Film / Joker: Folie à Deux

Spoilers for Joker will remain unmarked! You Have Been Warned!

♫ What the world needs now, is love, sweet love…♫

“We use music to make us whole. To balance the fractures within ourselves.”

Joker: Folie à Deux is a 2024 romantic psychological thriller/crime/musical film and the sequel to 2019's Joker, based upon the DC Comics supervillain. It is directed and written once more by Todd Phillips.

The film sees Joaquin Phoenix reprise his Oscar-winning role as comedian-turned-anarchist symbol Arthur Fleck, AKA the Joker, joined by Lady Gaga as Harleen Quinzel, AKA Harley Quinn, as well as Zazie Beetz as Sophie, Arthur's former neighbor and crush. Joining the duo this time around will be Catherine Keener, Brendan Gleeson, Jacob Lofland, Harry Lawtey, Ken Leung, and Steve Coogan.

The film will release October 4th, 2024; exactly five years after its predecessor.

Previews: Teaser

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Joker: Folie à Deux contains examples of:

• Adaptation Dye-Job: Most continuities depict Harleen as being a natural blonde, whereas images released so far show her hair has darker roots, suggesting she was originally brunette.
• Adaptational Job Change: Harley isn't Joker's psychiatrist this time around; the trailer instead shows her meeting Arthur when both are inmates at Arkham.
• Call-Back:
  • In the teaser trailer, Arthur is shown dancing down a flight of stairs again, only this time, he's surrounded by protesters and Harley is joining him.
  • Once again, a shot in the teaser trailer showcases Arthur laughing whilst music plays in the background.
• Cry Laughing: The teaser trailer depicts Arthur laughing uncontrollably and sadly, in the rain.
• Dance of Romance: Arthur and Harley share several in the trailer, mostly in the musical sequences but also some in real life, one on the streets of Gotham and one on a flight of stairs.
• Double-Meaning Title: "Folie à Deux" ("Madness for Two" / "Folly of Two") doesn't only concern the madness of Arthur and Harley but it is also the name of a rare psychiatric syndrome.
• Finger Gun: One shot in the teaser trailer shows Harley fake blowing out her brains with finger guns.
• Foreign Language Title: "Folie à Deux" is French for "Madness for Two" or "Folly of Two".
• Genre Shift: As the teaser trailer shows, this film will be a musical, with Arthur singing "What the World Needs Now".
• Imagine Spot: Certain scenes from the trailer suggest that at least some of the musical numbers are this, taking place on theatrical set pieces inside Arthur and Harleen's shared fantasies.
• Mirthless Laughter: The teaser trailer depicts Arthur laughing his involuntary laugh in the rain.
• Mythology Gag: The teaser trailer showcases Arthur wearing a white suit at one point which is directly taken from Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.
• Shout-Out:
  • One of the musical sequences shown in the trailer features Arthur and Harley dancing in front of a giant "HOTEL ARKHAM" sign, which is fashioned the exact same way as the Bates Motel sign.
  • Much like how the first film was heavily inspired by Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy, this film takes influence from another Martin Scorsese film, New York, New York. Some of the musical sequences in the trailer are also shot in a way that's meant to evoke La La Land, another Genre Throwback to Golden Age-era musicals.
  • The shot of Arthur among the colorful umbrellas from the teaser trailer is a reference◊ to a French musical movie, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg.
  • Expanding on the musical influences, Harleen's appearance (especially after she dons makeup as Harley) is definitely evocative of Nancy Spungen, who, like Harleen, was emotionally disturbed and was a lover of a similarly disturbed musician (Sid Vicious).
• Splash of Color: While the film is hardly monochrome, the teaser shows Arthur walking beneath brightly colored umbrellas in a dark and depressing downpour.

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Interrogator: Tell us, what's changed, Arthur?
Arthur: I'll tell you what's changed: I'm not alone anymore. That's what we should be talking about!