Most Depressing Movie Ever

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. Probably the most terrifyingly sad movie I have seen. Thanks David Lynch!

The Elephant Man

Sophie's Choice. Sobbed so hard my shoulders hurt. Never again.

Broke back mountain.

Never again.

Last Exit to Brooklyn. Thread closed.

Scent of a Woman

gorillas in the missed (oh deer)

Breaking the Waves......most depressing movie ever., followed by "Dancer in the Dark."

Iron fucking weed

Strictly Ballroom

Just saw "99 Homes" last weekend. Nothing but unrelenting greed and the suffering that ensues.

Do NOT watch this movie if you are even a tad sad or depressed.

I couldn't handle it after smoking weed, r11.

Agree about Brokeback but excellent direction, acting but depressing from beginning to the final credits.

Scent of a Woman was unwatchable. Crapfest.

For me, David Lean's Dr Zchivago is epic, heart-wrenching yet visually a winter wonderland. But the cold, isolated existence and the female character's reminiscing is just too much to bear. When I see it scheduled on cable, I try to avoid it. Then, who can ever forget the movie's classic theme song. One big tear jerker that movie.

Brokeback Mountain bothered me for years. Prior to Brokeback it was Sophie's Choice.

Out of Africa.

Another vote for Breaking the Waves, alongside Lukas Moodyson's Lilya 4-Eva.

Dancer in the Dark

R5, please don't read the book, it's MUCH worse

A Serbian Movie

The 1951 version of "A Christmas Carol" starring Alistair Sim.

Yikes! I just NEVER got the screaming applause for "Leaving Las Vegas". It's a dreary mess, and the two movie star leads are the two least believable screen alkies ever. I thought it was inept and the leads awful. Go figure!

"Penny Serenade" makes me want to kill myself.

Lilya 4-ever

Requiem For A Dream. Saw it in a theater when it was released and have avoided it ever since.

R23 - Agreed. Seeing it in the theater gave me PTSD. I had to go to a bar and get a stiff drink right after.

'Night Mother with Anne Bancroft and Sissy Spacek.

R19 You're maybe viewing A Serbian Film in the wrong light if you find it that depressing. I thought it was fascinating and even funny at times (but can see how others might find it a bit sickening.)

I usually forget (block out?) truly depressing films. I must say I probably wouldn't watch Schindler's List a second time. The scene where the child wants to hide in urine and feces under the latrines and the other kids turn him away...

Years ago, I went with a friend to see Leolo at a film festival. It was unrelenting in its depression. The trailer may lead to the belief that it's whimsical, but it's not. I've since run into a few other people who also saw this film and each person liked the movie but found it disturbing. It sticks with you.

I agree with all of the above. In addition I'd add

THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON'T THEY ?

Though all in all, IMO, SOPHIE'S CHOICE is the most depressing.

The Conversation and Raging Bull - I can remember walking home after watching both, and I felt so bleak. I gues it's the combination of great directors and actors illustrating fucked up lives.

I get the votes for Breaking the Waves.

Oh - and A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) was bleak, sad and depressing. Good film but man it was hard.

Miracle Mile, with Anthony Edwards. Talk about bleak!

House of Sand and Fog

Leolo is a good candidate. Saw it at a film festival and was not prepared for the bleakness.

Barfly is about as depressing as Ironweed.

I thought A Thousand Acres was a real downer.

The director made Leolo, and then he died

Come Back, Little Sheba.

Dear Zachary, which was that much more depressing because it was a documentary. Beautifully done film, but I never want to see it again, and I can't recommend it to anyone else. I'm not somebody who's easily affected by TV or movies, but this movie disturbed me so much that I was questioning the point of existence.

Loggerheads

One of my all-time favorites is Midnight Express starring Brad Davis (I think). That movie was gripping, suspenseful, emotionally draining and dangerously, eerily realistic, too realistic.65

R93 here again. Midnight Express was so good, I won't even buy or order the CD. One or 2 viewings was enough for me.

My vote goes to every Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu film I have ever seen. The ones that I've seen (Amores Perros, 21 Grams, Babel & Birdman) are all once and done films for me. The movies have some really great performance by Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, Michael Keaton etc. but every single one of them are relentlessly downbeat and depressing. After seeing Birdman, I decided that I really don't want to subject myself to his films anymore. Life is too short, and there are lots of other movies I would rather devote my time to.

Boys Don't Cry. I saw it in the theater and during the showing the projector broke, right after the horrific rape scene. They moved us to a different theater and the film was cued up to right before the rape scene, so we had to see it all over again. I wanted to slit my wrists when I left the movies that night.

Up In The Air with G. Clooney

Osama and Xiu Xiu the Sent Down Girl both made me almost give up hope for the human race. Raise the Red Lantern was also unrelentingly depressing.

"It's My Party" with Eric Roberts and Gregory Harrison. I have never cried so hard at a movie. It was ridiculous. There was blubbering.

"House of Sand and Fog" has my vote.

Glengarry Glen Ross

I love bleak movies.

"Never Let Me Go" is one of the bleakest films I've ever seen.

Dancer in the dark is so TRAGIC it actually became a sort of crazy comedy for me, like a Tom and Jerry cartoon: every 15 minutes something horrible happens to Bjork, and gets worse and worse until she's got a death sentence (as an innocent, of course). I just couldn't take it seriously, the Von Trier trolling is on fire, in that film (my girfriend took it seriously, and she was a fainting mess at the end of the movie)

I've never had the guts to watch Lilya 4-ever. The synopsis is enough to make wanna kill myself. damn.

"Mysterious Skin", "Requiem for a dream", "Boys don't cry". Utter despair.

R44, I basically had to block Osama from my memory because it made me so alternately depressed and enraged.

The Lives of Others. Brilliant acting, direction, writing. Thwarted, stunted lives. Any hope of happiness destroyed. I like the film a lot but you really have to be in the mood for it.

The Sweet Hereafter. Requiem For A Dream. Sophie's Choice.

I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang

I love it, though.

I'm with R50 - I couldn't take Dancer in the dark seriously.

The episodes of WAR AND REMEMBRANCE that take place in Paris, Theresienstadt, and Auschwitz.

Many of you are confusing "depressing" with "sad". Just thought I'd let you know. You're welcome.

No one has thanked you, R59.

I agree about DEAR ZACHARY. Unbearably, heartbreakingly sad, and of course all the more so because it's a true story.

IT'S MY PARTY is a bad movie -- not surprising, since it was directed and written by the no-talent Randal Kleiser. I thought it was so poorly done that it wasn't actually all that sad, even though it was about someone killing himself because he has AIDS.

Similarly, I kind of think that a lot of people who found BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN affecting and very sad were probably carrying over their feelings from the beautifully written book. I saw the movie without having read the book, and I wasn't strongly affected by it, because I think it wasn't well written or directed. I also felt almost no chemistry between the two guys, I think mostly because Heath Ledger's performance was SO inward and stolid.

I found Sophie's Choice devastating. Watched it at home and just sat on the couch for twenty minutes completely depleted.

Not only was her story depressing, the movie was basically saying that art and culture cannot save us from ourselves as human beings.

Requiem For A Dream.

Sophie's Choice for me too. I'm never watching that movie EVER again. Not even a clip on YT, never, ever!

YOu want depressed? Really depressed? The House of Sand & Fog starring Sir Ben Kingsley and Jennifer Connelly. Shit. I was speechless. It was something I hope never to see again.Unbelieveable. I felt suicidal and I am not exagerrating.

i heard a lot about the depressing effect of The House of Sand and Fog... another movie i never had the courage to watch. why is it so terrible, R65?

nevermind, i read the wiki... geez!

AWAY FROM HER

I don't know that it is THE most depressing, but it's definitely close to the top. I couldn't watch it again.

House of Sand and Fog just made me mad, not depressed. Fuck Kathy and that cop. She screwed up he life with drugs and/or alcohol and still thinks she deserves her house? Nope, sorry bitch. And too bad no one shot that cop. Asshole.

The novel version of Sand & Fog was even more depressing/sad/choose your adjective.

I saw Sophie's Choice when I was about 28, and going into it I thought her choice was going to be between those two guys- Kevin Kline and Peter McNichol. She was going to choose one to be with, and that was it. I never ever thought it would be what the choice actually was. And when it happened, holy shit, I wasn't prepared.

That was a very depressing movie. When it was over I went outside and sat in the sun for about 2 hours. Mary me all you want, but I needed sunshine!

Swept Away with Vadge.

I was so depressed I spent $8.50 to see that piece of shit.

The Piano Teacher. Melancholia.

You remind me that I found The Pianist depressing, R74. Adrien Brody in the Warsaw Ghetto. I felt nauseated halfway in, and it lasted through to the end.

I always thought "Looking For Mr. Goodbar" was the most depressing film ever...tried to watch it a second time - didn't even make it halfway through.

Most depressing movie ,Amour , relentlessly bleak and sad. Any movie by Michael Hanneke I would say..

Wit starring Emma Thompson

Noel with Susan Sarandon, Paul Walker, Robin Williams and Penelope Cruz. Lifetime used to show it around the holidays. Has to be in the top five most depressing movies ever made. Dreary and joyless.

I saw UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING two years after it was released.

I'm still not over it. Brilliant, humane, a great film. And it about killed me.

(No, I haven't read the novel. No, thank you.)

I didn't see these two mentioned.

The Killing Fields, I can't look at blue plastic bags ever since

Jude, Gun. To. Head.

I am returning to concur and commentk on AI. When the Mother leaves her robot son in the woods, I felt the most primal feeling of abandonment ever.

Dumbo. When they took his mother away and put her in elephant jail and he was crying and she reached thru the bars to cuddle him and rock him while there was this lullaby. I hated that scene when the workers all ganged up to tie her down. It was very depressing. Then he has to be a fucking clown in the circus and get mocked and teased and humiliated. It was relentlessly depressing. I was 6 at the time.

"Testament"

"Irreversible"

"Kids"

"Melancholia"

Looking for Mr. Goodbar.

Star 80.

The Mist (that ending)

Pennies from Heaven

Lorenzo's Oil.

So many great depressing ones mentioned already. Paths of Glory with Kirk Douglas. Check it out on Youtube. You must. At least watch the final scene.

Definitely Lilya 4ever. Another vote for House of Sand and Fog. I found Leaving Las Vegas very depressing; my heart went out to Elizabeth Shue's character.

Pelle the Conqueror was depressing but there was a sliver of hope at the end.

Coming Home (Gui lai)

Another vote for Amour, Elephant Man and Raise the Red Lantern

The Bicycle Thief

Au Hasard Balthazar

I'm with r70. THE HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG enraged me because it seemed like a stylish ode to stupid, selfish, cruel, me-generation, baby-boomer misanthropy. What a pack of ASSHOLES. I hated each and every one of them. It might be because he is the greatest actor in the bunch, but Ben Kingsley portrayed by far the most sympathetic character! Ben Kingsley's character!

I loathed AI. It was perverse, horribleand in Spielberg's sentimental hands a Kubrickisn fable turned into something cruel and nasty and nightmarish. What's the point of watching this shit? Bad marriage of subject and director.

GRAVE OF FIREFLIES. 2 hours of indignities. I didn't even feel sorry for the children because it was too drained of anything other than rampaging destruction.

Although I love it, MULHOLLAND DRIVE. We know the first half is leading up the revelation of a mystery, but what the mystery is, essentially, turns out to be simpler and sadder and more commonplace than any puzzle we could anticipate. The very essence of depression.

The love between Jan and Bess and the exultant ending saved BREAKING THE WAVES for me. I find it uplifting. Likewise I love RAISE THE RED LANTERN.

oh i forgot to add some of those italian neorealism masterpieces: ROME OPEN CITY, UMBERTO D. and especially the Rossellini movie set in afterwar Berlin, GERMANY YEAR ZERO: this one takes the cake, read the wiki. Speaking of Germany, Fassbinder's A YEAR WITH 13 MOONS will make you jump from a window

"THE HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG enraged me because it seemed like a stylish ode to stupid, selfish, cruel, me-generation, baby-boomer misanthropy. What a pack of ASSHOLES. I hated each and every one of them. It might be because he is the greatest actor in the bunch, but Ben Kingsley portrayed by far the most sympathetic character! Ben Kingsley's character!"

If you read the book "House of Sand and Fog" the Ben Kingsley character and his family ARE sympathetic, if class conscious, characters. The one I found totally unsympathetic was the character of Kathy, the semi-recovering drug addict/alcoholic house cleaner who gets repeated notices in the mail from the county but throws them out without even opening them. She figures since she filled out some forms a while back her troubles with the county over a bogus business tax they claimed she owed are over. If the dumb bitch had just opened her mail NONE of the impending tragedies would have happened. Of course, after she's booted out of her house she becomes the lover of a married police officer and the two of them attempt to get her house back by illegal means. I thought Kathy and her doofus policeman boyfriend were the awful ones.

[quote]Sophie's Choice for me too. I'm never watching that movie EVER again.

I agree, but I think it's fair (and obvious) to say that all movies about the Holocaust are devastating because the event itself was so horrifically tragic on such a huge scale. SOPHIE'S CHOICE, SCHINDLER'S LIST, THE PIANIST. If someone has ever made a movie about the Holocaust that wasn't unbearably sad, I'm not aware of it, but that would be a really, really bad movie.

"Affliction" starring Nick Nolte. If you think the movie is depressing, you should read the book. Written by Russell Banks, it's a great book but one of the most depressing things you'll ever read in your life.

Ben Kingsley and his whole family in House of Sand & Fog were sympathetic. He was particularly brilliant and so was the woman who played his wife. And Yes, I hated Jennifer Connolly's character so much that it affected my opinion of her as an actress. I can't stand her. I don't even like her. I mean Martha Hyer was always the girl you love to hate for me, but I don't love Jennifer. I can't stand her. And it's all because of this movie.

R82, please go to a dictionary and stop misusing "primal." A sense of abandonment is not a primal response.

Bridges of Madison County

Wasn't Leolo that movie where the kids rape a cat or something? Fucked up shit.

A recent one the voices with Ryan Reynolds .its supposed to be a dark comedy but it made me go into a day long funk.

If you want to be really depressed about America, follow this series to the end.

Melancholia closely followed by Breaking The Waves....Lars seems to have cornered this market.

Interiors

Oh God ..... Testament is a good one.

I loved INTERIORS.

They Shoot Horses, Don't They? is the most depressing movie I have ever seen. Just thinking about it depresses me. The thought of ever watching it again would never cross my mind. It makes Sophie's Choice, House of Sand and Fog, Requiem for a Dream, and yes, even Dancer in the Dark look like a cakewalk.

It was an excellent movie, however. If you haven't seen it you probably should. Just have a bottle of gin handy -- and perhaps someone to give you a foot massage.

Grease 2

[quote]If someone has ever made a movie about the Holocaust that wasn't unbearably sad, I'm not aware of it, but that would be a really, really bad movie.

I made one so bad I won't even let anyone see it.

Another vote for "Testament." Just finished watching it on one of those cable movie channels. Depressing, depressing stuff (and scary, too).

Jane Alexander was, as always, excellent.

[quote]Another vote for "Testament." Just finished watching it on one of those cable movie channels. Depressing, depressing stuff (and scary, too). Jane Alexander was, as always, excellent.

I used to think being killed by a nuclear blast was the scariest thing ever--until I saw "Testament". Then I realized surviving one was much worse.

Which reminds me...add the British TV-movie "Threads" to the list.

Brokeback Mountain...had me crying for weeks, then I ended up seeing my analyst.

[quote]If someone has ever made a movie about the Holocaust that wasn't unbearably sad, I'm not aware of it, but that would be a really, really bad movie.

That would be "Life Is Beautiful".

And it is.

It was a horrible, manipulative story, R111, with a cliched, tragic ending. Burn in hell, Annie Proulx.

The Godfather

They Shoot Horses Don't They?

OMG, I totally forgot about Todd Solondz's Happiness. Jesus Fucking Christ that movie is depressing, disturbing, demented... all of it. Even more so than Welcome to the Dollhouse. The scene between father and son after the son learns his father is a pedo just makes you want to die right on the spot.

Martyrs. It's a French horror film that came out a few years ago. It's brilliant, but a tough watch. It lingered in my mind for weeks after. Haven't been able to watch it since. Apparently, they just remade the film for American audiences and I can't see that being a hit of any kind.

Coming Home (Gui lai) has one of the saddest final images I've ever seen in a movie.

The poor woman sitting in front of me was awash in tears.

MONSTER'S BALL was just one relentless stream of misery.

"Breakfast on Pluto" deserves a mention. It's a short film, but still plenty of misery here. "The Last Picture Show" deserves a sad nod too, if only for Cloris Leachman's wonderful performance. It makes my heart ache just remembering it. Shot in dismal (why go on?) black and white. Since no else mentioned it and we are all going to die, "On the Beach".

DELIVERANCE!

WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE. Good God, if that movie didn't display the most raw humilations of childhood all kids try to stamp out as quickly as possible via conformity or rebellion - just as long as they don't stay THERE.

TESTAMENT is a good choice. Also THE DAY AFTER, the 1983 TV movie about the aftermath of a nuclear attack, with Jason Robards. Not as well done and not quite as sad as TESTAMENT, but still pretty damned sad -- which isn't surprising, considering the subject matter.

R112, I was going to mention LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL as a movie about the Holocaust that wasn't unbearably sad, but I think it's a good movie and it gets a pass because it's not so much about the Holocaust as it is about the man's attempt to shield his young son from the horrors of it to the extent that he could.

Leaving Las Vegas for sure. Monster and Sophie's Choice.

I remember the end of Testament when she tried to gas herself, her son, and the retard.

"The Seventh Victim", an old and rather depressing B movie by Val Lewton, the ending is a downer.

Pans Labyrinth by Guillermo del Toro

Never, never, never again!

Day of the locust ! One of the darkest movies on America and Hollywood ever , horrifying ending . But I don't regret seeing it , Karen black and Donald Southerland are in it The sailor who fell from grace with the sea based on Yukio Michima novel , awful scene involving a cat.

[quote]The sailor who fell from grace with the sea based on Yukio Michima novel , awful scene involving a cat.

That scene really upset me.

Ordinary People. Especially when Conrad found out his friend committed suicide.

If you travel a lot for work, then Up In The Air is the most depressing movie ever. It seems to particularly depress the straight married guys I know. The whole notion of traveling so much you never get to have an actual life and then the whole letdown when it seems he's finally found one. Coming home to the empty apartment, knowing the ins and outs of airline clubs and point systems.

But the saddest part in the movie was the scene where he was firing all those middle aged family men, people who worked for the same company for years and never saw it coming.

I always thought Obama should have runs clips from that as anti-Romney ads in '08, but he seems to have done just fine without me.

When the Wind Blows (even scarier and more depressing than than the similarly themed Testament)

I am thrilled with the unspoken support shown on this thread for my uplifting vehicle, "Rachel Getting Married," which, of course, could never be the most depressing movie produced in the past decade!

The original Straw Dogs

This thread should be a battle between the melancholy Dane (Lars von Trier) and the somber Swede (Ingmar Bergman), but even then I think the Dane wins. When a film titled "Melancholia" in which the entire world is destroyed might be your least depressing film, you can even beat the guy who filmed a chess match with Death.

The Boy In the Striped Pyjamas: Oh boy did I cry my eyes out. Didn't expect it. Depressing all around.

Schindler's List: I won't watch it the 2nd time. Just can't. The height of human hate at its core. Thank God I wasn't born then.

Until The Devil Knows Your Dead or something like that. Outstandingly morose. Philip Seymour Hoffman plays one brither, Ethan Hawke plays the other. Hoffman's character is a dope addict, and goes to his dealer's house to get shot up.

Marisa Tomei unhappiky married to Hoffman. Their parents, Albert Finney and Olympia Dukakis own a jewelry store. Movie told in flashbacks. Fucking brilliant. Title is Before The Devil Knows Your Dead.

I won't spoil it by telling more. Except that in one of the final scenes, an old man who knew Albert Finney back in the day, recognizes a business card from Hoffman, "..What some people will do for money..."

Marisa Tomei m

Thanks to whoever mentioned Happiness. I didn't find it depressing, but it did skeeve me out. Worth watching, for sure.

R130) Buck would never have had friends from the hospital.

Oh,god. leaving las vegas is a heartbreaker (but soooo goood).

I think it's nick Cage's best movie. there's also that movie he did with meg ryan, but i like that mostly for the music)

Anyway, that bjork film, Dancer in the dark.....this is a beast of a depressing film but it's also sooo good.

Melancholia. I bought it when I was in a very bad place and by the time the film finished, I remember sitting there, looking at the screen and just shouted "WELL YOU CAN GO FUCK YOURSELF!" That DVD made a short, destructive flight out of my front window and into my neighbour's herbaceous border. Hate that film with a vengeance - although, it did help me get over a bout of depression...

In recent years : Foxcatcher, Boys Don't Cry.

Yes also to : When the Wind Blows , Paths of Glory ( no one stands a chance), Leolo (altough it also has the shock value factor, but yeah, it's bleak).

Ikuru : depressing.

Now, I need your help, it is a Russian movie about an old man who has a hard and lonely life and a dog that gets through a difficult and very lonely life has well. I think they meet only at the end. Anybody remembers that ?

I think most of the films on this thread have depressed me at some point or on some level, but only three reduced me to abjection (whether by flailing tears or crawling inside myself for a few days): Au Hasard Balthasar, Umberto D., Pan's Labyrinth.

Not the most depressing, but the movies that made me cry the hardest were Brokeback, Central Station and On Golden Pond.

I have watched a lot of these and many I like (Melancholia, Breaking the Waves, Boys Don't Cry, House of Sand and Fog, Foxcatcher, andThey Shoot Horses, Don't They). I think I thought they were good at expressing emotion and character.

I am avoiding Requiem for a Dream because I think it will depress me!

The one that depressed me for some reason was: Vanilla Sky. I can't even remember what it is about now - I just know it depressed me.

I agree with almost all of these but nothing slayed me like Sophie's Choice.

I was inconsolable in the theatre. I was still sobbing in my chair after the theatre had emptied.

My friend had to lead me across a very busy street to our car.

It was a combo of the story line and Meryl's searing performance.

Delicatessen. Because poor old Aurore is suicidal, and unfortunately, at the end, she doesn't die.

Bleak House

An Anime film called "Grave of the Fireflies (1988) "

Also an old french film, Mouchette.

[quote]Schindler's List: I won't watch it the 2nd time. Just can't. The height of human hate at its core.

R136, I'm with you. "Schindler's List" and "12 Years A Slave" are two films I could only sit through once. Two of the most fucking brutal films ever.

Can't forget GUMMO. Ugh. I had to take a shower after that one.

I cried non-stop for a month after viewing Brokeback Mountain. I ended up seeing a psychiatric.

Mike Nichols' Wit with Emma Thompson

That dog movie with RIchard Gere Hachi: A Dog's Story -

Schindler's List didn't make me feel depressed - it made me feel angry, definitely, but not depressed. My gran told me about Schindler (and how he wasn't the heroic figure of the film, believe me) and I read the book Schindler's Ark, so I was fully prepared for the horrors that the film would show...but here's the thing - film studios will only show a *fraction* of the horrors of the Holocaust. And even *then* they'll simplify it and pretty it up to "Protect" us, the viewers. And I doubt - I seriously DOUBT - that any major Hollywod studio would ever explore the impact of the Holocaust on ordinary Germans. It's too easy to portray the Germans of the 1930s and 1940s as villains, less so to portray them as actual human beings.

[quote]It's too easy to portray the Germans of the 1930s and 1940s as villains, less so to portray them as actual human beings.

97% of those "human beings" gave Hitler their vote of approval in 1936. The Holocaust - the systematic extermination of the Jews of Europe - could not have happened without the tacit and active approval and assistance of those "human beings" of Germany and the rest of Europe. And those "human beings" of Europe have again been turning a blind eye to yet another concerted assault on the Jews of Europe for the past 15 years. Portraying them as villains is not nearly accurate enough.

Maurice.

The Deer Hunter

There were spots throughout the film where I quietly wept.

However, when George Dzunda (sp?) burst out bawling after the funeral while whipping up breakfast I started sobbing.

Million Dollar Baby made me angry. There seemed no point to the film other than to depress. I know, I got the themes, etc. Requiem For A Dream is similar, the message seems to be terrible things happen to lovely people who do drugs. That movie I loved but will never watch again. Can't.

Breaking the Waves takes the prize though. Margaret's Museum is another very good film about personal loss and strangely appropriate madness. The Official Story is my favorite sad film of all time, though I wouldn't call it depressing. And one more for the road....Boys Don't Cry. So soon after Matthew Shepard's murder, I bawled my eyes out for both Brandon Tina and Matthew. Was sad for days after.

It's not a movie but I was devastated by the season of The Wire that dealt with the school system.

It gutted me for at least a couple of months afterward.

I forgot to add a Spanish-language movie called Una Noche. There's a gay element to it you gentlemen might appreciate. The ending really blew me out of the water, so to speak. Check it out sometime -- it's worth it.

"The Pianist." I had nightmares (literally) for a week revisiting the "Grandpa in a wheelchair being thrown over the balcony" scene.

Pan's Labyrinth. I know the girl's death at the end was supposed to be a good thing, but it didn't make it any less fucked up.

Joyeux Noel. This movie was loosely based on the Christmas Truce of December 1914. It is told through the eyes of French, German, and Scottish soldiers. The last scene of the movie was especially heartbreaking.

Another very sad, excellent movie with Marisa Tomei is IN THE BEDROOM.

There are a lot of sad movies out there, but the one that literally made me depressed and feel blah and dirty was The Piano.

One Flew Over The Cukoos Nest

Iron Weed

Unforgiven

Gene Hackman was so great in that film.

I am starting to think there's a reason these movies are never on TV. Maybe it's okay that we only get to watch "Pretty Woman," and "Forrest Gump" ad infinitum.

R167, i think you're right. I don't think i've ever seen Sophie's choice on tv in my whole life.

R166--yup. People wanna "Feel Good!" And I agree with the people playing these films, over and over, to certain extent, but sometimes you need a movie like that to give you a fucking reality check. Your life isn't that bad.

Also, a good cry is quite cathartic.

it's quite strange, tho. Meryl's performance in Sophie is considered one of the greatest ever, and yet the movie is NEVER shown anywhere

[quote]it's quite strange, tho. Meryl's performance in Sophie is considered one of the greatest ever, and yet the movie is NEVER shown anywhere

I think that's because of what people are saying here: The movie is so devastating that no one has seen it would ever want to sit through it again, and that probably extends to people who do programming for TV stations, revival houses, etc. avoiding it as well. Of course, younger people should see the film, but presumably they have access to it through home video or Netflix of whatever.

I've seen Sophie's Choice on TV. I've seen it on cable and basic cable. Give me a break with your kookie conspiracies.

Of course you've seen it, R172. Don't be so literal...it's just that for a movie with such a great reputation it's very rarely shown

Have you seen Room yet? Devastating and depressing. Everything Emma Donoghue writes is gut wrenching but she is one of the best authors of our time.

My opinion is that you will never see a "downer" movie on basic cable. And hoping that young people will just choose these films, outside of a college classroom, is not realistic.

How many times have you clicked through channels and got into a movie, only to watch it to its horrible end? I have.

These are the movies my friends say, "don't watch this if you're in a bad place."

Well sorry, but every other day I can be in a bad place.So I should never be exposed to tragic stories? I like that every once in awhile the networks throw me a curveball.

Another one for Lilya 4Ever. And The Bridge. Movies to slit your wrists by.

I don't have cable TV anymore, but when I had cable and basic TV, it seemed like all the channels were constantly playing Sleeping With the Enemy.

That's funny R177. Now it's Sweet Home Alabama. Julia and Reese, your People's Choice Winners.

yes, R178, that might be what the programming is based on

"They Shoot Horses Don't They" is particularly disturbing when you realize Gig Young killed his wife before committing suicide nine years later.

Thanks 180 for that "Find a Death" reference. True!

Was it a suicide pact, or did he just murder her?

I only remembered he offed himself. I remembered he shot himself, which I thought was eery. It wasn't until I looked up the date that I realized he killed his wife too. No, it was not a pact, R182. Gig Young was a very depressed man, for many, many years.

"The Days of Wine and Roses" starring Jack Lemmon, Lee Remick, Charles Bickford and Jack Klugman. So many other great character actors too. Remarkable film. Way ahead of its time.

R 184--Nothing is sadder than watching alcoholics drink themselves to death. Agreed.

Except for maybe, you married a stripper, had offspring with her, provided her money for her cocaine-fueled binges, and then she shoots you in the head while you're sleeping off a bender.

Monster was depressing plus it changed my mind on the death penalty. I've never had a movie reverse an opinion on a social issue before like that did. I was young and naive and that movie changed my opinion.

Frances...nuff said!

Frances is another highly regarded movie that i never remember shown on tv once in my lifetime

It wasn't that Ironweed was just depressing it was also so very bad.

If I had to pick one, I would have to say "Testament" was the most depressing. The ending was heart wrenching. Watching the home movie of the doomed family celebrating the father's birthday, the incredibly sad accompanying music....it makes me cry.

Is Sophie's Choice still depressing, or still worth watching, iif you know the "Choice"?

R191

Even if you know the choice it's still a must see.

It's an outstanding movie. The movie is just excellent in every way.

Meryl's performance is the best female performance I've ever seen on film.

Good call on Day of the Locust. That pinned me to the back of the wall the first time I saw it.

Meryl in Ironweed is the very definition of a fearless performance. The way she looks in that is beyond disturbing and that scene with her picturing the audience loving her song is one of the most heartbreaking things I've ever seen in my life.

How about The Rapture starring Mimi Rogers? Anyone ever see that one? Yowza!

Yes, The Rapture is very good.

I thought The Piano Teacher was depressing.

It's still Testament for me.

Yup, Rapture was a good film...very depressing ending.

Yes, but it accurately depicted the cult mentality, R196.

There was a tv movie called "And Then There Was One" that is right up there with any depressing movie you could think of. It starred Amy Madigan as Roxy Ventola, a funny, smart woman, a writer married to the love of her life Vinnie. They try and try to have a baby and finally she gets pregnant and they have a daughter. Soon the baby gets sick and the prognosis is grim: she has AIDS. Roxy and Vinnie are tested and both of them have it too. After a miscarriage Roxy was given a blood transfusion and in all likelihood that's how she got it. This movie is not fiction; it's based on the life of Roxy and Vinnie Ventola. It's one of the saddest things you'll ever see. But Amy Madigan is wonderful in it. She won an Emmy for it.

R198

What happened to the 3 of them ?

Did any of them survive ?

I love Amy Madigan. Where am I ever going to find that film though, R198?

In regards to "And Then There Was One":

In the movie Vinnie falls ill, Roxy has to take care of him, their daughter Miranda keeps getting worse, Vinnie gets sicker and sicker...it's hard to watch. Finally Vinnie dies and Miranda dies shortly after. Roxy is the only one left to carry on. She did for a while. She remarried, but she eventually died of AIDS at age 47 in 1994.

The movie is on YouTube is anyone wants to see it.

Would Alice Doesn't Live Anymore be depressing?

Philadelphia.

I loved Iron Weed.

There was an old HBO movie called (I think) THINGS BEHIND THE SUN about a childhood rape survivor, a supremely screwed up rock star or something. I think Eric Stoltz was in it.

Has anyone mentioned Ice Castles yet? That movie kills me every time I watch it, and the theme song (Looking Through The Eyes Of Love) makes me weep.

Apologies if already mentioned. Read most of the posts ........Anyway, the moment Robin Williams ' death announces, the thought that flashed through my mind was the movie "What Dreams May Come."

It's an old film but stars Robin Williams (and top cast) where he is a doctor. One day, he gets this call saying his wife has been injured and kids have been killed in a horrible traffic. Because of his wife's grief at the loss of her children, she ends up committing suicide.

Robin Williams - still living- is left completely bereft, and tries to connect with his deceased wife. The movie is about him experiencing death as well and seeing heaven (and his children) and looking for his wife but finding out that since she committed suicide, she does not live in this fantasy existence of heaven but is relegated to an empty, lonely, loveless existence.

I won't say anything more or else I'll ruin itself for future viewers. But given the premise of the film, I was surprised that the media didn't catch on to the sad irony of Robin Williams ' fate - both in the movie and real life. And the idea of the fate that awaits people who kill themselves.

I Know My First Name is Steven depressed the shit out of me when I first saw it on tv back in 89.

Especially when it seemed Steven was getting his life together, and then he died.

R206- Here again: Background on What Dreams May Come

What Dreams May Come is a 1998 Americanfantasy drama film, starring Robin Williamsand Cuba Gooding, Jr.. The film is based on the 1978 novel of the same name by Richard Matheson, and was directed by Vincent Ward. It won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects and the Art Directors Guild Award for Excellence in Production Design. It was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Art Direction. The title is from a line in Hamlet‍ '​s "To be, or not to be" soliloquy

Gommorah.

Mask with Cher and Eric Stoltz.

BLACK BEAUTY!!!!

Beaches

The Notebook

Magnolia

Someone brought up a tv movie about 10 posts ago. Anybody see The Baby Dance with Stockard Channing and Laura Dern? Devastating!!

is it called The Baby Dance

or

Anybody See The Baby Dance?

YES, R214 - Magnolia! One of the most depressing films ever!

I found "Aimee and Jaguar" pretty depressing. It's a good movie, the incredible true story of 29 year old Lilly Wust, a German Nazi hausfrau with four small sons who is awakened to her latent lesbianism by a free-spirited young Jewish woman named Felice Schragenheim. Their love affair takes place during wartime Germany, and it ends badly. Felice, who had been successfully been living an underground existence, was finally found out as a Jew and deported. She could have escaped but stayed in Germany to be with her Aimee (Lilly). Lilly went to visit her at the concentration camp, which made Felice's situation even worse. After that, she was transferred elsewhere and although her exact fate is not known, she in all likelihood died on a death march to another camp. She was 22 years old. Lilly's divorced her husband after falling in love with Felice; she later remarried but the marriage was a disaster. She never got over losing her "Jaguar" and never loved anyone else. Her time with Felice lasted only 18 months. Lilly lived to be 92 years old, surrounded by Felice's photographs and letters, and never stopped "living in the past." Sad, sad, sad story.

Threads. Horrible, HORRIBLE.

Has anyone mentioned that Dick Van Dyke alcoholic tv-movie yet? Haven't seen it in ages, but everyone from the era remembers how incredibly sad the ending is using the Beatles "Yesterday." Because he'd given up and completely succumbed to it. And everyone loves amiable Dick, increasing the sadness. I'm sure he won the Emmy and it probably still holds up well enough. I'd like to see it again.

"The Champ". That end sequence where Jon Voight dies leaving Ricky Schroeder inconsolable and begging him to wake up, and then when the credits roll with that theme song by Michael McDonald. TEARS FLOW.

Alexander: the Other Side of Dawn.

Pretty much any movie starring Liza Minelli.

Beaches

A very good anime called Grave of the Fireflies. The film is so sad, I was devastated after I saw it.

Mouchette a great film directed by Robert Bresson.

Hour of the Wolf (directed by Ingmar Bergman), not sad per se but a very depressing film.

It's a TV movie--"God Bless the Child" starring Mare Winningham. SO depressing, but wonderful performances from Mare and Grace Johnston as her daughter.

Burnt by the Sun is a big contender for me. It's about what happens to one family during Stalin's Great Purge. Thanks to R120 for mentioning On the Beach. My dad showed me that film several years ago. He also saw it as a young man and owns an old copy of the book. The last scene ran like a sword through my heart.

R37/61 etc. DEAR ZACHARY, hands down. I still ache when I hear the father say "THAT FUCKING BITCH!" The fact that it is a documentary makes it that much more depressing.

I won't rewatch BOYS DON'T CTY. Because I sobbed like a bitch and vomited, and I knew what was coming.

Castaway, with Tom Hanks

City of God.

Days of Wine and Roses. Lee Remick should have been the one to recover not Jack Lemmon.

Well, my vote would be for PLENTY (1986) also with Meryl - it is devastating!

He knew it, R231.

Never let me go

That was horrendously sad, r234!

Terms of Endearment. The book more than the movie.

Also, the play The Boy from Oz, about Peter Allen.

I went to see TARNATION by myself, and I was fucked up for days afterward.

Lilya 4-ever owns this thread.

Runner up: Gomorrah.

I would say Synecdoche, New York (2008)

there's a whole thread of people on IMDB saying the film made them physically ill. Read how this poster learned he is not a special snowflake:

"I watched this film, mesmerized and terrified for two hours. I was crying and shaking by the end of it. And then I puked.

Perhaps the physical reaction was just really bad timing, but this film truly unsettled me. Maybe it's because I'm still young enough to be optimistic about life. Maybe it's because I would like to believe that life evolves into something finer and more beautiful than simple routine.

In any case --- did this movie terribly depress/scare the living *beep* out of anyone else?"

Day of the Locust

Dawson's 50 Load Weekend.

You think anyone would be satisfied after that many loads, but no.

Death is the normal end for a drunk, often in a hospital, bleeding to death.

That movie about it River Phoenix.

[quote] Boys Don't Cry.

I remember watching that in the theater and even though I knew the outcome of the story, I found myself thinking, "Please let me be wrong about this. Maybe I got the facts wrong and everything turns out OK!" Yikes.

Castaway is very hopeful compared to most movies on this thread! For movies that made me physically ill (though not necessarily depressing movies, at least not totally): Dead Man Walking, Hunger (the one about Bobby Sands, with Fassbender)

Lenny. It probably doesn't get shown much because it's so relentlessly depressing.

It never gets shown.

The Elephant Man (1980). The Yearling (1946). The Sad Horse (1959). Marty (1955). A Child Is Waiting (1963).

Happiness. Lara Von Trier's 'The Idiots' and 'Breaking the Waves'

WW'd R10

Kids, Blue Valentine, Jude, Grave of Fireflies (animated, from Studio Ghibli - so fucking gut wrenching and bleak, unlike Ponyo), Harakiri, Family (Danish film), We need to talk about Kevin, American History X, Atonement, and one of my favourites (Strawberry Cough) : Children of men.

R13 : is that you, R. G. Pickard?

Oh God. Fucking Night Mother with Sissy Spacek. How the fuck could you possibly beat that?

Mask with Cher and Eric Stoltz. I have never sobbed like that over a movie but it was so sad!

Julien Donkey Boy Inland Empire The Duchess of Langeois The Lovers on the Bridge and HUGE 2nd to Mulholland Drive

The Toxic Avenger is pretty sad when those human wastes of space mow that kid on the bike over with their car. And then when the geek falls into the vat of toxic waste and is in obvious agony before he becomes The Toxic Avenger is also hard to watch.

The Last of the Mohicans

My Own Private Idaho, w/ River Phoenix

Requiem.... I haven't truely watched it in at least 15 years, but it was definitely the first movie to make me feel like fucking shit afterwards. I've probably watched it 30x since and I LOVE LOVE LOVE the musical score to the point I tune out the content and just enjoy having it on in the backround, but GOD DAMN that movie made me fucking want to kill myself when I watched it; the first time.... UGH. WOW, I was 19 or 20....

Palindromes

Three that come to mind are

Happiness

the original Funny Games

and Synecdoche, New York

All of them bleak and disturbing. Downright depressing

Airheads. Have any of you fags's watched this movie? recently? Fucking Adam Sandler is a 10... Brendan bald spot Fraiser? 10... TEN!!! Steve..... fucking Bescemi a plausible 6...... a SIX, STEVE fucking Bescemi. A hittable 8 after a box of wine.....

The most depressing thing about this movie is all of these actors are so fucking FAR past their prime their on fucking HBO. west. 2. HBO2W, and me? I'm past my prime. I've peaked... and it's all fucking downhill from here/there... that's fucking depressing.

"Happiness" was a black comedy. It was depressing and also very funny.

You aren't supposed to drink the first pint of moonshine that trickles from the still, R262.

It was mentioned already upthread but Last Exit to Brooklyn basically ruined my life.

The original TV movie, "Brian's Song."

SOPHIE'S CHOICE

The ugliness that can lie within man. SOPHIE'S CHOICE is one of the most depressing. THEY SHOOT HORSES DON'T THEY .... ? is another.

MISSING, with Jack Lemmon & Sissy Spacek

CARRIE. The original

Testament, Castaway, Sophies Choice, Cidade de Deus., all the movies about the Holocaust, already mentioned.

Jacob's Ladder

SON OF SAUL

Jews cleaning the crap released by people as they were killed in the gas chambers.

come and see (russian film about ww2) pixote star 80 jude

eh, sorry about the formatting ^

[quote]Oh God. Fucking Night Mother with Sissy Spacek. How the fuck could you possibly beat that?

Watch "Lilya 4ever."

Midnight Cowboy

Annie.

Another vote for Melancholia, although I found the imagery of the movie captivatingly beautiful. If you have watched Still Alice it will keep you in tears more than half of the movie. Utterly heartbreaking.

Dogville

I've never seen anything more depressing or disgusting than the little boy wanting to hide in a shit hole in Schlindler's List, and the other children saying No.

Monsters Ball

The Pianist

'Midnight Cowboy' when i first saw it on tv in 1992. It's a good movie, if you don't know about Hoffmann or Voigt's flaws as people in real life. Also: 'Tess' by Ken Loach, 'Bleak Moments' by Mike Leigh and 'Spetters' by Paul Verhoeven.

Grease 2

The Seventh Continent (Austrian film, Michael Haneke director)

Twenty Nine Palms. Michael Haneke films.

"Up In The Air" -- the George Clooney film. This one seems to particularly depress straight guys, corporate types in particular. It is a very sad movie overall about being too busy working to ever try and find love and then waking up and finding much of life has already passed you by. (Which makes it very sad for gay men too)

Rosetta by the Dardenne brothers. The best film I have no intention of ever watching again.

I just caught A Simple Plan on a movie channel, I think it qualifies.

Jude with Kate Winslet knocked me off my ass. I was totally unprepared and cried like a baby. Another vote for Testament and Sophie's Choice.

Death in Venice

R244. I felt the exact same way while watching Alpha Dog. I knew the fate of the main character going in to the movie, but I was so hoping that I got it wrong.

It's not the most depressing movie, but it was a total downer.

I'd love to see TESTAMENT again.

The Boy In The Striped Pajamas

"Last Exit To Brooklyn", as depressing as it was, was actually watered down for the screen, at least one segment of it was. In the book there's a chapter called "Tralala", named after a nasty little soulless hooker.

SPOILERS ahead. In the book Tralala leads her aimless hooker life until she loses her looks (what little she has) and gets worn out. Wanting to prove something to herself she goes back to her old stomping grounds and gets drunk in a bar, shoving her tits in guy's faces to show how sexy she still is. Somebody yells "all tits and no cunt" so to prove she's still got it, she allows herself to be dragged to an abandoned car where she proceeds to get drunker and get gang raped. They take the seat where she's lying out of the car and put it in a lot where guys take their turn on her. She passes out, and they tire of the "dead piece". A bunch of kids waiting their turn get pissed that she's out and they "took out their disappointment on Tralala and tore her clothes to small scrap put out a few cigarettes on her nipples pissed on her jerkedoff on her jammed a broomstick up her snatch then bored they left her lying amongst the broken bottles and rubble of the lot." She's left "naked covered with blood urine and semen and a small blot forming on the seat between her legs as blood seeped from her crotch."

In the movie a sweet teenage boy develops a crush on sleazy, platinum-haired Tralala, and she's somewhat nice to him. After the gang rape he somehow comes upon her lying on a mattress being fucked by one of the last guys in line. The boy pulls the guy off her, and seeing the state of his beloved, begins to weep. She rises from the mattress and takes him into her arms and murmurs "shhh...shhh", comforting him. Oh, PUKE! What dreck! What purpose did this dopey scene serve? To make Tralala more sympathetic and likeable? Anyway, the story in the book is stunning, much better than movie crap like this.

I cried throughout Wyler's Wuthering Heights from Olivier's first closeup till the very end.

Also the thought of any Adam Sandler or Ben Stiller movie depresses me. Haven't watched any.

lots of good choices, i wanna add Fassbinder's A year with 13 moons... a movie that will make you wanna kill yourself.

A cautionary tale for gender reassignment hopefuls, I remember it being really sad.

While true that the chapter Tralala was toned down for the screen, I for one found that a relief. What is pointless and disturbing is your blow by blow account of an already brutal nihilistic scene. It is supposed to be harsh but in the book it is almost bludgeoning in its despair. Does that read as some some sort of comeuppance to you? The affectless prose of the book was transferred to a more cinematic representation of mood and atmosphere brilliantly by Uli Edel and offers some redemption and hope even for a "nasty worn-out soulless hooker." That may require you to think about some of your unexamined prejudices and cruelty as well. In the end, both the book by Hubert Selby and the film are a cry of rage and horror against the realities of those living a life of grim desperation then and now.

Eraserhead made me want to die.

This thread is great. Now I'm going to watch The Testament because I loved Jane Alexander in All the President's Men and was longing to see anything else with her.

Why would you watch something just to be made sad?

"On The Beach"

quote]Why would you watch something just to be made sad?

I don't know. Maybe to distract oneself from knowing that someone will bump a thread that originated five years ago for no logical reason whatsoever.

Gallipoli. The sheer waste of all of those innocent lives, the folly of following ridiculous orders.

Nick Cage gave one of the best performance in film history for that role....he was brilliant. Too bad his career went to shit from there

The Joker is supposed to be depressing and sad. For that reason I won’t see it. At least not right now.

R305, don't see it. Honestly, it was awful.

The Road, Girl Interrupted, Seven, Out of the furnace.