Folie à Deux' peaked in its opening scene

Anatomy of a Scene - It's all downhill from there for 'Joker- Folie à Deux' after an incredibly surreal opening sequence

(Credits: Far Out/Warner Bros)

Tuesday 22 October 2024, 7am, UK

Few sequels have fallen off a cliff as hard or as quickly as Todd Phillips’ Joker: Folie à Deuxwho decided that the best way to follow a billion-dollar box office juggernaut that became a surprise awards season heavyweight was to devote its entire 138-minute running time to navel-gazing pontificates.

The fact that the idea for the next chapter in Arthur Fleck’s story came from a dream lived by star Joaquin Phoenix says a lot because it is clear that the film was not made with the public in mind. It has been called many things by many different people, but the easiest way to describe it Joker 2 is that it’s essentially an art film made on a scale comparable to the standard comic book adaptation.

It is often something beautiful to see on a technical and artistic level, but at no point does it carry a clear intention. Phillips was so deterred by demographics that he took Clown so close to their hearts that he intentionally went out of his way to create something they would actively detest? Was it an ambitious sequel made with complete creative autonomy, a victim of self-indulgence? Or was it simply the latest in a long line of subpar second installments, a plague that has plagued countless franchises over the years?

The result is probably somewhere in between, with Folie à Deux peaking in its introductory sequence. The film’s opening comes completely out of nowhere, takes the audience by surprise, and contains the kind of off-kilter weirdness that promised a completely different kind of story. Clown move on to its predecessor, only for that intentionally anarchic streak to dry up and evaporate in favor of half-baked song-and-dance numbers and heavy-handed courtroom scenes.

Warner Bros. is a notoriously protective studio of its most famous pieces of intellectual property, which is why Batman and his arch-nemesis are in a perpetual state of reboot that has never seen them serve as a headliner in anything other than a feature-length film. footage. However, Joker 2 threw a curve ball into the mix by crossing over with the company’s famous animation department, which is as strange as it sounds.

Following Clown becoming the highest-grossing release in cinema history and winning two Oscars out of 11 nominations, suggesting that the sequel would open with a Looney Tunes-inspired animated interlude, inspired by filmmaker Sylvain Chomet’s 2003 animated film. The Belleville Triplets with shades of Tex Avery it would have looked ridiculous, but that’s exactly what happened.

In fact, Phillips personally reached out to Chomet to oversee the sequel. “He told me he was a big fan of The Belleville Tripletsespecially the opening scene,” said Chomet, per BFMTV. “That was exactly what he wanted for his film: an opening with a retro design, but not in the style of Betty Boop like in The triplets introduction. So I suggested doing a Tex Avery-style cartoon, like from the 1940s. He loved the idea.”

Starting with an ode to Looney Tunes recapping and telling the reasons why Arthur is currently incarcerated, not to mention rebroadcasting one of the Folie à DeuxThe recurring themes that the prisoner and the Joker are two distinct personalities who cannot be held responsible for each other’s actions was a swing for the fences that was as bold as it was inspired.

Those first few minutes promised something more esoteric, experimental and, ultimately, audacious than the first Clownbut it was a bill that Phillips had no interest in fulfilling over the next two hours and change. It’s actually indicative of the film as a whole, but not for the reasons anyone expected.