Start spreading the news, Dr. Harleen Quinn is leaving today. A first teaser for Joker: Folie A Deux, released back in April, already teased a bit about what we could expect from the forthcoming sequel to Todd Phillips’ 2019 film: Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) meets Harleen Quinn in an asylum sometime after the events of the first film. But now, with the reveal of the official trailer this morning, we have a slightly more of an idea of what the plot—and the multiple musical numbers—is all about.After this morning's announcement that Folie À Deux will premiere at this year's Venice Film Festival, Warner Bros. has released a new trailer that is, truthfully, pretty similar to the first one. Gaga calls Phoenix "Joker" twice while he performs a country lawyer routine in front of a courtroom. They sing Stevie Wonder and Judy Garland while "When You're Smiling" scores the trailer proper, and they resolve to give the people what they want.The 2019 Joker was objectively successful, even if its artistic merits are debatable. After that film also premiered at the Venice Film Festival, Phoenix went on to win the Academy Award for Best Actor—the second performer to win an Oscar for portraying the Joker—while the film itself sparked a brief panic over whether screenings of the film would lead to real-world violence. While that didn’t exactly happen, given the near-constant state of gun violence in the United States, it’s hard to call the concern completely unfounded, even if the politics in the actual film are too vague and confused to inspire much of anything. Anywho, Folie À Deux appears to me steering more into the realm of fantasy via the heightened form of musicals, which is enough reason for this writer to be cautiously optimistic. There’s also the fact that Lady Gaga really wants an acting Oscar and is very likely to bring it. Historically speaking, you do have a better chance of winning one in a Batman riff than a new take on A Star Is Born, so, who knows—maybe this will be her year. Joker: Folie À Deux hits theaters on October 4.
