Joker: Folie à Deuxis not exactly sitting well with critics or general audiences, especially sincethe controversial ending swings for the fences.Joaquin Phoenixis the latest to defend how theJokersequel handles his character during its conclusion,saying that it reinforces the film’s major themes. In many ways, the ending ofJoker: Folie à Deuxis a response to the first film and in defiance of how fans perceived the Batman villain, instead focusing on the true nature of Arthur Fleck. If you haven’t watched the film,beware of major spoilers forJoker: Folie à Deux.
Joaquin Phoenix talked toIGNaboutArthur Fleck’s shocking death at the hands of a fellow inmate. ThroughoutJoker: Folie à Deux, Phoenix’s character slowly comes to terms with himself and his past actions,eventually disavowing his Joker personain front of the court. His journey ends when a young man approaches him to tell a joke, which Arthur obliges. It’s a moment that actually showed positive growth for Arthur, even though it ends with the creation of a new Joker.Phoenix defends the controversial scene, saying:
“There’s a warmth in that scene, which is nice. That’s all that I was thinking about that I was after, is here’s this young man who’s telling me a joke and he’s nervous to tell me the joke, I can tell that he’s nervous, and I’m going to hear him out. And it’s a pretty good setup.”
At the end of the day, Arthur Fleck knows what it’s like to want to make someone laugh, especially after having failed to do so for much of 2019’sJoker. Of course, the fact thatFolie à Deuxdid not end withthe official coronation of Joaquin Phoenix as the Clown Prince of Crime rubbed fans the wrong way.And understandably so, as the sequel’s ending could be interpreted as a last-second cop-out. However, the filmmakers behindJokerinsist that the ending’s major turn was always the right choice.
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Todd Phillips also spoke with IGN about Arthur’s final moments, and how it connects to who the character has always been under the Joker persona. When Arthur confesses his crimes and renounces the moniker, it is a major step towards what he’s struggled with —being content with his own true nature. To Phillips, the death scene allowed him to become “at peace” with who he was.
“I think Arthur has found peace with the idea, with the struggle that it’s okay to be yourself. And that’s really what he’s always struggled with, you know what I mean? I like to think he died at peace in a way being himself.
The kid says to him, ‘You want to hear a joke?’ And even though he thinks maybe it’s (Lee) downstairs. We don’t even know what’s downstairs, but that sort of optimism that Arthur has, that’s still in him. He’s like, ‘Well, yeah, okay, of course’ because he knows that feeling of wanting to make somebody laugh. So he gives the kid that moment, right? Obviously it goes bad because, again, everything goes bad for Arthur, but I always think that’s such a beautiful moment where it’s like Arthur still has hope.”
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One of the most disappointing aspects of the shocking ending toJoker: Folie à Deuxis the fact audiences will now never seeJoaquin Phoenix’s Joker interact with Batman. This had always been unlikely since Bruce Wayne was still a child, and Phillips consistently expressed his distaste for the source material whenever he got the chance to do so. Still, it’s a disappointing prospect for diehard fans of the superhero genre,even though it is a subversive and thematically impactful decision to kill Arthur Fleck while leaving him the happiest he’s been.
Joker: Folie a Deux
Joker: Folie à Deux is the sequel to Todd Phillips' critically acclaimed comic book thriller Joker. Reprising his Academy Award-winning performance as the failed comedian Arthur Fleck, Joaquin Phoenix revisits the iconic DC character alongside Lady Gaga, who makes her debut as Joker’s lover Harley Quinn in this standalone continuity of the DC Universe.
