Rather than commenting on each scene, I am just going to let you watch them. This list contains spoilers, graphic scenes, and depictions of death or suicide. The top 10 depressing scenes in cinema:
10. The Sixth Sense
You need to skip to 02:50. The first clip (From The Champ) is not entirely joyful either. This scene contains spoilers.
9. The Truman Show
WARNING: Spoilers
8. The Royal Tenenbaums
WARNING: Depiction of suicide
7. The Green Mile
WARNING: Spoilers
6. The Rules of Attraction
WARNING: This scene graphically depicts suicide.
5. The Elephant Man
4. Death in Venice
WARNING: Spoilers
3. The Grapes of Wrath
WARNING: Spoilers
2. Requiem for a Dream
WARNING: Spoilers
1. Dancer in the Dark
WARNING: Extreme Spoilers
Notable Omissions: The Great Escape, Cast Away, House of Sand and Fog, Betty Blue
Technorati Tags: movies
I dont know what’s wrong with you people but the Dancer in the Dark finale was funny as hell! I wasn’t depressed at all…but then again I naturally dislike everything about Bjork…if you want to talk about depressing movie scenes…When Apollo died in Rocky IV that was pretty sad. The Lion King, when mufassa died was pretty deep for a rated “G” movie. All three hours of Private Ryan were tough to digest…and what about the ending of Million Dollar Baby?
I have a few more….how bout when Bambi’s mother gets shot? My Life was pretty sad. The Spongebob movie when Patrick and Spongebob are dead for a few moments is pretty rough (if you are a kid) One Flew Over the Coo-coo’s nest was pretty rough. And the scene in the God Father when Vito gets shot when he buying fruit from the market place, and then Fredo drops his gun and screams PAAHHHHPAAAA! and various scenes from Forrest Gump are sad, when bubba, his mother, and Jenny dies. I never seen Schindler’s List but I want to.
LA STRADA!?
Since Disney movies have been mentioned I’m shocked nobody mentioned Finding Nemo. I thought it was heartbreaking at the beginning when the shark comes and eats the mom and all the little babies (other than Nemo). That was horrible. Anytime I’ve watched that movie (after the first time when I was basically stabbed in the heart with a rusty serrated knife) I fast forward that scene, change the channel, or leave the room untill it’s all over.
the elefhant man is so ugly
theres a film called Dead Mans Shoes with Paddy Consadine, i’m not one for sad films (i’m scottish and braveheart still doesn’t do it for me!) but theres a scene in this film which is just tragic, anyone watched it?
matt.
dead man shoes is a pure quality british film i reccomend to all
i was waiting for dancer in the dark and there it is.. great list. i also find cinema paradiso depressing..
Great list, although one that gets me teared up is the end of Saving Private Ryan, i don’t remember if it’s in the regular version but i have the 60th anniversary and at the end it shows Ryan coming back to Normandy when he’s like 80 and when he sees the graves he asks his wife if he’s lead a good life, that part always makes me sad for like a good 20 minutes
I have watched Forrest Gump more times than I can count, and I NEVER realised that the women died of AIDS. Forrest was so naieve(sp?) that he’d never even THINK to get him and the boy tested. Whoa…
*stares blankly at the computer screen*
Try Walk The Line, where Johnny Cash’s little brother and bestfriend dies when they’re just kids, his dad blames it on him and he feels responsible.
sophies choice and schindlers list are both incredibly sad, espechially the scene in schindlers list with the baby…i can think about that for days….
also 28 Days Later, 28 Weeks Later….really depressing + scary….
2:37 should be included
that is traumatic
i have a few suggestions perhaps for what should have gotten mentions, at least haha:
2:37
Schindler’s List
A Walk To Remember
The Rose
Home Room
Sid & Nancy
Thirteen
Australian Rules
what about the pianist the movie was so depressing i cried the whole time
Louis Malle’s The Fire Within, Ingmar Bergman’s Winter Light, and Robert Bresson’s Mouchette are the most soul crushing films I’ve ever seen.
1966, The Sand Pebbles, starring Steve McQueen. Walked out of the theater; sat on a bench; cried for what seemed like a very long time. The movie was heart breaking on so many levels. After all these years I still think of it when the topic of sad, heart wretching films is discussed. Oh, the choices here are all excellent: The Green Mile, Sophie’s Choice, Forrest Gump…but the Sand Pebbles is right there. If one has the opportunity watch it you may find yourself on a bench…feeling a very deep and profound sadness.
Requiem for a Dream is my favorite movie, even tho I own it I rarely watch it because of the ending. Great list
Great list
not really my scene but it perked me up a bit
The Mist
American History X’s ending.
Talk about depressing…
Valerie (141) That’s one of my favorite movies. I own it. The ending gets me every time. I’ll never forget the first time I saw it. Brutal and heartbreaking cuz you know the truth behind it.
My contenders for movies I have bawled my eyes out are Imitation of Life (1959) starring Lana Turner. The scene at the end of the movie where the daughter runs after her mother’s coffin begging forgiveness is heartbreaking (albiet melodramtic). Coming a bit more up to date is Legends of the Fall with Anthony Hopkins, Brad Pitt and Aiden Quinn. I cried so much that my top was soaked through and my husband was laughing at quite how upset I was! I love a good cry, great release.
the end of alpha dog was ungodly depressing – i have really bad anxiety and the end of that movie – where he knows hes going to die but yet justin timberlakes character frankie keeps reassuring him that everything will be okay…..so depressing
one you should add to this list is “La Vita E Bella”
(Life Is Beautiful). choose any scene from that movie and it’s depressing
Does anyone remember the last scene in “Silent Running” with Bruce Dern? The image of the last little robot tending the last garden with the battered watering can, before which Dern destroys the ship with the other injured robot to ensure the last robot’s survival? Those little robots really tug at the heartstrings.
There’s that, and the scene in the original Italian Job where the mafia goon wrecks the two E-Types and the Aston Martin. I well up every time.
Titanic has the most saddest scenes of all time! That movie makes me cry everytime Iwatch it! Best movie ever!!!
the part of shawshank redemption when brooks ( i think thats his name) hangs himself b/c he can’t live outside of prison makes me cry like an infant
the end of American History X… the most depressing thing i have ever seen in my entire life. whenever i see it i can’t stop the tears from rolling down my cheeks.
I don’t see what’s depressing about The Sixth Sense Scene….
What about Of Mice and Men? That one always gets me.
Blow
The Fisher King
In The Name of The Father
How about the last few scenes in Armageddon? Premonition may have not made any sense but it was veeery depressing all the way through the movie.
Oh yeah and I forgot to mention this..the scenes in Tears of the Sun was pretty depressing. OHH!! And Selena was a depressing movie too, well especially at the end.
How about Dead Man Walking?
Terms of Endearment, The Color Purple, The Godfather trilogy…
One movie that makes me cry every time i watch it : a walk to remember… when she says she had no reason to hate god.. she came to accept she was going to die until she met him. so sad. such a sad movie.
For me its braveheart, the end scene where Wallace is being tortured and his freinds in the crowd can do nothing but watch.
Also the beginning after his father and brother are killed and as a little boy he is at the funeral and the little girl who later becomes his wife,hands him a thistle as even though she is a young child she can feel his pain and wants to make it all better.
Maybe im a big poof LOL, but they are emotional scenes for me.
Did anyone mention the end of THE ENGLISH PATIENT when Ralph Fiennes is carrying his Kristen Scott Thomas’s dead body out of the Cave of Swimmers?
How about the JOY LUCK CLUB when the mother decides to ‘set the soul of her baby free’.
OUT OF AFRICA when Finch Hatten dies?
When i was about 7years old, i remember watching E.T, it made me choke
GREAT LIST!
Every scene with Juliane Moore in MAGNOLIA is so sad,specily the scene in the pharmacy.
This may seem strange, but I HATE the final fight scene in the 4th Alien movie where the newborn alien is being sucked out that tiny hole into space. Just the way she is crying out to Ripley because she think shes her mother and shes wondering why shes not helping her. And then when the alien’s skin finally rips and her insides are being sucked out, her scream changes into one of complete agony! I hate watching that so much, I bawled my eyes out. The alien just suffers for so long, and I know its been going around killing people but its horrible to watch something like that happen to anyone. Just thinking about the scream makes me shudder…
In no particular order:
Sid & Nancy
Requiem for a Dream
Fresh
Once Were Warriors
Kids
American History X
The Green Mile
Suburbia (the ’80′s one)
The scene in “Kindergarten Cop” where you find out that Arnie has a tumor.
The most depressing scene I have EVER seen was in the City of God. The scene was so sad that when I watched it my chest actually hurt from crying and I have never been able to see the movie since.
Its when Lil Ze picks those 2 young boys who look no more than 5 and 8 years old each and asks them if they want to be shot in the hand or foot. The fear and crying of the young boys totally broke me and then when he does shoot them in the foot, the wailing of the two boys especially the younger one was just too much to bear.
In the end when he makes the other child pick out who to shoot dead, I just had to leave the room because I couldn’t take their desperate crying anymore. Damn its depressing me even writing about it now
Nevertheless the movie in itself was brilliant simply because it was so thought-provoking so I strongly recommend those (of steel emotions) to watch it!
Ok, why hasn’t “Schindler’s List” been listed.?
Everyone has to see that movie at least once in there life. Their hasn’t been anyone I know who could sit through the entire thing and not cried their eyes out. The scene in “Dancer In The Dark” was terribly sad though, even though I think the scene in “Schindler’s List” where Oscar Schindler breaks down, thinking he could have done more, should have been at least number two. I bawled for three hours.
“I am human” said by the elephant man when cornered in the station. That scene eally had a life changing effect on me. I realized how easy it was for people to objectify other people and to forget this. It definately made me more compassionate towards people whom most would consider “undesirable” and helped change my world view. I have this movie in my collection and watch it at every few years. It’s an excellent movie but entirely depressing.
OK, this might just be because I’m black, but the scene where Ricky dies in “Boys from the Hood” makes me cry every time. I well up just thinking about it. I forget that these characters aren’t real. Seriously breaks my heart.
The Color Purple:
When Shug is walking down the road to meet her father in the church and singing “God’s Trying to Tell You Something”.
…you can give me the kleenix now.
OMG what about Mystic River I have never cryed so hard for a movie as i did with that one
Huricane was a very depressing film and i totaly agree with Green miles, Elephant men , Requiem for a dream …but i
personally think that BEGOTTEN is very very depressing !!!
Passion of the christ by mel gibson is very depressing as well. Irreversible as a very deep effect in the subconsciousness and the effect is depression the same
with COME AND SEE which i think is one of the most depressing film ever and by the way there is a film called THE GIRL NEXT DOOR not to mistake with the 2004 comedie , this one was made in 2007 and is directed by
jack ketchum or something like that ….this movie will
crawl all over you , actually i dare you to watch this movie and not be sick’nd or sad by this story which is
based on a true story , that makes it even worst !!
I reed on the net the true story of what really happend
to that child and it made me sick to my stomach …can you believe its even worst then what the movie is depicting , arghhh !!!!!! this is depressing trusth me !!
requiem for a dream definately. grave of the fireflies is another horribly depressing film.
the death scene in sever pounds is very sad although the only film iv come close to crying in is the green mile a truly great film with an incredible ending although another film with a very depressing ending is the mist
Ice age. When they’re looking at the cave drawings and Manny remembers his family.
And Frankenweeie. Gets me every time.
Frankenweenie
No Magnolia or The End Of The affair both movies are extremely depressing. Is there a Most depressing movies list.
What?????????????????????? What about a time to kill???????? Thats the only movie I ever saw that actually made me cry. Watch the closing argument on youtube. Type “a time to kill” and watch the closing argument.
i haven’t seen most of those movies but the only movie scene that ever made me cry was in the end of Staley Kubrick’s Lolita when Humbert gives a recently married Lolita like a thousand dollars, crying the whole time (both me and Humbert)
p.s. I find Forrest Gump a tad overrated- still a good movie, just not the best
@JMurf (5): First one I though of. Gets me everytime!