The Only Recap You Need Before Joker: Folie À Deux
It may be tough to remember now, but when Joker was released in 2019, the film sparked concerns that it could lead to violence. That didn't happen, but what was Joker about, anyway? Here's the recap you've been waiting for.
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00:00It may be tough to remember now, but when Joker was released in 2019, the film sparked
00:05concerns that it could lead to violence.
00:07That didn't happen, but what was Joker about anyway?
00:10Here's the recap you've been waiting for.
00:13While the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been enjoying a decade and a half of carefully
00:16planned interconnected storytelling, things have been a bit more scattershot over at DC.
00:22Director James Gunn is stepping in to clean things up with a whole new direction, but
00:25in just the past few years, we've had multiple Batman continuities happening at once.
00:29That's not to even mention the way Zack Snyder's Justice League breaks several other films
00:33in the process.
00:34Anyway, when Joker debuted in 2019, some fans may naturally have expected the film to center
00:39around Jared Leto's conception of the character.
00:42After all, he just played the Joker in Suicide Squad.
00:45This solo film, however, exists in its own continuity, separate from all of the various
00:49other DC universes happening at any given time.
00:52This version of the Joker isn't just different from Leto's portrayal, it's essentially a
00:56brand new character, showing off a discreet personality and different motivations than
01:00other portrayals.
01:01He's nothing like Heath Ledger's version from The Dark Knight, and he's definitely
01:05nothing like Jack Nicholson's iconic interpretation in Tim Burton's Batman.
01:08No, this Joker is all Joaquin Phoenix, a collection of character traits and quirks brought to
01:13life in a performance that seems to be causing the actor physical pain.
01:17The entirely fresh approach paid off, winning Phoenix the Oscar.
01:21Arthur Fleck is a sad man.
01:23When Joker opens, he's a rent-a-clown working for an agency that lets people hire face-painted
01:27funnymen for various jobs.
01:29When he's hired to spin a sign outside a storefront, a bunch of kids jump him and steal his sign,
01:34beating him up and breaking it.
01:35This puts his job in jeopardy right from the beginning of the film.
01:38If you don't return the sign, I gotta take it out of your paycheck.
01:44Are we clear?
01:45Arthur also has a condition.
01:47He laughs a lot, uncontrollably, creepily.
01:51I'll tell you something else, the other guys, they don't feel comfortable around you, Arthur.
01:56Because people think you're weird, okay?
01:59He carries a laminated card to hand to people in case he disturbs someone in public, letting
02:03them know, quote,
02:04"...it can happen to people with a brain injury or certain neurological conditions."
02:07We don't know which Arthur has, but we do know he had quite a troubled childhood, including
02:12being abused by his mother's boyfriend.
02:14He still lives with his mother, Penny, in fact, caring for her as she slips into delusions.
02:18Why would he help us?
02:20Because Thomas Wayne is a good man.
02:23Though Arthur works as a clown, he has other aspirations.
02:26Namely, he wants to be a comedian.
02:28Arthur loves Live with Murray Franklin, a late-night talk show, and, in an attempt to
02:32kickstart his comedy career, he participates in a stand-up comedy open mic session.
02:37He bombs horribly, unable to stop himself from laughing before he can even get a punchline
02:41out.
02:42Hello, it's good to be here.
02:48After Arthur gets jumped on the job, a co-worker gives him a gun.
02:51He brings it to his next gig, which is, unfortunately, entertaining a bunch of sick children in a
02:55cancer war.
02:57Understandably, this gets him fired from his clowning job, setting off a series of events
03:01that culminate in Arthur donning the persona of Joker.
03:04First, after witnessing three Wall Street bros harassing a woman on the subway, Arthur
03:08guns them all down.
03:09This sense got them into a spiral of clown-related panic, as the murders become a cultural symbol
03:14for the working class revolting against the rich.
03:17Next, Arthur's mother falls ill, and he learns that she's been lying to him most of his life.
03:21She's apparently quite delusional, having been locked up at Arkham Asylum, and Arthur also
03:25learns that he was adopted, so he kills his mother, too.
03:29Finally, and perhaps most damagingly, Murray Franklin mocks Arthur on his show.
03:33Someone took video of him bombing a stand-up set, apparently, and he becomes a laughingstock.
03:38Murray calls him a Joker on television, and Arthur decides to adopt the persona.
03:42By the time Murray invites him to appear on the show, Arthur asks to be introduced as
03:46Joker, painting his face for the appearance, even though he's warned that tensions in Gotham
03:50are high and there's a chance his look could set off more violence.
03:53Violence, it turns out, is just what Joker has planned.
03:57When Joker was released in 2019, many critics noted the film's similarities to the work
04:01of Martin Scorsese.
04:03Our own review made comparisons to Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy, and both films can
04:07prove instructive in untangling the film's many influences.
04:10First, we have Taxi Driver, Scorsese's masterpiece centering around a cabbie named Travis Bickle,
04:15a man who grows increasingly alienated and nihilistic as the film goes on.
04:19The film's tagline was, quote,
04:21"...he's a lonely, forgotten man desperate to prove that he's alive."
04:24And the same could apply to Arthur Fleck in Joker.
04:27After all, when he finally sits down with Murray Franklin and gets to tell a joke, his
04:30big joke is a screaming cry for help.
04:33What do you get when you cross a mentally ill loader with a society that abandons him
04:39and treats him like trash?
04:41Then there's The King of Comedy, another De Niro collaboration.
04:45That one was about a man, also played by De Niro, who becomes obsessed with a comedian,
04:49deciding to commit an act of violence as a way to launch his own career to the next level.
04:54This time, in Joker, De Niro plays the object of the obsessive fan's attention, and he's
04:58also the object of his violence.
05:00After that setup, Joker gets to the punchline.
05:02A televised execution, the last thing anyone expects.
05:07But wait, why didn't Batman stop Joker from sending the city spiraling into chaos?
05:11Easy answer?
05:12In this version, Batman's still a kid.
05:14He's a very young Bruce Wayne, and furthermore, his parents are still alive.
05:18There's also a subplot running through Joker about Arthur's increasing obsession with Thomas
05:22Wayne, the father of the kid who would someday grow up to don the cape.
05:26Arthur's mother Penny used to work for Wayne, and Arthur learns that she's been sending
05:29him letters claiming that Arthur is his son.
05:32Desperate to draw the attention of the man he now believes to be his father, Arthur travels
05:36to Wayne Manor and puts on a little magic show for Bruce, entertaining him from outside
05:39the gate.
05:40Do I need to call the police?
05:41No.
05:42Please.
05:43My mother's name is Penny.
05:46Penny Fleck.
05:48Batman and Joker are, iconically, sworn enemies.
05:51The idea that they might be brothers is a new one, adding a twist to their typical oppositions.
05:56Batman usually represents order, and the Joker, chaos, etc.
05:59However, after Arthur confronts Wayne in the bathroom during a fundraiser, he learns
06:03that he was adopted, and there's no way Wayne could have been his father.
06:06It might have been refreshing for Joker to give us a depiction of Bruce Wayne as a child
06:10without going through the typical origin story setup, but we get it anyway.
06:14During the Joker riots at the end, we see the Wayne family cornered in an alley.
06:18They're killed, and, of course, those pearls go flying as young Bruce looks on, horrified.
06:24After Arthur shoots Franklin Murray on live television, he's quickly arrested.
06:27However, his appearance has touched off riots around the city, and now, Gotham is burning.
06:32Arthur watches the chaos outside the cop car window with glee.
06:36When the car crashes and a bunch of rioting clowns carry him from the wreckage, he climbs
06:40atop a car and dances to the adoration of his fans.
06:43Then we cut to Arthur, institutionalized, speaking with a therapist inside the gleaming
06:47white walls of the asylum.
06:48The film doesn't spell out exactly how he was locked up, but it's easy enough to piece
06:52together.
06:53After all, he killed a man on live television, and the show's bookers knew his name.
06:57He admitted to having killed those three men on the subway, meaning it was likely easy
07:01enough for Gotham PD to pick him up after the rioting calmed down.
07:04What's so funny?
07:06I was just thinking of a joke.
07:12We should also keep in mind the fact that this isn't Arthur's first time being locked
07:16up at Arkham Asylum.
07:17Earlier in the film, speaking with the social worker, Arthur makes reference to having been
07:21hospitalized, though he declines to say what happened that led to his institutionalization.
07:26By the time much of the action in Joker Foliadu centers around Arkham, the character will
07:30be quite familiar with the way the mental hospital runs.
07:33The first Joker ended on a sort of cliffhanger.
07:35The very last image we have of Arthur Fleck is a shot of the laughing man walking away
07:39from the camera and down a white hallway.
07:41Did he just kill his therapist?
07:43Is this an escape attempt?
07:44It seems that Joker Foliadu will avoid the immediate aftermath of that final scene, instead
07:49jumping ahead two years.
07:51This is a smart choice because it lets the sequel explore its own world without being
07:54tied too directly to the events of the first film.
07:57Director Todd Phillips told Variety,
07:58"...the question became, how can we top ourselves?
08:01And you can only do that if you do something dangerous.
08:04But there were days on set where you'd look around and think, holy f-----, what did we
08:07do?"
08:08Phillips said the time jump also let them dodge the expected results of the end of Joker.
08:12He went on,
08:13"...we didn't want to have him as the clown prince of crime or running a syndicate of
08:16criminals."
08:17Instead, the film centers around the Joker on trial, combining a romance with a courtroom
08:21drama.
08:22Phillips told Variety,
08:23"...why do something if it doesn't scare the s---- out of you?
08:25I'm addicted to risk."
08:27Recently, Hollywood's been hit with a slate of musicals that seem ashamed of being musicals.
08:32For example, the Wicked trailer seems to be hiding the fact that it's a musical.
08:36Other recent offenders include The Color Purple, Wonka, and The Mean Girls remake, all of which
08:40had trailers that seem to conspicuously omit their musical-ness.
08:44Then there's the trailer for Joker Foliadu.
08:46While it doesn't necessarily feature full-on musical numbers, it's clear that there's
08:50something happening here.
08:51We see Harley Quinn and the Joker in several scenes that seem like they might be fantasy
08:55sequences, dancing across a gorgeous rooftop set and performing on what might be a TV set.
09:00Sure enough, Variety reported in March 2024 that the film would feature at least 15 covers
09:05of well-known songs, making it a jukebox musical.
09:08Director Todd Phillips doesn't like that characterization.
09:11Speaking with Variety, he insisted that his film does things differently than other musicals.
09:15He told the publication,
09:16"...most of the music in the movie is really just dialogue.
09:19It's just Arthur not having the words to say what he wants to say, so he sings them
09:23instead."
09:24Still, that's exactly how musical numbers function in the vast majority of musicals.
09:28Thankfully, in the same piece, Lady Gaga promised,
09:31"...there's music, there's dance, it's a drama.
09:33It's also a courtroom drama.
09:35It's a comedy.
09:36It's happy.
09:37It's sad."
09:38In Joker Foliadu, Lady Gaga will play the Joker's love interest, Harley Quinn.
09:42Dr. Harleen Quinzel often starts out as a therapist at Arkham Asylum, but she falls
09:46in love with the Joker, and the association drives her mad.
09:49Let's get out of here.
09:56Just as Joker offered us a brand-new Joker, Joker Foliadu promises a new take on the character
10:00that's quite different from Margot Robbie's DC Extended Universe portrayal.
10:04Robbie supports her successor, for the record.
10:06She told MTV News,
10:07"...it makes me so happy, because I said from the very beginning that all I want is for
10:11Harley Quinn to be one of those characters the way, like, Macbeth or Batman always gets
10:15passed from great actor to great actor."
10:17Ahead of the release of the film, director Todd Phillips gave fans a preview of what
10:21we can expect from this new characterization.
10:23Speaking to Variety, Phillips teased,
10:25"...the high voice, that accent, the gum-chewing and all that sort of sassy stuff that's in
10:29the comics, we stripped that away.
10:31We wanted her to fit into this world of Gotham that we created from the first movie."
10:34Gaga is a pop star in real life, and she played one onscreen in A Star Is Born, so Gaga endeavored
10:40to make sure Harley's singing voice stands out by not sounding professional.
10:43She told Empire,
10:45"...it's like removing the technicality of the whole thing, removing my perceived art
10:48form from it all and completely being inside of who she is."