Venice 2024 review: 'Joker: Folie À Deux' - Don't send in the clown

The much-anticipated follow-up to Todd Phillips’ Golden Lion and Oscar-winning film is here and... Well, best not to turn your frowns upside down. Joker: Folie À Deux is less of a victory lap and more of a fumbled slog.

We catch up with Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) in Arkham Asylum. He’s awaiting trial for the murder of five people, and gets signed up for a music therapy class. Because that’s apparently the reward you get for taking your meds and behaving.

There, he meets Harleen “Lee” Quinzel (Lady Gaga), an arsonist who is a big fan of Joker’s, isn’t afraid to lie when she needs to, and has it all figured out. The pair embark on a bad romance that features Golden Age Hollywood hits.

“I love her,” Arthur shares. “She gets me.”

Does she? Or is she playing him for a fool?

Joker: Folie À Deux starts promisingly with an homage to Looney Tunes. We get a cartoon entitled ‘Me and My Shadow’, the first of many dichotomy references, as it transpires that the titular folie may not to be the shared delirium between Arthur and Lee, but the power struggle between Arthur and his Joker alter-ego. That’s certainly the multiple personality disorder defence that Arthur’s lawyer (Catherine Keener) is gunning for as the "Trial of the Century” draws near.

Props must go to the fact that Joker: Folie À Deux does the opposite of what you’d expect a Joker sequel to be; not only does it contain musical numbers, but it’s also a (middling) prison play and a (tedious) courtroom drama that wrongfoots fans of the first film. Especially the ones who misread Joker. “Let’s give the people what they want,” Lee whispers to Arthur during a fantasy musical number... To Phillip’s credit, he avoids doing that at every turn, making Folie À Deux a clumsy missile