Also in Venice: Daniel Craig plays queer.
Symbiotic psychosis: Lee (Lady Gaga) and the Joker (Joaquin Phoenix) in «Joker: Folie à Deux».
Warner Bros.
The Joker laughs because he has nothing to laugh about. The loud laughter he bursts out into is a protection. A defense mechanism. Underneath the evil clown’s makeup is a desperate little man named Arthur Fleck. Joaquin Phoenix portrayed him phenomenally. Five years ago, the actor delivered a master class with the corners of his mouth. It earned him the Oscar for Best Actor and “Joker” the Golden Lion in Venice.
Now the sequel, “Joker: Folie à Deux,” is premiering at the Mostra before it hits theaters in October. The title refers to a symbiotic psychosis, a madness in pairs. Disturbed together is less alone: Because of his good behavior, the imprisoned Arthur Fleck gets a place in the prison choir, where he meets Harleen Quinzel (Lady Gaga).
Harleen, called Lee, explains that she comes from the same neighborhood as Arthur. She burned down her parents’ house, she says proudly. “I killed my mother,” Arthur notes.
Arthur Fleck must answer for the murder of five people, not least of which was his shooting of talk show host Murray Franklin live on camera. Now he is awaiting trial. For the people out there in the Moloch Gotham City, the psychopath with the clown face has become a dark icon. His lawyer (Catherine Keener) wants to get him released. He is schizophrenic, and Arthur and the Joker have different personalities. She pleads diminished responsibility. But is he really, or what is going on inside him?
Lady Gaga gives warmth
It is a surprisingly intimate film that is set primarily in prison and the courtroom. And in the mind of the Joker, who longs for Lee behind bars. Director Todd Phillips focuses on Arthur Fleck, who is tragically in love. “Folie à Deux” is a dark, epic ballad that Lady Gaga occasionally almost turns into a musical.
In his phantasmagorias, Arthur finds himself in vocal numbers with Lee, where cigarette smoke swirls and the big band swings. Lee is a dark character, but Lady Gaga gives the arsonist, well, a lot of warmth. Gaga is perfectly cast alongside the disturbing Phoenix.
Joaquin Phoenix is a special guy. His successful Hollywood career never seemed to give him any security, it seems. He is known to be a remarkably nervous man at press events. He recently made headlines because he dropped out of a new film with master director Todd Haynes just five days before production began. He had apparently got cold feet. Hollywood hasn’t seen a more complicated insurance case for a long time.
At the presentation of “Folie à Deux” in Venice, Phoenix did not want to talk about it. But he did say that the challenge for him in “Joker” was to “stop the noise in my head”. On set, he had to switch off the doubts, “but at the same time I needed the fear, the panic”. You can see it in his face; it is precisely the uncertainty that makes his oppressive portrayal of the Joker.
He has lost a lot of weight, but it is not an issue. He says it is silly when actors proudly display their diets. “We fed him blueberries,” reveals Lady Gaga. At the beginning of the film, the camera focuses on Phoenix’s sunken bare shoulders, his collarbone poking through the skin.
In the end, this second “Joker” is also a film about a man who becomes a vicious folk hero, but is unable to bear the expectations on his shoulders. Director Phillips cleverly undermines the hype. After the first film, he focuses on nuanced acting rather than more bombast.
He usually drinks a rum and coke: the lonely gay Lee (Daniel Craig) in “Queer”.
Yannis Drakoulidis
Daniel Craig queer in Mexiko
The 81st Venice Film Festival is a parade of stars. Familiar faces everywhere. Actor Chris Pine is smoking a cigarette outside the restaurant when an Italian family approaches him: “You look like Brad Pitt!” Pine ashes the cigarette and smiles friendly: “Thank you.” Yes, it’s easy to lose track of all the celebrities here.
Daniel Craig is also omnipresent. As the face of a luxury brand, the ex-Bond proves that he dares to do something: funny side parting, colorful knitted sweater, hiking boots. On the fashion posters he looks like Iggy Pop in queer.
In the past, “queer” was a dirty word. In the film “Queer,” a Burroughs adaptation by Luca Guadagnino, Craig plays a lonely gay American in 1950s Mexico who refuses to be discriminated against. And lives a promiscuous life. This William Lee in a white linen suit and fedora is mired in sex, drugs and rum and coke.
Then he falls for the young Eugene (Drew Starkey), who may or may not be gay. While Lee’s sweaty bangs fall over his forehead, the dapper Eugene sits coolly in the cantina. He doesn’t seem receptive to Lee’s advances; Lee can’t read him, but he can’t keep his eyes off him either. The two head off to South America to search the jungle for a mysterious plant that is said to have telepathic effects. After the smash hit “Challengers” about a sexy threesome in the world of tennis, this dream-walking Guadagnino is certainly not quite as popular. But just like Artur and Lee, Eugene and Lee are also fascinating as a “folie à deux”.
