The first Joker (2019) movie is a big favorite of mine. Joaquin Phoenix’s flawless performance is why he rightfully won all the awards. Did I think that it needed a second movie? No. Do I mind that there’s a follow-up now? No. Does it need to exist? Yes and no. 

Joker: Folie à Deux is a very interesting one for me. I love the first movie very dearly however the message this one delivers was so much more impactful in my eyes and yet… at the end of the day, I don’t think it’s a better movie than the first one. However, instead of mentioning all its flaws and shortcomings, let me tell you why the message of this film is so strong and important. 

First of all, I would like to recommend Cinema Therapy’s Joker video to you. They made a deep dive into Joker’s story on a professional level, and they pointed out things that many people missed while watching the first movie. 

The first Joker movie holds a mirror up to society as a whole and how we treat people who are different. Many scenes emphasize this point. The moment he starts laughing uncontrollably, the woman on the bus – despite reading his card – pulls her kid away from him. Arthur Fleck is an incredibly lonely person who didn’t experience any real kindness in his life and as the story progresses, it seems clearer to him that he is alone. The whole Sophie storyline (Zazie Beetz) is a representation of this need for kindness and love. 

This second movie deals with the consequences of the first one but also becomes a perfect and heartbreaking showcase of what it feels like to be not good enough. It took me a little bit to understand what they were going for with the story as, at first, it felt like the usual court story. Arthur’s lawyer (Catherine Keener) is trying to build his case of having dual personalities. Therefore, Joker is a trauma response, while Harvey Dent (Harry Lawtey) argues that Joker is just a mask and Arthur is aware of what he is doing. And they could have left it as that and made a movie around this, but they went further with Lady Gaga’s Lee Quinzel. 

Lee is fascinated with Arthur’s story. However, she doesn’t care about Arthur; she fully believes that the real version of Arthur is Joker, and he becomes his true self when he puts on the make-up. So, since Arthur experiences what he believes is real love for the first time, he goes along with Lee’s ideas and, to be fair, the crowd’s idea of him. He IS Joker. Arthur Fleck is weak without him. He fires his lawyer halfway through the case and the realization of what’s been happening to him doesn’t come until Gary Puddles (Leigh Gill) is called in as a witness. 

This was the scene that really got to me. If you don’t remember Gary, he is Arthur’s only colleague who was always kind to him, as he completely understood what it was like to be an outcast. Gary was constantly mocked for his dwarfism, and just as he was kind to Arthur, Arthur was always kind to him. However, he also had to witness Arthur brutally murdering their awful colleague Randall (Glenn Fleshler). 

So, when Gary is on the stand, Joker tries to make fun of him, at first, trying to play up this persona of his for the crowd that loves him so much. However, Gary tells him with a teary eye that he doesn’t recognize him anymore. Yes, Joker let him go after he killed Randall, but he left Gary with severe trauma. Of course, as Joker is unable to face the consequences of his own actions, he dismisses Gary and tells him that he should be grateful that he lives. The breaking point comes when Gary talks to Arthur… not Joker… but Arthur – telling him that he was the only one who was ever kind to him, that he didn’t understand why Arthur was like this, and how he could turn to this. This gets through to Arthur even if he doesn’t show it as much then and dismisses Gary again. Director Todd Phillips very smartly decided to leave the camera on Gary as he left the court and we can see how – not just traumatized – but hurt he is. 

So Arthur decides to drop the act as he tells his closing speech to the jury. He admits that he was well aware of his actions all along, and on top of it all, he committed another murder no one knew about. He also killed his mom by suffocating her with a pillow. Lee leaves the court, clearly disappointed by Arthur’s decision. And this is where the realization of what this movie is about truly hit home. 

The first movie was about how an incredibly lonely person was longing for kindness, compassion, acceptance, and love in an unkind and selfish world.

The second movie is the embodiment of not feeling good enough. For the crowd and Lee, Arthur is useless and non-existent; they want Joker – the Joker, who so boldly killed someone on live television and started a rebellion unknowingly. Joker became a symbol to many, so who cares about the nobody, Arthur Fleck? The lawyer wants Arthur to be Arthur, and she tries everything to tell him that Joker is not real; it’s just a manifestation of his trauma. So we are left with a man who is not only deeply traumatized from how his mother treated him when he was just a kid, but he is also scared that no one could see his authentic self and, on top of it, how no one could love him for who he truly is. 

Arthur was never gonna manifest fully into the Joker that we know from the comics because despite all that happened to him in the first film and through most of the second, all he searched and looked for was someone who accepted him. He spent so much time trying to fit into the picture that people wanted to frame him in, and slowly but surely, he lost who he was. Under Joker and under the broken person that Arthur was, he was kind and just wanted to bring joy to others. Obviously, this does not mean he should be forgiven for all the pain and suffering he caused, at the end of the day it was his decision to turn to violence and harm others. 

Look. Everyone was already bashing on this movie, so I decided not to – even though I could. Yes, it is full of flaws; it’s all over the place, and arguably, it doesn’t need to exist. But I think what I wrote about in length is important to pay attention to. Not feeling good enough is such a big problem and pain for many. I certainly felt that way a lot. 

Gaga, Phoenix, and everyone in the cast are truly brilliant, and I am a bit sad that they are all feel a bit wasted here. The music choices are great, but they don’t add much to the story. 

The cinematography is on point again, and the atmosphere is hauntingly beautiful. 

Will I watch this movie again? Probably not. Does it need to exist? No… but I am a bit glad it does because the one thing it got right (and you just read through it) it truly got right. 

Gets a 5 out of 10 on the Couch Soup meter.