10 Subtle Details That Make Joaquin Phoenix's Joker Incredible

1. The Cigarette Stains

Arthur Fleck smokes a lot. He smokes so much, actually, that right at the end of the movie, we see a close up of his hands and his fingers are stained orange with nicotine. That suggests more than a recreational habit.

The tiny detail gives us an insight into the scale of his smoking, but the rest of his behaviour around smoking suggests why he does it. Throughout the film there are several fantasy sequences and they're the only times Arthur seems not to have a cigarette in his mouth. It's something he mostly does while he's alone (apart from his Murray Franklin Show sequence, where he adopts it as part of his act) and it's something that seems tied to his most stressful moments.

It feels like smoking is Arthur's totem - his anchor to the real world that lets him know that what he's experiencing is indeed real. He says he can't really recognise what's real and what isn't at one point and it would absolutely fit that he'd choose something self-destructive as an indicator.

Arthur actually has three different "totem" behaviours. The most blatant of the others is seem after Murray Franklin's show producer calls him and asks if he can appear on the show. He pats himself down, checking his face as you would if you were dreaming. He's checking he's awake and that what he's experiencing is reality.

And he can also be seen bouncing his legs in apparent frustration - it's a little hint for him that he's rooted in the real world. There's obviously some interpretation there, but it definitely seems like Arthur's grip on reality is linked to these behaviours.

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