Love it or hate it, Joker: Folie à Deux, Todd Phillips' Joker is a harrowing cinematic journey.

Ironically, baggage is one thing Joker himself brings in abundance, which is perhaps true of Arthur Fleck more than any previous iteration of the villain. Joker is given free rein to delve deep into the psychology of the Clown Prince of Crime, taking light inspiration from The Killing Joke and The Dark Knight Returns and twisting Joker's comic origins into something completely new. This unflinching approach yields a movie that is not just dark but creates a genuinely disturbing aura of discomfort, leading viewers to wonder what was actually real throughout.

Arthur's Relationship With Zazie Beetz's Sophie

Whatever one's interpretation of Joker's ending and the film's relationship to the overall Batman story, there's something not quite right about Arthur's neighbor, Sophie, and this is one of a select few overt instances where Joker its to its deception. Arthur and Sophie first meet as they share an elevator. As Sophie's young child starts to annoy her mother, the two adults share a telling glance, and Sophie makes a "shoot me" gesture as a joke.

This triggers an obsession in Arthur, who begins stalking the woman. Later, at the Fleck apartment, Sophie confronts her neighbor about his creepy behavior. Strangely, Beetz's character decides she's not too bothered about the stalking and hints at a possible future date between the two. After committing his first three murders on the subway, Arthur is emboldened to make a move on Sophie, and the two begin a whirlwind romance.

Viewers then see alternate versions of Sophie's scenes where Arthur is interacting with thin air, clearly indicating that the entire relationship was a fabrication.

Everything seems to be going swimmingly until Arthur lets himself into Sophie's apartment after killing his mother, and she barely recognizes him. Viewers then see alternate versions of Sophie's scenes where Arthur is interacting with thin air, clearly indicating that the entire relationship was a fabrication. Since something must've triggered Arthur Fleck's obsession with Sophie and she does at least recognize him as a person who lives nearby, it's safe to assume that the elevator scene did actually happen.

While Arthur begins a fantasy romance after bumping into this complete stranger, Sophie seemingly thinks nothing of the interaction and goes on with her life in blissful ignorance of her dangerous neighbor. Arthur never attempted to hurt Sophie, letting her live, and she makes an appearance in Joker: Folie à Deux as a witness in Arthur Fleck's trial.

Sophie reveals that she was scared of Arthur and thought he might hurt her and her child, indicating her composure in that scene was just a front. She reinforces the idea that Arthur made everything up about the two of them in his head, having said she only ever interacted with him a few times. The most damning thing she brought to the trial was revealing more about Arthur's mom.

She said that Penny Fleck would talk about Arthur, telling Sophie that she had been lying to Arthur when she told him that he was there to make people happy. In fact, Penny Fleck was horrified that Arthur believed her and continued to try to be a comedian. Sophie's testimony further solidified the tragedy that was Arthur's relationship with his mother.

Arthur's First "Appearance" On Murray Franklin

Another clearly signposted daydream sequence is Joker's appearance as an audience member on the Murray Franklin talk show. As Arthur and his mother settle down to watch their favorite TV host, Arthur begins experiencing a reverie in which he is plucked from the audience by Franklin himself to come down and appear on the show. While Joker makes little attempt to paint this scene as reality, the sequence does hint towards several parts of Arthur's psyche that become vital later in the story.

Robert De Niro's role in Joker was inspired by the Martin Scorsese film, The King of Comedy, which De Niro also starred in.

Not only does Arthur idolize Franklin, he mentally holds the TV personality up as some kind of father figure, which explains why Joker reacts so badly when Robert De Niro's character mocks Arthur's stand-up comedy routine and laughing condition. The scene also foreshadows Arthur's love of the limelight and desperation to be recognized, as well as his belief that appearing on the Murray Franklin show would represent the pinnacle of his entire life. All of these elements combine in explosive fashion in Joker's finale.

Arthur's Laughing Condition

First and foremost, Pseudobulbar Affect is a genuine medical condition whereby a person's outward expressions don't reflect their true emotional state, and this can indeed result in unwanted hysterical laughter at inappropriate times. Joker also strongly suggests that Arthur's condition might be the result of a head injury suffered during childhood. Somewhat similar to Tourette's syndrome, Arthur's laughing seems most likely to occur during periods of great stress, such as his first comedy show or when confronted by a woman on the bus.

The more confident "Joker" persona Arthur adopts in the film's final act suffers far fewer outbursts. While it's possible that Joker is merely less prone to stress than Arthur and, therefore, less likely to trigger his condition, it wouldn't be a huge stretch to imply that the entire laughing condition could be psychosomatic. Arthur's preoccupation with comedy and making people laugh might've directly led to him unconsciously laughing in awkward situations - a kind of dark humor that the Joker would be proud of. It also wouldn't be too difficult to print and laminate a bogus medical card.

Penny Fleck & Thomas Wayne

Thanks to Arthur liberating some medical records from a disgruntled assistant, viewers know that Arthur was adopted by Penny Fleck, a woman who was at one time diagnosed with a severe mental illness and found to have neglected and abused the child in her care. The same records state that Arthur's biological parents aren't known, which fits with the traditional backstory of Joker in of his identity being a mystery. Penny, however, maintains that Arthur is not only her son but that Thomas Wayne is his father, with Penny having worked for Wayne Enterprises in the years prior.

Like Thomas himself, the audience is encouraged to dismiss Penny's words as the ramblings of a deeply troubled woman, but, as with everything in Joker, the obvious answer isn't necessarily the correct one. Joker's Thomas Wayne is far less virtuous than the character's usual portrayal. If he did have a secret affair with a worker, it wouldn't be outside of Wayne's considerable influence to have records altered in order to protect his reputation and prevent any illegitimate children inheriting a slice of the family fortune.

Alternatively, Arthur could be the son of Thomas Wayne and a second mystery woman. The businessman then might've had one of his workers adopt the kid to conceal its parentage, perhaps even picking a mother with medical issues so that no one would believe her story. This would explain why Penny insists Thomas is Arthur's father, even as an older woman who is clearly of sounder mind than she was in the past, and would also for the T.W. initials on the photo of Arthur as a child.

In Joker: Folie à Deux, it is officially confirmed that Penny adopted Arthur Fleck, meaning that the possibility her and Thomas Wayne were the birth parents of is shut down. In fact, Thomas Wayne doesn't even show up in the film, most likely indicating he was never the father and Arthur Fleck was just grasping onto that idea because of the idea his mom planted in his head.

The Entire Movie

While Joker's ending can certainly be interpreted in a variety of ways, many suggested that the vast majority of the movie took place within Arthur's mind. The theory argues that only the scenes featuring Arthur in an asylum were actually real, and that the rest of the story is being imagined by Fleck from his padded cell. Of course, Joker: Folie à Deux shoots down this notion as Arthur is on trial for murdering five people, not six, since no one knows Arthur also killed his mother. It showed that most of the significant events actually took place.

Arthur's Joker Persona

One of the main narrative threads in Joker: Folie à Deux grapples with the idea of what Joker is. Prosecutor Harvey Dent is pursuing the death penalty, while Arthur's own attorney is trying to convince the jury that Arthur Fleck and Joker are two separate personalities that Arthur didn't or have control of his actions when he murdered those people.

Lady Gaga's character, Lee, is in love with Joker, and continuously tries to get Arthur to embrace that side of himself throughout the film. Towards Joker: Folie à Deux's ending, Arthur confesses to the jury that he committed those crimes, and Joker isn't a split personality. In fact, Joker was simply nothing more than the persona Arthur Fleck adopted, and was never part of his mental illness, or meant to be the champion of the downtrodden. By the end of Joker: Folie à Deux, everything that took place in Joker has been recontextualized.

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