SUMMARY Equal parts fascinating and disturbing, Joker crafts a chillingly plausible origin story for The Clown Prince of Crime. STORY In 1981, Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) works as a clown-for-hire in Gotham City. He lives with and cares for his mother, Penny (Frances Conroy), and idolizes late-night host Murray Franklin (Robert de Niro) while pursuing a career in stand-up comedy. Injustices pile onto Arthur: he loses his job and access to medication from Social Services, and is incessantly bullied by the city's amoral denizens. Even the companionship of a single mother in his building (Zazie Beetz) can't keep Arthur from teetering closer and closer to the point of a breakdown. Meanwhile, Gotham City deteriorates, creating a void at the top for Mayoral candidate Thomas Wayne (Bruce Cullen) and at the bottom for a man like Arthur.