Venice 81, Joker Day: All the News on the Sequel

‘Joker: Folie à deux’ is definitely the most anticipated film of the 81st Venice Film Festival. The sequel to the film that won the 2019 Golden Lion, two Golden Globes and two Oscars, is ready today, September 4, for its debut. The cast, led by Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga (who plays Harley Quinn), has already arrived at the Lido ready to set the red carpet alight today.

Love with Harley Quinn Lady Gaga

In the film, directed once again by Todd Phillips, we find Arthur Fleck locked up in Arkham, awaiting trial for his crimes as the Joker. Struggling with his double identity, Arthur will find love in Harley Quinn and discover the music that flows inside him. “Joaquin and I had talked about a sequel, but never seriously, until we saw the reaction that Arthur’s story was provoking,” says the director.We knew that to make a sequel we had to outdo ourselves: we wanted to create something as crazy and daring as the Joker himself.. Scott Silver and I then wrote a script that further explored the idea of ​​identity. Who is Arthur Fleck? And where does his inner music come from?”

The other films in competition

The race for the Golden Lion continues with another Italian film in competition ‘Diva futura’ by Giulia Louise Steigerwalt with Pietro Castellitto and Barbara Ronchi. Steigerwalt’s film tells how, in Italy in the 80s and 90s, Riccardo Schicchi, with his agency Diva Futura, managed to revolutionize mass culture by transforming the hippie utopia of free love into a new phenomenon: porn. “An impartial portrait, the story of the tragic parable of a group of characters who, if in some ways they fought for freedom, paradoxically contributed with their work to normalize something that goes against the freedom of women themselves, namely the commodification of the female body. The story, in this sense, of a great contradiction”, comments the director.

Finally, the film ‘Jouer avec le feu (The Quiet Son)’ by Delphine and Muriel Coulin. Pierre, a single father, sees his family fall apart as his children reach adulthood. While Louis prepares to start college, Fus distances himself by embracing right-wing extremism, in open conflict with his father’s values. Between love, hate and misunderstanding, the family will find itself facing a tragedy. “In a political climate where extremes are winning, these are the questions that guided us in making this film. This story of family, political convictions, shame and reconciliation is also the story of our country,” comments the director.