necessarily see coming, like feverish moments of grace . Fleck’s trial looms. Joker is ready for the show.
Being taken aback by such a counterpoint is not the problem. And it would be dishonest to deny the beauty of certain song/dance sequences. Impossible to remain frozen when hearing the raspy and quavering voice of Joaquin Phoenix singing a US version of Don’t leave me.
Still, all that for that? This madness for two presents itself as a film radically different from the first, but never ceases to refer to it, through countless dialogues and flashbacks. The initial opus told the story of the birth of evil in a world threatened by anger and chaos. So many notions disappear completely from this new story which literally devitalizes his character, once the incarnation of absolute evil, to make him a broken heart. Throughout court scenes from which we could have expected better, here too, we will cast a modest veil over the fate reserved for prosecutor Harvey Dent, a fascinating character in Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight), here completely sacrificed.
Our opinion: 1/5
Joker: madness for two does not tell much and its epilogue makes us regret that episode 1, a nihilistic drama which captured something of the spirit of the times, did not remain a one-shot, like a scathing slap leaving us in a state of astonishment.
With Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson… United States, 2:19 a.m., drama, musical comedy.
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