Stefan MolyneuxVerified account

Could it be that the movie does indeed take place in an asylum and that Arthur Fleck does not get help, is released and then acts out everything in his mind? Would that explain the prequel dilemma?

1989: Throw the Joker into a Vat of Chemicals 2019: Throw the Joker into Society as a misunderstood individual. Insanity prevails

Think the only real parts were in the asylum. That way DC universe could always dismiss this Joker origin story whenever needed. Thought provoking movie. Loved original review & the socio-economic points about victims on subway but think Fleck never had a romance with Sophie.

Joker was nuts. I'd watch it again but I would have to emotionally prepare for a rewatch

Stefan, I appreciate and respect your work. However, you are trying too hard to rationalize away a simple mistake. Go back and watch the film again. You missed some small, easily overlooked, but important details that speak to Arthur Fleck's mental state.

-Sophie is real, not imagined. -Fleck followed her. -She slipped into the bank for safety, probably b/c she's street smart, and realized she was being followed by Fleck (we learn this later when she confronts him at his apartment).

We know Sophie thinks he's "off" by her reaction to him copying her, minutes late when the context for the joke is gone and not there to support it, by pretending to blow his brains out. She looked at him like he's strange.

Both his strange, poorly-timed, contextually-off imitation of her blowing out her brains with her hand; and the fact that she was aware he was lurking around following her in public, suggest that she sees that he's not quite right in the head. She'd probably never date him.

However, it appears that once Fleck feels powerful, after killing the three Wall Street men that were beating him, he feels confident enough, and "man" enough, to visit Sophie, grab her, and passionately kiss her. Seems his day has finally come.

We see Sophie, absent child, numerous times throughout the film, playing his girlfriend. It appears they have a relationship now. It isn't until Fleck enters her apartment, unannounced, through unlocked door, after finding out his mom is crazy, that we get a new perspective.

Sophie shrieks when she seems him, is shocked, scared, and pleads with Fleck to leave. She treats him like a strange, creepy, scary freak -- NOT a boyfriend. It's at this point the director fires a rapid montage of shots from the past at the viewer of the film.

We see replays of film when they were together, as a couple, stacked intermittently with the same shots without her present with him. The director is clearly telling us now that Fleck was actually fantasizing that he was with her -- an indication of how lonely he must feel.