The ending of Joker: Folie à Deux has seemingly sharply divided fans. But Joaquin Phoenix has a different view of it.
The Oscar winner says Arthur Fleck is at peace at the end after a fellow inmate stabbed him.
“There’s a warmth in that scene, which is nice,” he told IGN. “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.”
Director Todd Phillips also weighed in on the final scene. “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.”
He continued, “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.”
“I think Joaquin is so beautiful in that scene. It’s such a small nothing. I mean, beyond the death thing. That moment where he’s looking at the kid and he’s kind of giving the kid a polite laugh in the setup,” the 53-year-old noted.
“He’s showing appreciation for the comedy and appreciation for putting yourself out there. You know what I mean? Something nobody ever did for him in the first movie in some ways,” Todd concluded.
