Joker: Folie à Deux makes it clear that Lady Gaga's Harley Quinn is just getting started and I really need more

The following contains spoilers for Joker: Folie à Deux.

Joker: Folie à Deux may be a courtroom drama, but it’s also a surreal, dreamy and twisted love story between Joaquin Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck, aka the Joker himself, and Lady Gaga’s Harley “Lee” Quinn.

As a Lady Gaga superfan for 15 years (a little monster, to use the correct terminology) and huge Harley Quinn fan, it’s safe to say that this was one of my most anticipated films of the year. I was counting down the days that I would see Gaga shine as Lee, and after watching the film I was convinced that it was the perfect casting for a comic book film – Gaga perfectly embodies Harley Quinn’s sense of the dramatic, the strange, the vulnerable, and the deeply disturbed Psyche. Plus, if there was ever any doubt, she nails those musical numbers.

As the saying goes, they always leave you wanting more, and Joker: Folie à Deux certainly left me wanting another Gaga Lee film. In fact, the way the film ends is almost like a passing of the torch – a swapping of the jester’s hat, if you will. As Arthur becomes disillusioned with his Joker persona, Lee falls deeper into her own alter ego, even abandoning Arthur’s trial when he turns his back on the Joker.

This all culminates in Arthur escaping the courthouse after it is suddenly blown to pieces and finding Lee on those famous stairs. Arthur is excited and believes that they can finally have a life together. But Lee doesn’t want Arthur, she wants Joker. She sings “That’s Entertainment” despite Arthur begging her to talk to him as she is tired of singing, leaving him alone on the stairs to be arrested. Ultimately, Arthur meets his death in Arkham, where he is repeatedly stabbed by another inmate who is angry at him for abandoning the Joker.

Clown Princess of Crime

(Image credit: Warner Bros.)

However, as I watched Lee leave Arthur to his end, I couldn’t help but think that she had only just begun. In this final scene between the star-crossed lovers, Lee fully embodies classic Harley Quinn style: a full face of smeared clown makeup, the harlequin-inspired outfit, and even a new, messy haircut. While Arthur is nearly naked, wearing a gray suit and speaking normally, Lee is in her regalia and still in that dark, dreamy headspace where the whole world is a stage and she is the leading lady.

It’s a transformation that occurs slowly over the course of the film as Lee, in love with Arthur, pushes him to give in to his Joker persona and gradually style himself with increasingly dramatic outfits and makeup. When she sees Arthur for the last time and dooms him for refusing to run away with him, it is as if she has usurped his supervillain status.

Nor is it just a dynamic present in the film. Gaga’s album “Harlequin,” released to coincide with the film, includes a cover of the song “The Joker.” In the film, this is sung by Joaquin Phoenix in a courtroom dream sequence, and it is a more traditional interpretation of the song that tells the tragedy of being one of life’s jokers – an unhappy, lonely clown. However, Gaga’s version is rougher and more aggressive, without melancholy. She practically growls her way through the second pre-chorus before suddenly letting out a creepy laugh. “The Joker is me,” Gaga declares in a theatrical, chilling assertion, a darkly triumphant reversal of the original meaning: She is one of life’s Jokers, and that is what she is enthusiastic about it. I could imagine Lee singing something like this to herself as she leaves Arthur on the stairs and absorbs the essence of the Joker.

The foundation has already been laid for an unhinged, villainous Harley Quinn. We learn in the film that Lee lied to Arthur about being violently murdered by her mother, being responsible for arson, and living near his old neighborhood. In reality, she was attending graduate school in psychiatry – a nod to Harley’s classic origins, which sees her as a psychiatrist who falls in love with the Joker while he is her patient. She lives with her parents in a wealthy area and voluntarily settled in Arkham just to meet Arthur. This is clearly a smart, scheming woman who is perfectly prepared to take on the role of the Clown Prince of Crime.

It’s also a clever twist on the usual dynamic between Harley and Joker, involving Harley in a manipulative, abusive relationship. A more calculating, devious Harley who herself is a bad influence on Arthur is fascinating, and I’d like to see how her story might develop now that Arthur is dead. What can she do next? Well, it looks like Gotham is hers.

While the Arthur Fleck book is over, it feels like a new chapter has just begun for Lee Quinzel. I really hope I get to see him on the big screen one day so Gaga’s Lee can fulfill his full, deliciously villainous potential. The Joker is she…

For more on the film, check out our Joker: Folie à Deux review for our verdict, or treat yourself to a marathon with our guide to watching the DC movies in order.

You can also see all the Easter eggs for “Joker: Folie à Deux”, explain the ending of “Joker: Folie à Deux”, whether there will be a Joker 3 and whether there will be a post-credits scene for “Joker: Folie à Deux”. “ will give.

Joker: Folie à Deux makes it clear that Lady Gaga’s Harley Quinn is just getting started and I really need more

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