Todd Phillips'
Joker featured plenty of memorable moments, including some that left moviegoers with lingering questions. Creative decisions to show, or rather not show, particular moments in the movie led to a sense of ambiguity as to what actually unfolded.
One of the biggest questions up for debate since
Joker's premiere has been whether or not Arthur Fleck actually kills his neighbor Sophie. It's one of the biggest twists in the movie when we find out that their blossoming romance was actually just a made up fantasy in Arthur's mind. His reaction to this realization is sort of left open-ended, as director Todd Phillips cuts to Arthur leaving Sophie's apartment and returning to his own where flashing police lights can be seen in the window.
For many, this scene is open for interpretation. But for
Joker cinematographer Lawrence Sher, the answer is clear as crystal.
We wanted to make the interpretation of the real versus what’s not real, a part of the viewer’s experience. For instance, his relationship to Sophie is a fantasy to him. Some people have asked me, “Was she killed?” Todd makes it clear she wasn’t killed. Arthur is killing people who’ve wronged him in a certain way, and Sophie never wronged him. In terms of what we did visually to play with the real and not real, there are callbacks and scenes that mirror each other. We leave hints using imagery or way we covered scenes similarly between scene. Outside of that, I like that people can have the conversation and come to their own conclusions.
Of course, that's only one person's opinion. One could argue that Sophie's startled reaction to Arthur being in her apartment could be viewed by him as a wronging in itself.
Do you think Arthur Fleck killed Sophie? Let us know in the comments below, and be sure to weigh in on the
10 other lingering questions we have following Joker.