#joker: folie à deux

[stevenrogered]

JOAQUIN PHOENIX as ARTHUR FLECK Joker: Folie à Deux (2024)

[daily-joker]

JOKER: FOLIE À DEUX (2024) dir. Todd Phillips

[freshmoviequotes]

Joker: Folie à Deux (2024)

[aabracadabra]

GAGA - HARLEQUIN (2024)

[henricavyll]

“I’ll tell you what’s changed, I’m not alone anymore." 

JOKER: FOLIE À DEUX (2024) dir. Todd Phillips

[endiness]

WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW IS LOVE SWEET LOVE

[the-hopeless-fanboy]

Arthur and his weird little friend

[dailyflicks]

LADY GAGA as HARLEY QUINN JOKER: FOLIE À DEUX — 2024, dir. Todd Phillips

[ajokeformur-ray]

My thoughts on Joker: Folie à Deux

Now that I'm done sobbing and it's been a few hours since I left the cinema with my roommate, I've put the first Joker on for comfort while I write this.

Spoilers below the cut for anyone who hasn't seen it.

We all know that I was one of those "I don't want a sequel" girlies and in a way, I still am. I maintain that Joker didn't need a sequel, it was a perfect standalone. But, surprisingly, I enjoyed this film as it was.

It was very dark, gritty, the things we didn't get to see because they were only implied were things which stuck with me long after leaving the cinema, it was ambitious with Lee but didn't quite go as far as I would have liked with her; she had so much more potential and I thought we were gonna get that when she smashed the shop window to get a small TV with which to see her Joker on with a very sweetly spoken "excuse me" and then walked away without a fuss. It was gorgeously arranged, the songs were perfectly selected and I adore that That's Life played during the start and end; it brought our beloved Arthur to a full circle. And, most importantly, it was faithful to our Arthur. That's what I and so many others were afraid of, that this sequel would butcher our boy, but it didn't. It was faithful to him to the bitter, tragic end.

Joker was gorgeous. He was... so realistic, so raw and real and in pain, he was everything I always wanted this universe's Joker to be. I've always said in my fics and posts that Arthur didn't want to be Joker, it was something which the general public put onto him and he never wanted it, he just wanted to be seen, heard, accepted and loved for who he was, and even when he exposed his pain on national TV, he wasn't given that. He was ignored, spoken for rather than listened to, and then in this new film that carried on happening until yet again he stood up for himself and took what he knew to be right. He's the best advocate for himself and it's a lesson I need to learn from him a bit more than I have done before. But I digress... Joker was so perfect. And his little comedy moments did have me giggling, even through my tears at various points in the film.

I enjoyed the difference between how Joker and Arthur were considered, though we all know that the lawyer's initial defense, as well meaning as it was, was not it. Arthur was never gonna walk out of there without consequences and we all knew it. The constant switches between his delusions as Joker and the way he was stood still in Arkham or the courtroom were so well done, and I liked how murder was used against himself while he was waging between doing what people were telling him to do, and what he wanted to do for himself.

I was begging for Arthur to do the right thing the whole way through the trial, even though I knew what it would mean for him, and in the end he chose himself just like he did in the first film, and it was the bravest thing he could have done. It was utterly devastating, but in the end I think the way he chose to go down was the right way. He could have either continued being Joker and gone down being known for someone he wasn't and someone he had never been, or he could stand up, admit to who he is and display emotional maturity and speak for himself.

He chose the latter and I'm, in a very bittersweet way, grateful. I sobbed through most of the film but in the end, Arthur was himself, and it was so brave and so heartbreaking. This film was, at the end of it all, as true to Arthur as Arthur ended up being to himself (and I think it was because Gary's testimony and tearful "why are you doing this to me?" that was the catalyst behind Arthur making this fateful decision), and it was... it was so hard to watch, very difficult to stomach, but also I am proud of myself for going. I really didn't want to, I didn't, but Arthur would have gone to see us if the situation was reversed, and not going to see this film would have felt like abandonment of our boy... I didn't want to do that. I'm glad I went, but I'll probably take a long time before I'm able to watch it again, if I ever can.

The last scene especially shattered me, but I think that from a narrative point of view, it makes sense. Arthur was a tragedy, through and through. Though, he's an unreliable narrator, so who knows if we saw what we all think we saw? It was the perfect end for Arthur, as horrific, cruel, and brutal as it was, but the inmate was wrong... it wasn't at all what he deserved.

Our Arthur deserved sunshine, cuddles for days, kisses in the rain, dancing, singing, he deserved comedy nights and a dancing partner, he deserved so much more than what he got.

And the irony is that the people complaining that this Joker wasn't the Joker they wanted are literally proving the core message of the film; Arthur isn't Joker. He was never Joker, and that's why he was abandoned by so many in the film; by Lee, by those dressed like Joker, by everyone who wanted him to be someone he wasn't... he was given that title by people who didn't know him, people who didn't want to know him, Gothamites who used him and his crimes to justify and further their own political agenda, and, in the real world, by those complaining that this Joker isn't the Joker they wanted.

Arthur is Arthur Fleck, he's always been Arthur Fleck. He was willing to die to make that point, so in the end he died for himself, and it was so brave and courageous and heartbreaking.

I walked out of the cinema sobbing the hardest I've cried for a long time, but so much more in love with Arthur Fleck than I was before. I just want to tell him how sorry I am, and how loved he is by all of us. That's what he deserves.

❤️💚💙🤍

[editfandom]

Harley Quinn - Joker: Folie à Deux, 2024

[ladyxgaga]

[ufonaut]

One of the most fascinating aspects of Joker: Folie à Deux (2024) is its in-universe use of media as a roadmap for the viewer. From the very first minute of the movie, we're cleverly told what to expect and what its inspirations are.

Sweet Charity (1966 stage musical, screenshot from the 1969 film) stands out as the biggest inspiration behind the movie, Arthur's character arc is practically beat-by-beat identical to Charity's -- she's a down-on-her-luck taxi dancer (an entertainer of about the same calibre Arthur was!) longing for love and affection, practically inhabiting a fantasy world. Charity firmly believes love is the only thing capable of making her a worthwhile person, and she attempts suicide after a break-up. Characterisation references aside, the film also uses If My Friends Could See Me Now from the very same musical.

The Band Wagon (1953) also stands out on a nearly meta level, That's Entertainment! comes up again and again throughout Folie à Deux and the most evident point it's making is that a musical is no less meaningful than a dramatic play/movie. If that's the message directed to the audience, then within the text of the film itself it speaks to the artifice of Lee's intentions -- "That, I can understand," she says during the screening of the film in Arkham. There also several interesting shot compositions during the same scene, especially with the line "the clown with his pants falling down" syncing up with a close-up on Arthur followed by a close-up on Lee starting the fire on "the dance that's a dream of romance/the scene where the villain is mean".

The first song (Slap That Bass) we hear in the film comes from Shall We Dance (1937), although the use of the poster in the introduction can also work on another level considering the plot of this Astaire/Rogers musical concerns a relationship made up by the tabloid press eventually becoming reality.

Modern Times (1936) primarily references the first movie, with the quote above thoroughly explaining Todd's point, but it also serves to remind us of Arthur's working class background.

Pal Joey (1957) contains Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered, performed in the film during Arthur's interview.

The one cartoon that keeps cropping up throughout the film is a Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies short featuring Pepe Le Pew, it's first seen right before For Once In My Life and then again at the end when Arthur is returned to Arkham for the last time. The meaning is plain by that point, after all Pepe is known for chasing a cat in the hopes of winning her over solely because he thinks they're the same -- that she's like him. It's a little detail straddling the line between comedic and tragic just like the rest of Arthur and Lee's relationship.

[daily-joker]

PHOENIX | GAGA

JOKER: FOLIE À DEUX (2024) dir. Todd Phillips

[freshmoviequotes]

Joker: Folie à Deux (2024)

[aabracadabra]

Lady Gaga by Scarlett Carlos Clarke - Harlequin (2024)

[redcell6]

Harley Quinn

illustrated by:

David Nakayama