People have had plenty to say about the Joker sequel Folie À Deux since its release last week, and one of the film’s biggest talking points is undoubtedly its shocking ending.
Now, we’re about to discuss that ending, so if you’ve not watched the film yet, this would be a good point to bookmark this tab and only come back once you’ve seen it.
We’re serious, people. Absolutely massive spoiler incoming. We don’t want any emails saying we’ve ruined Joker: Folie À Deux for you (save those for… y’know… Todd Phillips).
So, once Arthur Fleck has been found guilty of his crimes, and discovers he’s getting the death sentence, the final sequence in Folie À Deux sees him back in Arkham, where he’s taken aside by a mysterious fellow patient who’s seen watching him throughout the film.
This figure – credited simply as Young Inmate – proceeds to tell Arthur a somewhat nonsensical joke before stabbing him repeatedly in the stomach.
As Arthur lies dying, this character then mutilates his own face, suggesting that this is the origin story of the Joker we know from the classic Batman stories.
The ending has certainly sparked plenty of debate among viewers, which actor Connor Storrie – who plays Young Inmate – has insisted was the point.
Defending the film, Connor told TMZ: “When it was announced that it was a musical, people from the jump were like, ‘What?’. I was like that, too, ‘what does that even mean or look like?’. Especially because the first one was so raw and grimy.
“It was polarising before it was even seen. The reaction makes sense.”
He added: “I can’t speak for anyone like Todd [Phillips, Joker’s director but they knew that was the case, too. You don’t make such a big swing like that without knowing it gives people the opportunity to not get behind your choices.”
Connor added that, as an actor, he’d “rather things be polarising than things be boring or squeaky clean” and praised the filmmaker “for having the balls to make such a bold swing, especially knowing there’s fanatics following Joker and the praise the first movie got”.
“I am not shocked people are either pro or against what goes down in it,” he added.
Despite having such a major part in how things play out for Arthur Fleck in Joker: Folie À Deux, Connor had only a handful of credits to his name before he was cast in it, including the Disney+ drama Tiny Beautiful Things (in which he played the colourfully-named Shitty Apartment Guy) and the coming-of-age movie Riley.
