{"id":993972,"date":"2026-01-08T07:40:25","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T07:40:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/?p=462200"},"modified":"2026-01-08T07:40:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T07:40:25","slug":"we-just-had-to-argue-about-the-end-of-joker-folie-a-deux","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/we-just-had-to-argue-about-the-end-of-joker-folie-a-deux\/","title":{"rendered":"We just had to argue about the end of Joker: Folie \u00e0 Deux"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Todd Phillips\u2019 Joker<\/em> sequel, Joker: Folie \u00e0 Deux<\/em>, is a difficult movie in a lot of ways. It\u2019s difficult to stomach, as beaten-down protagonist Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) endures still more physical abuse and mental and emotional deterioration. It\u2019s difficult to parse, as Phillips and co-writer Scott Silver pack the script with inconsistencies and contradictions<\/a>. And above all, there\u2019s that bitter, thudding ending, which dismisses the first movie and consciously undermines any of the goodwill it garnered. How are we meant to feel about that? What are Phillips and Silver trying to say? We had differing opinions on that, so we decided to talk it out. End spoilers ahead for Joker: Folie \u00e0 Deux<\/em>, naturally.<\/p>\n

How does Joker: Folie \u00e0 Deux end?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Joker: Folie \u00e0 Deux<\/em> is framed both as a musical love story between Arthur and fellow Arkham Asylum inmate Harleen \u201cLee\u201d Quinzel (Lady Gaga), and as Arthur\u2019s reckoning for the murders he committed in 2019\u2019s Joker<\/em>. He goes on trial, with his defense attorney Maryanne (Catherine Keener) arguing that he\u2019s not guilty by reason of insanity: She claims he has multiple personalities, and that Arthur and the Joker are different people. Prosecuting attorney Harvey Dent (Harry Lawtey), for his part, argues that Arthur is sane and a cold-blooded murderer.<\/p>\n

Buoyed by the romance with Lee, who openly admires Joker\u2019s destructive iconoclasm and meets him throughout the movie in a variety of musical sequences<\/a> that are sometimes imagined, sometimes really happening, and sometimes entirely ambiguous, Arthur eventually fires Maryanne and mounts his own courtroom defense as Joker, in full makeup. But when he\u2019s called on to deliver his closing argument, Arthur breaks down to the jury and admits that Joker isn\u2019t a second personality, he\u2019s a deliberate performance. He confesses that he murdered his mother, in addition to the five murders the court already knows about. At the close of that speech, he says he\u2019s abandoning the Joker persona, which he\u2019s grown weary of maintaining. Harleen walks out of the courtroom in apparent disgust and disillusionment.<\/p>\n

A car bomb goes off outside, though it\u2019s unclear who set it off \u2014\u00a0possibly a Joker supporter protesting the case, possibly a Joker hater out to kill as many of Joker\u2019s supporters as possible. Arthur escapes through the wreckage and returns to the Highbridge \u201cJoker stairs\u201d<\/a> where he danced in the first movie.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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