‘Joker: Folie à Deux’: The tragedy and truth behind that ending

Spoiler alert! We’re discussing the ending of “Joker: Folie à Deux” (in theaters now). Stop reading if you don’t want to know!
The dancing stopped for Joker (Joaquin Phoenix) and Harley Quinn (Lady Gaga) in “Joker: Folie à Deux.”
Gaga conceived a fantasy waltz sequence for the sequel to 2019’s “Joker” featuring two lovestruck Arkham State Hospital inmates: Lee Quinzel (who becomes Harley Quinn) and Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck (who transforms back into Joker). But the illusion was always going to end up broken, just like the two people dancing.
“It’s this shared fantasy that they’re having,” says Phoenix.
There are eerily magical song-and-dance numbers in the untraditional DC Comics villains’ tale. But “Folie à Deux” ends in what director and co-writer Todd Phillips calls simply “a tragedy.”
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
Join our Watch Party!Sign up to receive USA TODAY’s movie and TV recommendations right in your inbox
Due to Lee’s love and with her urging, broken-down inmate Arthur becomes the Joker again in “Folie à Deux.” He even maniacally defends himself in full Joker makeup and attire in his Gotham City “trial of the century” for the murders he committed in the original.
However, the emotional court testimony of murder eyewitness Gary (Leigh Gill), who is the only person to consider Arthur a friend, hits hard. Arthur tells the jury that he’s not the Joker, he’s Arthur, and he wishes he hadn’t killed those people. Lee walks out of the courtroom after this confession. The love affair is over.
“It’s because (Lee) was not in love with Arthur,” says Phillips. “She was in love with Joker, and he’s not Joker. He’s only Arthur, and he can only wear that mask of Joker for so long. The movie’s about identity, and is he Arthur or Joker? He really just isn’t Joker.”
The jury returns with guilty verdicts on all murder counts. But a car bomb explosion (set by zealous Joker followers) brings total destruction, killing or severely injuring the assembled, such as District Attorney Harvey Dent (Harry Lawtey). Arthur survives relatively unscathed and escapes to Gotham through the destroyed courthouse.
But his only interest is tracking down Lee, finding her on the famed steps that the two had discussed, where Arthur had first danced so deliriously as the Joker. Lee wants nothing to do with him.
“She never says the word ‘Arthur’ the whole movie. She calls him Joker the whole movie. Until the very end, on the stairs,” says Phillips. “And that’s when she goes, ‘Goodbye, Arthur.’ Because that is not who she signed up to be with.”
Arthur is immediately arrested and returned to Arkham State Hospital. Later, a smiling fellow inmate approaches him and says, “Hey, Arthur, can I tell you a joke?”
The joke is about a “psychopath” who “walks into a bar and sees this famous clown sitting there all alone, totally drunk. He’s pathetic.” The psychopath in the joke tells the loser clown: “I can’t believe you’re here. What a disappointment. I used to watch you on TV.”
It becomes clear that Arthur is the disappointing loser clown and the joke teller is the psychopath (and possible “real” Joker). After the punchline, the inmate stabs Arthur in the stomach. As Arthur crumbles to the ground, dying, the assassin is heard laughing creepily and can even be seen cutting his own face with the knife, presumably to make the Joker smile.
“Maybe the idea is that (Arthur) never was Joker,” says Phillips. “Maybe Arthur has always just been the inspiration for the Joker, for something that was coming.”
Arthur had even telegraphed his death and the end of his relationship in one disturbing fantasy sequence where Harley Quinn shoots Joker in the stomach, the same spot as the future stabbing. “So maybe he had the feeling that this was coming,” says Phillips.
During “Joker: Folie à Deux,” Harley Quinn discusses building a mountain with Joker and sings “Gonna Build a Mountain” about the relationship. The song features the lyrics: “Going to build a mountain/ Going to build it high/ I don’t know how I’m gonna do it all/ I know I’m gonna try.”
“But that’s the shared fantasy where they are performers at the pinnacle of their romance,” says Gaga. The ending reveals that Lee/Harley Quinn now sees it as just an illusion. The realization leads to a triumphant version of “That’s Life,” featuring the off-camera Gaga. The Oscar-winning singer/actress had held back from full throttle to sing as Lee. But in “That’s Life,” Gaga lets loose for the first time.
“It is an interesting contrast to the rest of the movie,” says Gaga. “It called for that song to be full of heart and strength and muscle, possessing a determination that only those who are not faint of heart have. It’s like from another character in another place.”
Singing as Lee/Harley after she’s accepted stark reality required tireless takes before the perfectionist got the truth.
“I must have sung that literally hundreds of times,” Gaga says. “I tried to find Harley’s version and help create a sense of triumph, as well as something very unsettling.”