Share:
Joker: Folie à Deux premiered last week to devastating reviews from both critics and audiences. The film is also a significant box office failure, grossing only $37.8 million domestically, which is less than The Marvels and Morbius. Insiders described the film’s development as a nightmare.
Saying that fans of the original movie were disappointed with the sequel would be an understatement. Throughout the film, Arthur endures a humiliating ordeal, being used and abused in the most appalling ways.
His only ray of hope is the romance with Harleen Quinzel, portrayed by Lady Gaga. Many people, including Harley, want Arthur to be someone he clearly isn’t. Rather than being a symbol of revolution and class struggle, he is a lonely, broken man.
Deeply disturbed and twisted by years of abuse and isolation, Arthur appears to have finally found a place where he belongs. However, this does not bring him happiness, as he faces a death sentence for the crimes he committed in the first film.
For a time, Arthur successfully plays the role of the Joker, performing for his “fans,” the prison guards, and Harley Quinn herself. He exudes cockiness and confidence, but his moments of bravado are frequently interrupted by foolish, musically-infused daydreams about a future with Harley.
Ultimately, Arthur realizes that’s not what he is, he can’t be the Joker, and he was never THE Joker. He was always a broken and lonely man. Just as Arthur admits as much to the judge and jury, the explosion interrupts his guilty verdict.
Arthur is given one opportunity to meet with Harley. Harley admits that she never loved Arthur she loved the Joker. Something that was obvious throughout the movie. Harley sought the excitement, fame, and attention that being with the Joker got her.
When the reality of Arthur’s real personality landed, she broke up with him. Arthur returns to prison, this time as himself. As he is walking down the hallway Arthur is approached by one of the supposed “fans” of the Joker.
The fan tells him a joke, very much like the joke he told the TV host before he shot him in the head. The fan promptly stabs Arthur several times in the stomach, leaving him to bleed out on the prison floors.
While Arthur is dying, the real Joker carves a smile on his face. You see, Arthur was never THE Joker, he only served as a conduit for a real Joker to rise.
Todd Phillips recently broke down the ending for the movie and confirmed that it was never in Arthur’s cards to truly become this symbol for the people:
He realized that everything is so corrupt, it’s never going to change, and the only way to fix it is to burn it all down.
When those guards kill that kid in the [hospital] he realizes that dressing up in makeup, putting on this thing, it’s not changing anything. In some ways, he’s accepted the fact that he’s always been Arthur Fleck; he’s never been this thing that’s been put upon him, this idea that Gotham people put on him, that he represents.
He’s an unwitting icon. This thing was placed on him, and he doesn’t want to live as a fake anymore — he wants to be who he is.
Phillips also affirmed what we’ve witnessed on screen: no one cares about sad, broken men. Harley Quinn was more interested in climbing a twisted social ladder by aligning herself with the Joker, not with Fleck.
in the film until she leaves him on the same steps he danced atop in the original movie. “[She’s] realizing, I’m on a whole other trip, man, you can’t be what I wanted you to be
Phillips confirms that the final exchange between Lee and Arthur, despite its dreamlike quality, is “actually, really happening” and is not an imagined interaction, unlike Arthur’s fictional romance with Sophie (Zazie Beetz) in the previous film.
Interestingly, Phillips had spoiled the movie’s ending several months prior by revealing that Arthur would not become the Clown Prince of Crime.
We would never do that. Because Arthur clearly is not a criminal mastermind. He was never that.This unwilling, unwitting symbol now paying for the crimes of the first film, but at the same time finding the only thing he ever wanted, which was love.
That’s always what he’s been about, even though he’s been pushed and pulled in all these directions. So we tried to just make the most pure version of that.
What do you think? Let us know in the comments below!