Joker

The movie begins in Gotham City, where we find Arthur Fleck at his company's office getting ready to work - he's putting make-up on because he's a party clown. As he watches his reflection in the mirror, he puts two fingers in his mouth and twists it up and down a few times while a single tear runs down his cheek. Moments later, we find him on the street, dancing while promoting with a sign the shop that has hired him. Suddenly, some kids come by and take the sign from him, running away as soon as they have it. Arthur chases them through the city and finds them waiting in an alley, where the kids proceed to smash the sign on his head and, after he falls to the floor, they start kicking and punching him. After work is done, Arthur goes to see his therapist. He laughs for a couple of seconds and after he comments on how tough things are getting out there, the therapist asks him if he's been working on his journal. He hands it to her, saying he's been using it as a journal but also as a joke diary because he's pursuing a career in stand-up comedy. The therapist goes through the pages and finds some upsetting words: "I just hope my death makes more sense than my life". She hands the journal back to Arthur and asks him how it feels to come to these appointments, Arthur says he felt better when he was locked at the hospital and remembers how he used to hit his head against his room's door. He asks the therapist if the doctor could increase his medication, and she points out he's already on seven on them. Arthur replies he doesn't want to feel bad anymore. Once therapy is over, Arthur takes the bus. The kid sitting in front of him is staring, so he starts making funny faces for him, earning him the mother's scolding. Arthur suddenly starts laughing and when the mother is offended by this, he hands her a card that explains he laughs because of a neurological condition. After getting off the bus, he stops by the pharmacy to pick up his medicine before going home. Inside the building, he checks the mailbox then goes up to his apartment, where he lives with his mother Penny Fleck. She asks him if they've gotten any mail, and when he says no, she wonders if Thomas Wayne, a former employer of hers, hasn't been receiving her letters. Arthur reminds her Wayne's a busy businessman and urges her to eat. After cutting up her food for her, he joins her on the bed so they can watch the Murray Franklin talk show together. Arthur starts daydreaming and he imagines himself among Franklin's public, where the host hears him and asks him to stand up. Arthur introduces himself and tells him how he takes care of his mother, which Franklin respects, so he asks him to come down; Arthur does so as he enjoys everyone's applause. When he makes it to Franklin's side, the host tells him he would give up tv and fame to have a kid like Arthur, then they hug. Back in reality, Arthur smiles at this little dream. The next day at work, we can see Arthur's body is covered in bruises. His coworker Randall approaches him and after telling him he's heard about the beating, he decides to gift Arthur his gun. Another coworker, Gary, interrupts them then to tell Arthur their boss is looking for him. Arthur goes to see him in his office and he's told they've received another complaint about him for disappearing and not returning the sign. Arthur explains he was robbed but his boss doesn't believe him, because nobody would steal a sign. So he says he'll have to take the sign out of his paycheck then proceeds to scold Arthur, who stays silent and smiling. But after that meeting is over, he goes outside to kick a trash can in frustration. Later that day, when going back to his apartment, Arthur shares the elevator with his neighbor Sophie Dumond and her daughter. When the elevator stops for a moment, Sophie comments the building is incredibly awful and makes a gesture with her hand pretending to shoot her head. Arthur smiles and, when they make it to their floor and get off the elevator, he returns the shooting gesture. Moments later, Arthur is giving Penny a bath. She keeps on asking about the letters because she thinks Wayne was a good man who wouldn't like seeing them live like this, Arthur asks her not to worry about money because his stand-up show will make it to the big clubs soon. Penny says she thought you had to be funny to be a comedian. A couple of hours later, after having put his mother to bed, Arthur watches a movie and practices with his new gun. When a song begins to play on the tv, he starts dancing to it while pretending to talk to a girl, but he accidentally shoots the gun and makes a hole in the wall. His mother wakes up and asks about the noise, he tells her it's just a war movie on tv. The next day, Arthur follows Sophie around town and even on public transport. In the evening, he goes to see a stand-up show to take some notes, which he continues to work on when he returns to his place later, where he writes "the worst part of having a mental illness is people expect you to behave as if you don't". His writing is interrupted by the doorbell, and Arthur opens the door to find Sophie. She asks him if he's been following her around, which he confirms, so she wonders if he was going to rob her place. He says he could do it now and she laughs before telling him he's funny, prompting Arthur to invite her to his stand-up show. Sophie accepts before leaving. The following day, Arthur is working as a clown in a hospital, entertaining the kids. During his performance, his gun falls to the floor. He hurries to pick it up and asks the children to keep it a secret. But later in the evening, while talking to his boss on the phone, the man is mad about this incident. Arthur tries to convince him the gun was just a prop, but his boss doesn't believe him and tells him Randall said he tried to buy a gun off him last week. Arthur gets fired, and in frustration, he hits the phonebooth glass with his head. Afterward, he takes the subway to go home. In the same car as him, there are three guys in suits bothering a young woman. When Arthur suddenly starts laughing, the woman gets up and leaves, and one of the guys starts singing "Send In The Clowns" as the three of them approach him. They take off his wig and bag, wondering why he laughs, but when he tries to explain and take his things back, they grab him and punch him, then they throw him on the floor to kick him. This time though, Arthur defends himself: he takes out his gun and shoots two of the men. The third one runs away and leaves the car when the subway stops at the station, Arthur follows him out and shoots him when they reach the stairs. As his ears start ringing, Arthur realizes what he's done and rushes out of the station, runs through the streets, and enters the bathrooms of the local park. In there, after a moment of panicking, he dances. Moments later, he returns to his apartment building, knocks on Sophie's door and as soon as she opens it, he goes inside and kisses her. The door closes behind them, implying they spend the night together. The next day, Arthur goes to his workplace to pick up all his belongings and hears his coworkers discuss the news of a clown shooting three men in the subway. They also try to offer him some words of sympathy, including Randall, whose hypocrisy irritates Arthur, so he tells everyone it was his gun that did the crime. Before leaving, Arthur hits the punch clock, which falls to the floor and breaks. On his way out, he sees the "don't forget to smile" sign and crosses out two words, transforming it into "don't smile". Back in his apartment, after he takes his last few pills, Arthur joins his mother to watch tv. Thomas Wayne is on the news because the murdered men were employees at his company. When the host asks him about the city's new anti-rich sentiment, Wayne says he's considering running for mayor to fix it, and when he's asked about the murderer, he says it makes sense that he had been wearing a clown mask because he was a coward that wanted to hide his face. He thinks all people that do nothing with their lives are clowns. Some days later, Arthur is seeing his therapist again. He tries to tell her he finally feels like he exists and people are started to notice, but she interrupts him to tell him the government has cut their funding, so this is their last meeting. When he asks her whom he will have to talk to for his medication, she has nothing to say except for an apology. Later at night, Arthur is behind the scenes at a bar, waiting for his turn to present his stand-up routine. Sophie is among the public. When his time comes, he goes on stage and starts laughing uncontrollably, and when he finally manages to read some jokes from his notebook, they fall flat. After the show is over, he leaves the bar with Sophie, and while they walk together, he sees the newspapers have published a clown face with the news of the murders, which pleases him, especially when Sophie comments the clown is a hero. When a car drives by, Arthur also notices someone is wearing a clown mask similar to the drawings on the papers. After having dinner with Sophie, he goes back to his apartment, where his mother has fallen asleep in front of the tv. He wakes her up and sends her to bed, she tells him she's written a new letter before entering her room. Arthur decides to grab the letter to read it and finds out he's Wayne's illegitimate son, which makes him furious with Penny. She's afraid of his reaction so she locks herself in the bathroom and speaks from inside, explaining she and Wayne were in love but they had to keep appearances, and she couldn't say anything because she signed some papers. The next day, Arthur is reading the newspaper on the train and finds a picture of the Waynes, which he tears off and saves in his notebook. Moments later, he's visiting the Wayne mansion, where a young Bruce Wayne is playing in the garden. The kid approaches the gate when Arthur comes closer and starts performing some magic for him, but Bruce isn't impressed. After asking his name, Arthur reaches through the gate and puts his fingers in Bruce's mouth to make him smile. They're suddenly interrupted by Alfred, who pushes Bruce aside and threatens to call the police. Arthur tells him he's Penny's son and that he wants to see Mr. Wayne because he knows everything, Alfred replies his mother was delusional and laughs at him. Angry, Arthur reaches through the gates again and tries to choke him but lets go of him when he sees Bruce. When he makes it home in the evening, he finds paramedics taking his mother to the hospital, and he gets in the ambulance to go with her. Some hours later, while waiting outside the hospital, Arthur is approached by two cops. They had been talking to Penny when she had the stroke, and now they want to interrogate Arthur about the subway murders. He tells them his gun was just a prop before going back to his mom. In the room, Sophie is keeping him company. After she leaves, Arthur puts on the Franklin show on tv, and he's hurt to see they're showing clips of his stand-up routine to make fun of him. Later on, when he's back in his apartment, the tv news shows that people are rioting while wearing clown masks because Wayne called them clowns. Arthur decides to join these protests, and when he gets there, he takes advantage of a fight between cops and civilians to sneak inside the building Wayne is currently at, which is a movie theatre. He steals an employee's uniform and puts it on to access the auditorium, watching the movie while keeping an eye on Wayne. When he leaves the room, Arthur follows him into the bathroom and confronts him about Penny. Wayne says she was crazy and he never touched her, Arthur was actually adopted. Arthur doesn't believe this and gets angry, causing him to laugh; Wayne punches him for it before leaving. When Arthur returns to his apartment, he ignores a call from the cops and gets inside the fridge to spend the night in it. The next day, he gets a call from Franklin's production asking if he would like to appear in the show, he obviously accepts. Afterward, he takes the bus to the Arkham State Hospital, where he asks for his mother's file. The clerk confirms she was psychotic and hurt her child, but he can't give the file to Arthur, so he steals it and runs away with it to read it while hiding. The file confirms Arthur was adopted and Penny lied about Wayne, she also raised Arthur along with an abusive boyfriend that got arrested later. Incredibly upset by this news, Arthur returns home and enters Sophie's apartment unannounced. When Sophie finds him, she gets scared and asks him to leave, and as Arthur remembers the time they spent together, we learn it all had been his imagination. The next day, while visiting Penny, he tells her his life is a comedy and not a tragedy before suffocating her with a pillow. Later on, Arthur is at his place getting ready for the show. After practicing what he's going to say, he dyes his hair green and starts applying his make-up, but he's interrupted by the doorbell. He grabs a pair of scissors and hides them in his pants before opening the door to find Gary and Randall, who come to visit him after hearing of Penny's death. Randall is worried because the cops have been interrogating clowns and Arthur has his gun, Arthur responds by stabbing him with the scissors and punching him. Gary freaks out and wants to leave, Arthur lets him go without hurting him because he was the only one that was ever nice to him. After changing into a new suit, Arthur leaves for the show, and he's found by the cops on the street. He starts running away and enters the subway, which is filled with people going to the protests with clown masks. The cops follow him there, jumping from car to car, and when Arthur steals a clown mask from a guy, he causes a fight to start. Amidst all this confusion, the cops accidentally shoot a civilian, so when the subway stops at the station, everyone is jumping on the officers, allowing Arthur to escape unnoticed. Moments later, he makes it to the studio. While waiting in the dressing room, Franklin comes by to check on him and ask him for a clean show. Arthur accepts and promises his clown make-up isn't political, he also asks to be introduced as "Joker". Soon afterward, he's called to the stage, which he enters dancing. After kissing another guest and reassuring them once more that his make-up is not political, he tries to tell a joke about death, which he's scolded for, then he admits being the subway killer because he has nothing left to lose. After a long speech about the system failing the little people and how Franklin is the same for having brought him to the show to make fun of him, Arthur shoots him on camera. After the transmission is cut off, Arthur is arrested by the cops. While being taken away in a police car, he sees all the riots in the streets with people wearing clown masks. He's calling it all beautiful when the car is suddenly hit by an ambulance, knocking him out. The protester that had been driving the ambulance comes out and finds Arthur, so with the help of other mask-wearers, they take him out of the car and put him on top of the hood. Meanwhile, in another part of town, the Waynes are leaving a theater when a protester follows them. After telling Wayne he deserves it, he shoots him and his wife, leaving little Bruce alone with the bodies of his parents. Back to Arthur, he's now waking up and finding the protesters clapping and whooping for him, so Arthur stands up on top of the car to do a little dance for them. When he notices the blood coming out of his nose, he uses it to draw a bigger smile around his mouth. Days later, we find Arthur has been sent to the Arkham State Hospital. While the therapist checks on him, he starts laughing, so she asks him what's so funny, but he replies she wouldn't get it and starts singing "That's life". The movie ends when, a moment afterward, Arthur is seen leaving the room and dancing in the hallway, leaving bloody footprints behind.