It’s not unusual for comic book movie sequels to have a subtitle – X-Men: Apocalypse, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, and Venom: Let There Be Carnage all used their subtitles to tease their iconic villains (and then proceeded to butcher their adaptations of those villains) – but it is unusual for Hollywood studios to title their tentpole movies in French. Marvel’s movie subtitles, from The First Avenger to Endgame, tend to be pretty straightforward. But, from John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum to the MCU’s own Thor: Ragnarok, some sequel subtitles need to be translated for an English-speaking audience. Folie à Deux, of course, falls into the latter category.
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The term “folie à deux” literally translates to “folly of two,” or “madness [shared] by two.” In English, the syndrome is referred to as “shared psychosis” or “shared delusional disorder,” also known as SDD. The condition is shared by two patients who transmit delusional beliefs and sometimes even hallucinations between each other’s minds. So, it seems that Arthur Fleck’s delusional mind will become entangled with somebody else’s identically delusional mind in the Joker sequel, which could either hint at multiple Jokers or a Harley Quinn romance.
One of Joker’s selling points was its detachment from existing franchises and cinematic universes. Phillips conceived the movie as a standalone piece that wouldn’t lead to any sequels. But then, Joker grossed an unprecedented billion-plus dollars in spite of its R rating, dark tone, and villain protagonist, so the filmmaker was urged to reconsider his stance on sequels. Not only did fears that the Joker movie would spark real-world violence end up being unfounded; the controversy ended up giving Warner Bros. a more lucrative marketing campaign than money could buy.
While the final scene of Joker implies that the whole film might have taken place inside Arthur’s head, there are a couple of sequel setups in the first movie that the next one could follow up on. Phillips’ Scorsese-flavored Gotham City is a rich sandbox for future movies to play around in. The Joker’s on-air murder of Murray Franklin is shown to have inspired a cult of anarchists to rise up against Gotham’s one-percenters. Arthur is locked in Arkham Asylum, covered in the blood of an orderly, possibly paving the way for a haunted house setup or a standard imprisonment storyline. The movie even had yet another Batman origin story.
If Phillips was going to follow a cult of Jokers all sharing the same delusion, then he wouldn’t have used the term “folie à deux” in the title. When the same syndrome is shared by three people, it’s called “folie à trois,” and when it’s shared by four people, it’s called “folie à quatre.” If the Joker sequel was about a widespread Joker cult, it would’ve been called “folie en famille” (“family madness”) or “folie à plusieurs” (“madness of several”). The fact that “deux” is specified means that this story will focus on an intense delusional bond between the Joker and one very special person.
Naturally, DC fans have speculated that this very special person could be Harley Quinn, the Clown Prince of Crime’s on-and-off love interest from the comics. Dr. Harleen Quinzel is an Arkham psychiatrist who falls in love with the Joker, loses her mind, and becomes his closest accomplice and confidant. Phillips made up his own origin story for the Joker, so he’ll probably do the same with Harley, but the psychiatrist-turned-lover setup could form the basis of the sequel. Through a series of therapy sessions, Arthur will flip the patient-doctor dynamic and draw Harley into his twisted web of delusion.
The first Joker movie notoriously cribbed most of its style, visuals, and plot points from the Martin Scorsese classics Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy. Arthur Fleck is a disturbing hybrid of wannabe comedian Rupert Pupkin and violent loner Travis Bickle. Like Rupert, he lives with his overbearing mother. Like Travis, he takes the law into his own hands. With Arthur being locked in Arkham Asylum at the end of the film, it seemed likely that the next ‘70s classic Phillips would borrow from would be Miloš Forman’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. If the sequel is leaning into the Joker/Harley love story, then perhaps it’ll play like a version of Cuckoo’s Nest in which McMurphy falls in love with Nurse Ratched.
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