Joker: Folie a Deux (15)

Central to this sequel is a question of self: is the Joker simply a delusional character living inside him, a reaction to his horrific abusive childhood?

Following a Looney Tunes-inspired opening, we catch up with Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) at Arkham Asylum.. He’s imprisoned and awaiting trial, surviving in a dangerous atmosphere with guards (including Brendan Gleeson) provoking him for ‘a joke’. He’s also now a minor celebrity, an icon of a counter-cultural movement, and the subject of a TV movie about his life. That gets him the attention of one Harley Quinn (Lady Gaga). Wrapped up in each other’s chaos, the pair come together in a swathe of musical numbers; we see them waltz on a rooftop like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, perform on a 70s variety TV show and entertain the audience at a smoky jazz club.

But these sequences are playing out in our protagonists’ minds, a shared madness, as the film’s title implies. As tensions within the prison ratchets up, can our doomed lovers escape their hell? Joker: Folie à Deux finds a strange, tragic hopefulness all of its own.