Factual error: Based on the films being shown at the theater, the movie appears to be set in 1981. One of the TV commercials shows the Energizer Bunny, which didn't make its first appearance until 1988.
Joker (2019)
Directed by: Todd Phillips
Starring: Robert De Niro, Joaquin Phoenix, Frances Conroy, Zazie Beetz
Continuity mistake: When Joker is dancing on the stairs he throws his cigarette. Then when the cops arrive at the top of the stairs we see him blowing smoke from the same cigarette. Then the cigarette is gone again. (01:30:40)
Factual error: In the beginning of the movie, while dancing with the sign, the guitars in the window of the music store are D'Angelico guitar designs that weren't released until the 2010s. (00:01:35)
Trivia: The font used for Live With Murray Franklin is identical to the Batman animated series titles. The name of the font is "Plaza," for those that might be curious.
Trivia: While the time period of the movie isn't explicitly stated, the movies showing at the cinema the Waynes are at (Zorro The Gay Blade, Wolfen, Excalibur, and Arthur) were all released in 1981, making that the likely year it's set. The Zorro reference is certainly a nod to established comic continuity, where the Waynes were watching The Mark Of Zorro.
Trivia: Towards the end while Joker is being transported in the police car, the shot of him through the window is similar to one of Heath Ledger's Joker in The Dark Knight.
Social Worker: What's so funny?
Arthur Fleck: I was just thinking... just thinking of a joke.
Social Worker: Do you wanna tell it to me?
Arthur Fleck: You wouldn't get it.
Arthur Fleck: My mother always tells me to smile and put on a happy face. She told me I had a purpose: to bring laughter and joy to the world.
Social Worker: They don't give a shit about people like you, Arthur. And they don't give a shit about people like me either.
Question: One thing confused me. If Penny Fleck abused Arthur and was confined to Arkham, why was Arthur living with her for most of the film, wouldn't he have been separated from her by the state?
Answer: In the movie Arthur is an adult. He would have been separated from her as a child but, once he turned 18, if he wanted to live with his mother as soon as she was released nobody could stop that.
Question: Spoiler! The scene at the very end, with Arthur locked up talking to the doctor/social worker - is that meant to be later, after he's been captured again, or is it a flashback to when he was hospitalised before, as was referenced earlier in the movie?
Answer: This is later, as the building appears to be Arkham. He's committed there instead of going to jail based on his insanity. It appears he is laughing about the death of Thomas Wayne, we see a flash of that scene again for a reason.
Question: Does Arthur kill Sophie when he realises he's hallucinated their relationship? I know there may not be a concrete answer to this.
Answer: Yeah it's completely up to the viewer to believe he killed her or not. I don't think he did, he liked her, just like Gary. I think he visited to see if it was all in his head, with that confirmed he just left.
Answer: Todd Philips actually answered this in an interview on IndieWire; "As the filmmaker and the writer I am saying he doesn't kill her. We like the idea that it's almost like a litmus test for the audience to say, 'How crazy is he?' Most people that I've spoken to think he didn't kill her because they understand the idea that he only kills people that did him wrong. She had nothing to do with it. Most people understood that, even as a villain, he was living by a certain code. Of course he didn't kill this woman down the hall."
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Suggested correction: They purposely stuck the images in a way that it repeats itself over and over again. It's intentionally made in a way of not flowing straightforward.