Summary
Arthur reads the letter that Penny has written to Thomas Wayne. In it, she begs him for help, and refers to Arthur as Thomas' son, a piece of information that shocks and confuses Arthur. Arthur gets angry with his mother, but she refuses to speak to him until he has calmed down. "He's an extraordinary man, Happy, a very powerful man. We were in love," she says, telling Arthur that she signed nondisclosure agreements about her relationship with Wayne.
Arthur takes a train and reads an article about Thomas Wayne, ripping a photo of the businessman out of the newspaper. When he arrives at the Wayne Manor, he spots Thomas' young son, Bruce, and puts on a clown nose to entertain the boy. When Arthur approaches Bruce at the gate, Arthur hands Bruce his magic wand, which becomes limp in the boy's hand. Arthur says hello to the boy and asks his name. Bruce tells him and Arthur pulls Bruce's mouth up into a smile, trying to see if they are brothers.
Alfred, the butler, runs up and tells Bruce to get away from Arthur, as Arthur says that he is there to see Thomas Wayne. He asks Alfred if he knew his mother, Penny, and whispers, "I know about the two of them." Alfred insists that Penny was delusional and is mentally ill, as Arthur tries to strangle him through the gate. Arthur looks over at the young Bruce and suddenly runs away, ashamed of himself.
Arthur returns home to his mother being brought out to an ambulance. He climbs onto the ambulance with her and they head to the hospital. Waiting outside the emergency room, Arthur smokes a cigarette, deep in thought. Two detectives come and tell Arthur that they came to his apartment to question him, but they spoke to his mother, who became hysterical and had a stroke. The detectives ask Arthur about the subway killings, and discuss the fact that Arthur was fired for bringing a gun into a children's hospital. He insists that the gun was a prop and that he was fired for not being funny enough. Before he goes, one of the detectives asks Arthur if his laughing condition is real or part of an act.
Arthur and Sophie sit beside Penny's hospital bed. Sophie tries to comfort Arthur, then goes to get a coffee. On television, Murray Franklin tells a joke about the garbage strike and Arthur laughs. Suddenly, Murray shows a clip of Arthur's standup set at the comedy club, making fun of Arthur's inability to tell a joke. Arthur's face falls as he realizes that Murray is mocking him.
That night, Arthur lies in bed heartbroken, while someone on the television talks about the fact that class warfare has broken out. He gets up and looks at the television, which is running a report about the resistance movement in which protestors are dressing up as clowns. Arthur smiles, seeing his influence, as Thomas Wayne is interviewed on television saying that he wants to help lift the poor out of poverty.
Arthur goes to a protest, where people are chanting about Wayne. He manages to sneak past a barricade and disguise himself as a movie theater attendant to let himself into the large building where Thomas Wayne is watching a Charlie Chaplin film in a theater full of wealthy viewers. As he watches Charlie Chaplin on the movie screen, Arthur laughs along with the audience. He catches sight of Thomas Wayne leaving his viewing box to go to the bathroom and follows him there. In the bathroom, Arthur approaches Thomas and tells him that Penny Fleck is his mother. Thomas insists that Arthur was adopted and that he never slept with Penny.
"Your mother adopted you while she was working for us," Thomas says, calmly, before telling Arthur that she was later committed to a state hospital. Arthur becomes inflamed, insisting that everyone is rude to him and that Thomas is his father. As Arthur is overcome with an uncontrollable laughing fit, Thomas punches him in the face.
At home, Arthur listens to a telephone message from Detective Garrity, asking Arthur to call back so they can ask him more questions. As he listens to the call, Arthur climbs into the refrigerator. The next morning, a woman from Murray Franklin's show calls Arthur and tells him that they want to book him as a guest on the show. Arthur agrees.
Arthur travels to the Arkham State Hospital and does some research on whether his mother was ever committed. As he talks to the man in charge of the records, he tells him that he recently "fucked up and did some bad shit." The clerk tells him that he is just a clerk, but that Arthur should talk to someone about his problems. He then pulls out Penny's file, which states that Penny suffers from delusional psychosis and narcissistic personality disorder, and was found guilty of endangering her child's welfare. Suddenly, the clerk reads something in the file that upsets him, and he refuses to hand it over to Arthur without a signature. Arthur violently grabs the file, stealing it and running away.
He hides in the stairwell and looks at the file, which shows that Penny adopted Arthur, who had been abandoned, and that her boyfriend physically abused Arthur, tying him to a radiator and inflicting head injuries, which have likely led to his mental illness. Arthur laughs hysterically.
Analysis
In this section, Arthur learns some life-changing information about his identity, when he reads the letter that his mother has written to Thomas Wayne. According to her letter, Arthur is Thomas Wayne's son; his mother had an affair with the businessman while she worked for him, but signed papers that have sworn her to secrecy. In the moment that Arthur learns this, his entire life is thrown into disarray, and it only increases his feelings of antagonism. Not only has the wealthy businessman running the city contributed to structures that have kept Arthur and his mother struggling, but he is Arthur's father. This information only stokes the flames of Arthur's resentment further, pushing him further along on his trajectory of radical anger, revenge fantasies, hatred of the wealthy, and vigilantism.
The Batman universe of which Joker is a part becomes part of the narrative in this section of the film. After learning that Thomas Wayne is potentially his father, Arthur travels to the Wayne Manor, where he comes into contact with a young Bruce Wayne, the boy who will become Batman. Todd Phillips adds stakes and drama to the Joker's origin story by staging this meeting, and suggesting that Joker's relationship to Batman is perhaps fraternal. Arthur stares at the young boy trying to figure out if they could be brothers, but they are divided by the gates of the manor, gates that literally denote the class difference between them, the fact that Bruce is being raised in a stately mansion while Arthur struggles to survive in the unforgiving city of Gotham.
Several different narratives escalate in this section of the film. Arthur returns home to find that his mother has had a stroke, and then later learns that it was a direct result of some detectives questioning her about Arthur potentially being the subway murderer. On the television at the hospital, his hero, Murray Franklin shows a clip of Arthur's standup routine and makes fun of it. In the course of one day, Arthur has learned that his father might be the billionaire Bruce Wayne, that his mother is potentially delusional, that she has had a stroke, and that the authorities are on his trail. Additionally, his dreams of comedy stardom are completely lampooned, by none other than his comedy hero, Murray Franklin. All of these events raise the stakes of the drama and set the stage for Arthur to continue his descent into villainy.
Joaquin Phoenix's performance as Arthur, which won him an Academy Award, is haunting and vivid. From his sickly skinny body to his unhinged laughter to the way that his face can fall from a jubilant smile to abject despair and deranged intensity, his acting provides much of the narrative momentum in the film. The strength of his performance is that it pulls the viewer into Arthur's journey and aligns us with his psychological trajectory, even though that trajectory is about his descent into evil. He is terrifying, unhinged, and diabolical in many ways, but Phoenix's embodiment of Arthur's emotional journey shows us the nuances of why Arthur is the way he is, and allows the audience to understand him a little bit more.
As if Arthur's trauma has not been enough to turn him into a villain, he learns that his mother is psychotically delusional and that she allowed his abuse as a child. One of the main beacons of light in his life, Penny, is exposed in this moment as the villain who has led to Arthur's mental illness and laughing disorder. Arthur has not only been harmed by the economic cards that were dealt to him, but by the abuse he suffered in his mother's care, and the lies that she has fed him since childhood.
