Bonded by music and madness

American musical psychological thriller film Joker: Folie à Deux (French for ‘madness of two’) is now out in theatres.

Starring Joaquin Phoenix reprising his role as Arthur Fleck, known as Joker, and Lady Gaga as his love interest Harleen ‘Lee’ Quinzel or Harley Quinn, the DC comics-based film is set two years after the events of the 2019 crime drama, Joker.

It follows the now Arkham State Hospital patient as he falls in love with fellow inmate, resulting in the two experiencing life as a musical through their linked insanity.

Despite the 2019 film being intended as a standalone with no sequels, director Todd Phillips had revealed that Joaquin pushed for the idea of a sequel because he did not feel ready to leave the character behind.

“I remember I posted a picture from the last day of the first Joker many years ago, and Joaquin was hugging me with tears in his eyes,” Todd said in an interview.

“That’s not because he wasn’t going to see me again; that was really because we kind of fell in love with Arthur, and we thought there was more to tell in Arthur’s journey,” he added.

In June 2022, it was officially announced by the director that the sequel was in development.

On August 4 of that year, Gaga took to social media to officially announce her involvement in the film.

The actress and singer also released an album inspired by the DC comic character, titled Harlequin, on Friday, and said the project came up as she was ‘not done with Harley’ when the filming wrapped up.

“This idea of dual identities was always something that was part of my music-making, I was always creating characters in my music and when I made Lee for Joker, she just really had this profound effect on me,” Gaga said in an interview.

“The film had so much music in it, so much music that I love, and I was able to discover the character through the story, through the music that we did live every day as well as dance and the costumes and the makeup.

“So I kind of had this deep experience with the character and she just didn’t really leave me creatively and I decided I wanted to make a whole album inspired by her,” she added.