Incredible Experience

Rating: 10/10 (16 October 2019)

A dark reflection of a man's descent into the nightmare world of mental illness and it's repercussions on a society that offers him no empathy, understanding or contrition. Arthur is a desperately sad individual who is the victim of his own utterly dysfunctional upbringing, a mental condition that causes him to laugh inappropriately and his complete inability to engage with his colleagues or interact with society. Phoenix is phenomenal, an actor who must have studied and understood the illness he expertly portrays and the catastrophic results if it is left untreated.
Arthur is a clown and a failed comedian who, due to the collapse of social care has his treatment funding and his medication withdrawn. He's his mother's carer and obsessed with De Niro's TV character. That's all you need to know.
The violence is extreme, bloody but totally in context with the character and plot, however many will find one particular scene extremely disturbing. You've been warned.
A brilliant film, disturbing, harrowing and thoroughly gripping. Washington Post scored it 2/4 - ignore it and make up your own mind.