“Are you okay? You know we can cancel.”

Story: Two years after the goings-on in Joker, Arthur Fleck is chillin’ like a literal villain in Arkham Asylum. All he wants from life is his daily meds, and an occasional cigarette. But when he meets “Lee” Quinzel, a woman who’s also in Arkham, sparks fly. Literally and figuratively. When Arthur is finally tried for his crimes will Lee’s Mistah J stand up?

Genre I’d put it in: Jukebox Musicals Loosely Based on DC Villains
Release Date: 2024
Remake, Sequel, Based-On, or Original: Based on the characters in DC comic’s stable, but mainly from the Batman, Joker, and Harley Quinn oeuvre.

Gotta say: So Deux hit theaters Friday, but I couldn’t make it. Plus, I was at Saturday Night the night this puppy screened. But I really needed to see this “musical adaptation” of Joker and Harley’s love story, as told by Todd Phillips. And it’s a trip, y’all. If you just ride the ride, it’s not bad. It’s joyful mayhem doesn’t always work, but for the most part? It’s fascinating anarchy I can appreciate. I think Mistah J might approve.

There are moments where I wondered when Deux was gonna end. There were also moments that had me absolutely gobsmacked by the talent onscreen. I think what really struck me in Deux was the way the musical numbers were used. As Arthur and Lee meet during an inmate singing therapy class, they bond over singing. (I’ll be calling him Arthur rather than Joker here, just because I don’t feel like typing both names out throughout.) So it makes sense that these two broken lovebirds use music to connect, and soothe. Phillips makes the real vs. fake moments easier to follow here, with abrupt cuts often used to pull us out of reveries. It’s a nice touch, as this time, we understand that not everything is as it seems.

Joaquin Phoenix said the idea of Deux “…came to him in a dream”, and boy, the film feels like it. The overall plot is how an institutionalized Arthur Fleck is dealing with being found sane enough for trial, and the possibility of a death penalty. That’s just the premise for this character study. We get a look at Arthur’s mind, in a deeper, more personal way than we got in the first film. This is an Arthur that’s beaten down, given up, but still holding on to is murderous past like a high school champ would wear a letterman’s jacket into his 30s. After Joker, we know that Arthur is an unreliable narrator, and what we’re seeing onscreen could be his personal narrative. Ditto for Lee, who’s story is just as messy as Arthur’s, but in different ways. Lady Gaga’s Lee is also desperate for something to cling to, even if she’s gotta create her own fantasies. Gaga delivers a performance that’s sly, calculating, lovestruck, and chaotic. She was the perfect person to cast as Lee, and not just for her incredible pipes.

Special shout-out to Catherine Keener as Maryanne Stewart, Arthur’s lawyer and maybe the only one who seems to care about him. Keener delivers a softly powerful performance that’s the opposite of her turn in Get Out, but just as amazing. Seriously, can we start giving Oscars to casting directors? Of course Phoenix is amazing here, though damn, he’s so skinny. With Arthur’s hunched shoulders, he’s skin and bone. Luckily, this looks like the last time Phoenix will do this. Good idea; stay healthy, my dude.

As Gary, the co-worker Arthur spared in the first film, Leigh Gill delivers a compelling performance that conveys years of trauma and survivor’s guilt. Gary is barely hanging on when he’s called to the stand to testify. Along with the testimony of Zazie Beetz’s Sophie – his neighbor in the first film – Arthur slowly begins to understand how much his actions have affected others. Then Phoenix goes ahead and delivers a closing argument statement where his Arthur seems to understand exactly how much damage he’d done, though much too late. Hell, as odd as this film can be, what with all the bits in the trailer you’ll never see in the film, along with alternate scenes and endings? Deux is worth the price of admission for these scenes alone. Yes, I’m a Law and Order courtroom drama nerd. But that doesn’t make my ability to appreciate amazing scenes less on point.

Phillips uses light and shadow beautifully, playing with color grading during “real life” incarceration, Arthur and/or Lee’s fantasy, and the trial itself. There’s a gorgeous moment where Arthur, being escorted to see his lawyer during a rainstorm, sees multi-colored umbrellas during his walk, while in reality, the umbrellas are black. It’s a nice touch, and shows us how Arthur is desperate for color and comfort in his world. But as Arthur is also big into dissociative episodes, flights of fancy, and plain-ol’ daydreaming, there are full-blown theater-kid musical numbers here too. Deux has a beautiful “Ginger and Fred” type moment, as well as groovy TV variety hour-esque moments that echo “The Sonny and Cher Show”. In Deux, I get big-time Smeagol/Gollum vibes from Arthur, and y’know what, that works.

I can get why so many folks have issues with Deux, as it is a lot of work to sift though, and most of it is so far from what DC fans would even graciously call cannon. Though there are hints at characters going on to become more of who comic and DCEU fans can recognize, which is cool (Phillips said this is his last Joker outing, so don’t expect more in this series.) As a story of how one member of Gotham fell in love both with a person, and the possibility of a life beyond his own? I dig what Deux was trying to do.

#Protip: [LIGHT SPOILERS FOR THE END OF DEUX BELOW]

The final scene in Deux hints at what Phillips’ meant by “Arthur Fleck is not the Joker” comments during press for the first film. It just might be the most brilliant move by the director, and I kinda loved it. And if you’ve watched the Emergency Awesome link I put up in the “alternate scenes” hyperlink? I had the idea that that video’s “Theory #8” and the Lee’s fantasy ideas in “#6” was what was actually happening in the finished film…