Todd Phillips has built a sequel around a man waiting for his trial, and the result is a film that can’t decide whether it wants to be a psychological thriller, a romance, or a musical. “Joker: Folie à Deux” is the rare follow-up that doesn’t know what to do with the legacy it inherits. It’s a sequel that leans on a $190–200 million budget and a cast headlined by Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga, but it arrives with a score of 4.6/10.
Trailer, via Warner Bros..
Arthur’s Trial at Arkham
The film opens with Arthur Fleck, now the Joker, locked in Arkham State Hospital awaiting trial for the crimes he committed two years prior. His lawyer, Maryanne Stewart, plans to argue that Arthur suffers from dissociative identity disorder and that his Joker personality is responsible for the crimes. That setup is simple, clean, and promising. It’s also the last thing the film follows consistently.
Arthur meets Harleen “Lee” Quinzel, a patient at Arkham, during a music therapy session. Lee claims she grew up in the same neighborhood as Arthur, had an abusive father who died in a car crash, and was imprisoned after burning down her parents’ apartment building. She also expresses admiration for Joker’s crimes and personality. As their relationship develops, they imagine life as a stage musical with them in the spotlight through their linked insanity.
The premise is a natural fit for a director who built his career on the idea of a man falling apart. But the execution keeps getting in its own way.
Lee’s Secret Identity
The twist comes during a break in the trial. Maryanne reveals that Lee was actually a psychiatry student who grew up on the Upper West Side. Her father, a doctor, is alive. Lee voluntarily committed herself at Arkham, checked herself out, and never burned down her parents’ apartment building. She was released to prevent her from influencing Arthur, but promised to attend his trial.
That reveal is a sharp turn. It should land with weight. Instead, it feels like a convenience, a way to undercut the emotional stakes the film spent the first hour building. The film has spent time establishing Lee as a kindred spirit, and then it tells us she was never really that person at all. It’s a structural problem, not a dramatic one.
The Musical Problem
The film was announced in June 2022, with Gaga and Beetz joining later that year. Principal photography took place in New York City, Los Angeles, and Belleville, New Jersey, from December 2022 to April 2023. The finished product premiered at the 81st Venice International Film Festival on September 4, 2024, and was released in the United States on October 4.
The production design is strong. The hospital corridors, the trial chambers, and the small apartments Arthur moves through all feel lived-in. But the musical numbers are where the film loses its footing. A scene in which Arthur sings to Lee through a television screen is meant to deepen their bond. It doesn’t. It just stops the narrative cold.
The Two Versions of Lee
| Character | Role in the Original | Role in Folie à Deux |
|---|---|---|
| Lee Quinzel | Patient at Arkham | Psychiatry student who fakes a past to manipulate Arthur |
| Harley Quinn | Not present | Present as Lee’s identity, ignored by Phillips |
The comparison is telling. Phillips is making a film about a man trapped in his own mind, and he’s doing it with a character who is a study in self-deception. But the film itself can’t decide whether it wants Lee to be a genuine foil or a tool. The result is a protagonist who spends the whole runtime being manipulated by someone whose motives are never fully explained.
Phoenix and Gaga’s Struggle
Phoenix’s performance is the one constant. He plays Arthur as a man who is both terrified of his own darkness and drawn to it. There’s a moment early in the film where Arthur sings in a therapy session, and Phoenix captures the shame and the joy in the same breath. It’s the best acting in the film, and it’s enough to carry scenes that the script can’t.
Gaga’s Lee is trickier. She’s described as a “study of contradictions,” a woman whose love and obsession for Arthur is also admiration and disgust, being both truthful and dishonest, really dangerous yet completely peaceful. That’s a rich character description. The film doesn’t give her room to breathe. She’s a prop for Arthur’s journey, not a full person.
The Trial’s Collapse
The trial itself is where the film finally cracks. Witnesses, including Arthur’s old neighbor Sophie Dumond, dismiss Arthur’s claims of insanity. Arthur is placed in solitary confinement. Lee visits him to say she is being released to prevent him from influencing her, but promises to attend his trial. They have sex before she leaves.
The fire Lee starts during a film screening is a moment of genuine tension. The escape attempt that follows is less successful. The film wants the audience to believe Arthur is being framed, but the evidence on screen keeps pointing the other way. The trial’s conclusion is rushed, and the film ends on a note that feels less like a resolution and more like a shrug.
A Sequel That Misses the Mark
Phillips said the film would venture further into Arthur’s psyche, but he made a promise he couldn’t keep. Arthur never becomes the “Clown Prince of Crime.” His Joker persona remains an unwilling symbol to people who give him the love he always wanted. That’s a fair reading of the character, but it’s not a compelling engine for a two-hour film.
The film’s tagline, “The world is a stage,” is accurate in a literal sense. The story is set in a hospital, a courtroom, and a television studio, and each space feels like a performance hall. But the metaphor loses its power when the film treats Arthur’s life as a spectacle rather than a tragedy.
The film is poorly received by critics and became a box-office bomb, grossing $208 million on a $190–200 million budget. That’s a failure of ambition. A film this expensive should be able to do better than middling reviews and a weak commercial showing.
The Verdict
“Joker: Folie à Deux” is a film that sets up a great idea and then pulls the rug out from under it. It’s a movie about identity, duality, and the cost of love that can’t commit to any of those themes. The result is a film that is intermittently watchable, often frustrating, and rarely memorable.
Phoenix gives a performance that deserves better material. Gaga is game, but she’s handed a character who is more archetype than person. The supporting cast, including Brendan Gleeson as the abusive guard Jackie Sullivan and Catherine Keener as Maryanne Stewart, does solid work within the limits of the script.
The film’s ambition is clear. Phillips wanted to explore Arthur’s psyche further, and he got Phoenix back to do it. But the execution falls short. The musical framing, the forced romance, and the rushed ending all work against the central idea.
The film is a disappointment. It’s a sequel that should have been a continuation, not a reinvention. It’s a film that tries to be everything at once and succeeds at nothing. It’s a $190–200 million failure.
The final score is 4.6/10.
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