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A middle-aged man sprawls across the hood of a car, arms outstretched, hands uncuffed. A crowd gathers around, inspecting his battered body. Suddenly, he coughs up blood. With great effort, he pulls himself to his feet, standing tall on the hood, surveying the city in flames around him. The crowd below watches in anticipation. Slowly, he performs a defiant dance — sending the crowd into a frenzy. Despite the immense pain etched into his face, tears welling in his eyes, he keeps smiling. With slow precision, he wipes his bloody hand across his face, dragging it from cheek to cheek, creating a blood-drenched grin for all to witness. He’s the Joker — rising from the ashes of destruction.
This is exactly how Todd Phillips’s Joker (2019) concluded — a controversial ending laden with provocative imagery that sparked significant debate. While the film triumphed at the Venice International Film Festival, winning the prestigious Golden Lion, and later achieved considerable success at the box office and the Academy Awards, it has been a lightning rod for extensive discussion surrounding its celebration of violence. Critics have questioned whether the film merely portrays the Joker’s actions or, more troublingly, legitimises them. Instead of critiquing the societal breakdowns that fuel gun violence, Joker risks validating such acts and could even incite further violence. However, fans quickly embraced the film in all its chaotic brilliance, fiercely lashing out at its critics and accusing them of being unnecessarily “woke”.
With the release of its sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux, Phillips appears to have heeded the criticisms directed at the first instalment and is taking steps to address them. Consequently, this sequel emerges as a significant improvement over its predecessor, both in its political commentary and its narrative depth. It serves as a response to the same toxic fanbase that fervently embraced the original film, revelling in its fulfilment of hyper-masculine fantasies. This instalment defiantly rejects those very impulses, suggesting that fans may have fundamentally misunderstood the film’s true intent. This audacious and timely cinematic choice does not appear to sit well with the audience, as initial reactions indicate that many feel the sequel falls short of embodying the essence of Joker. In this way, Phillips charts a corrective course, hinting that while the first film served as an origin story for an unhinged supervillain, this sequel transforms into a powerful cautionary tale about the perils of that very origin.
Everything you might expect from a film centred on the Joker is absent here. All expectations are subverted; the traditional formula for a successful sequel is cast aside, and intense set pieces give way to vulnerable musical interludes. Presenting the sequel as a musical proves to be a shrewd choice, as musicals inherently prompt the question: was that real? At one point, the musicality is described as a force that “balances the fractures within,” serving as a perfect metaphor for Arthur/Joker (Joaquin Phoenix), whose world increasingly loses the touch of reality. He retreats into a delusion throughout the film, employing the fantastical nature of music to externalise his internal conflict. This approach extends to the filmmaking itself, striving to conceal its earlier deficiencies through the artful language of a musical.
Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga in Joker: Folie à Deux. (Photo; Warner Bros)
Enter Lee/Harleen Quinzel (Lady Gaga), whose love affair with Arthur serves as the film’s emotional centrepiece. In her presence, Arthur finds a sense of recovery: he feels cherished, admired, and nurtured. Lee encourages him to embrace his Joker persona, providing the attention he has long desired while promising the prospect of building a life together. In this transformative space, Arthur shifts from violence and despair to singing and dancing. And as for Lee, her connection to the Joker signifies more than a mere partnership in chaos: she recognizes a spark that ignites her own inner anarchist. Her descent into delusion illuminates the ways in which a fractured identity can entrap others within its own mental turmoil.
In this context, the title Folie à Deux resonates deeply. This French term, denoting shared psychosis, highlights the possibility of a delusion being imposed by one individual upon another. Throughout the film, Lee seems to mould Arthur into someone he’s never truly been. She stands in for the fervent supporters who gather everywhere each day, stoking the flames of his adoration. In this way, she symbolises the film’s own fan base — those who are enamoured with a troubled psychopath for whom the lines between right and wrong are irreparably blurred. These are the same fans who have dismissed critiques of the earlier film and now find themselves disillusioned upon viewing the sequel. As they, much like Lee, search for the Joker in a narrative that is clearly more than that.
They have placed unwarranted expectations upon a man who merely longed for love and affection. The sequel revolves around a fundamental question: what if he were to finally receive the love he has sought for so long? Would he embrace it, or would society compel him to retreat? The entire film digs into this conflict as Arthur questions his true identity. Is he genuinely the Joker — the anarchic figure that his fans idolise? Or is he merely a casualty of his own fame? The answer is far from straightforward, yet Phillips provides subtle hints, particularly through his audacious climax. Or moments like say one in the final act when Arthur’s followers anticipate his unleashing of the Joker upon the city that has wronged him; instead, he chooses to flee from them.
In this sense, the narrative comes full circle, returning to the animated opening sequence — a parody of a 1940s Warner Bros. cartoon where Arthur is incessantly pursued by his own shadow until it eventually consumes him. This not only alludes to the film’s exploration of split identity but also serves as a symbolic reflection of how fandom chases both Arthur and Phillips. While they both seek to assert their individuality, striving for the ability to take ownership of past transgressions, the relentless pursuit of external validation keeps pulling them back. So even if the fans turn against them, perhaps the true triumph lies in their fidelity to themselves, in their refusal to be defined by those who seek to control their narrative.
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