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What's the saddest movie you've ever seen?

As a complement to the other superlative movie threads.

I'm not exactly sure it's objectively the saddest, but Wendy and Lucy certainly seemed like it the first and only time I watched it. I don't think I could watch it again.

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by Anonymousreply 71June 18, 2025 6:17 AM

Another entry would be 'Night, Mother

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by Anonymousreply 1June 9, 2025 11:17 AM

"I Smile Back," with Sarah Silverman in a surprisingly dramatic role as an alcoholic, drug addicted wife and mother.

It was so devastatingly sad, I don't think I could ever watch it again. Silverman was excellent in it, though, and should've received an Oscar nomination.

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by Anonymousreply 2June 9, 2025 11:25 AM

Bump

by Anonymousreply 3June 9, 2025 3:13 PM

Secrets and Lies

by Anonymousreply 4June 9, 2025 3:15 PM

"Au Hasard, Balthasar" and "Mouchette": Robert Bresson's saddest masterpieces.

by Anonymousreply 5June 9, 2025 3:29 PM

Wendy and Lucy, OP? You crack me up.

You remind me of that book "Nickle and Dimed" that came out in 2001. I was at my bff's place (near the Cloisters) and she had that book on her coffee table. She usually slept until noon (I was always up at 7), so I picked it up and read the whole thing in one sitting, my mouth agape the entire time.

Like, hunh? People don't know that half the US population lives like this? They assign this book to college students? How oblivious the middle and upper (etc.) classes are to the plight of the everyday American! Honestly, you could have knocked me over with a feather.

Son, if you think Wendy and Lucy was depressing, you need to get out more, and learn a little about how the other half lives. In fact, you can come by my place; I'll be happy to take you on a tour of the neighborhood.

by Anonymousreply 6June 9, 2025 3:48 PM

That's a whole hell of a lot of assumptions in a tiny little post, r6.

by Anonymousreply 7June 9, 2025 3:53 PM

Come Back Little Sheba and Sophie’s Choice.

by Anonymousreply 8June 9, 2025 3:57 PM

[quote]Like, hunh? People don't know that half the US population lives like this? They assign this book to college students? How oblivious the middle and upper (etc.) classes are to the plight of the everyday American!

No, they don't. That's the whole point of books like NICKELED AND DIMED: to educate people about what they don't know.

I would think you'd be happy that wealthy college students would be reading about a socioeconomic world not their own. How else are they going to learn about it?

by Anonymousreply 9June 9, 2025 4:01 PM

Pretty much any Lars von Trier film. Dancer in the Dark was devastating.

by Anonymousreply 10June 9, 2025 4:04 PM

I don’t remember if it’s the saddest movie I’ve ever seen, but I remember SOBBING after watching The Deer Hunter. In first run——obviously, I’m an elder gay.

by Anonymousreply 11June 9, 2025 4:04 PM

Come Back Little Sheba is a good one too r8

by Anonymousreply 12June 9, 2025 5:03 PM

Cries and Whispers is up there

by Anonymousreply 13June 10, 2025 8:09 PM

Deer Hunter is pretty bad

Grave of the Fireflies

Never Let Me Go

Schindler's List (Obv)

Another vote for Sophie's Choice

Max and Mary

by Anonymousreply 14June 10, 2025 8:18 PM

Marley & Me. Yes, I was sobbing.

Don't you MARY! me.

by Anonymousreply 15June 10, 2025 11:10 PM

come and see

by Anonymousreply 16June 10, 2025 11:38 PM

When I was a young gay boy: Somewhere in Time, with v Christopher Reeves and Jane Seymour

by Anonymousreply 17June 10, 2025 11:49 PM

All Mine to Give

by Anonymousreply 18June 10, 2025 11:55 PM

I love a tearjerker but I was ugly snot-crying during Hachi:A Dog's Tale.

by Anonymousreply 19June 10, 2025 11:57 PM

Original Wuthering Heights with Olivier. At Cathy’s death I was sobbing hysterically in front of my TV.

by Anonymousreply 20June 11, 2025 12:00 AM

House of Sand and Fog

Where the Redfern Grows

Sophie's Choice

by Anonymousreply 21June 11, 2025 12:01 AM

Why has no one mentioned Brokeback Mountain?

by Anonymousreply 22June 11, 2025 12:02 AM

As an adult: Requiem For A Dream, Jacob's Ladder, Indecent Proposal, Bridges of Madison County, Terms of Endearment.

As a child: E.T. and Dumbo had me crying so hard I couldn't breathe.

by Anonymousreply 23June 11, 2025 12:05 AM

Old Yeller

by Anonymousreply 24June 11, 2025 12:08 AM

When I was a kid in grammar school they showed us Sounder. That film affected me so deeply, I can't watch it to this day. If I'm flipping channels and I realize it's on I can't flip fast enough. Born Free also got to me.

by Anonymousreply 25June 11, 2025 12:12 AM

I wouldn't say it's the saddest, but my go-to good cry movie is We Are Marshall. All of these people in small town, trying to soldier on & recover from a devastating accident and Ian McShane is a good as the the town asshole who can't really put words to his grief.

by Anonymousreply 26June 11, 2025 12:13 AM

Au revoir les enfants

by Anonymousreply 27June 11, 2025 12:18 AM

Two documentaries. One by Todd Verow called Bottom. 2011 or 2012. It's a cum pig bottom. The other is about gay hustlers in Montreal - Men for Sale (2008). It's very beautiful, and sad. Bottom is ugly and sad. Achingly sad.

by Anonymousreply 28June 11, 2025 12:30 AM

You can watch Men for Sale here: It is respectful and simple. The men are young and mostly tender and it's heartbreaking.

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by Anonymousreply 29June 11, 2025 12:32 AM

One guy said that Marvin’s Room was the only movie that ever made him cry no another one told me that My Life was the only one that ever made him cry. The Fountain had me sobbing. I believe all of those movies are about cancer.

by Anonymousreply 30June 11, 2025 12:45 AM

Bambi. I don’t want to give it away,

by Anonymousreply 31June 11, 2025 12:45 AM

SIX WEEKS!

by Anonymousreply 32June 11, 2025 1:23 AM

Madame Bovary

- Such a sad story.

by Anonymousreply 33June 11, 2025 1:25 AM

Leaving Las Vegas

by Anonymousreply 34June 11, 2025 1:26 AM

Sex And The City 2 - something that was a big part of my life died on the screen.

by Anonymousreply 35June 11, 2025 1:27 AM

"Dawson's 49 1/2 Load Weekend"

by Anonymousreply 36June 11, 2025 1:39 AM

"Brian's Song". A TV movie from the 1970s. James Caan and Billy Dee Williams

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by Anonymousreply 37June 11, 2025 1:42 AM

Not familiar with it, r37, but I am intrigued.

by Anonymousreply 38June 11, 2025 2:58 PM

Bicycle Thieves

by Anonymousreply 39June 11, 2025 3:03 PM

R38 It's the true story of Brian Piccolo, who played for the Chicago Bears and died of cancer at age 26, and his friendship with teammate Gale Sayers.

The final scene is absolutely devastating. And to this day, I can't listen to the movie's theme song by Henry Mancini without tearing up.

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by Anonymousreply 40June 11, 2025 3:03 PM

Another good one, r39

by Anonymousreply 41June 11, 2025 3:04 PM

I am Sam (2000)

by Anonymousreply 42June 15, 2025 3:08 PM

The end of Splendor in the Grass always gets to me.

by Anonymousreply 43June 15, 2025 6:32 PM

May not be saddest movie EVER, but Midnight Cowboy leaves me in a days long funk after watching it.

Also the remake of The Women.

by Anonymousreply 44June 15, 2025 6:46 PM

Terms of Endearment

by Anonymousreply 45June 15, 2025 6:51 PM

It was a very limited release foreign film, (Belgian) from 2022, called Close - about 2 boys on the verge of puberty and have always been very close. But kids notice and tease them, and one of them pulls away from the other. The results are beyond tragic. It won the Grand Prix at Cannes film festival that year.

by Anonymousreply 46June 15, 2025 8:27 PM

I think I saw that somehow.

by Anonymousreply 47June 15, 2025 8:50 PM

It was shown at the Palm Springs Film Festival in January 2023.

by Anonymousreply 48June 15, 2025 8:54 PM

Make Way For Tomorrow

by Anonymousreply 49June 15, 2025 9:08 PM

"Close" is available on Showtime and Paramount+

by Anonymousreply 50June 15, 2025 9:32 PM

I have never been able to rewatch "Somewhere in Time" or "Brokeback Mountain."

by Anonymousreply 51June 15, 2025 10:32 PM

"Lilya 4-Ever" (2002), about a girl from the ex-USSR who gets trafficked to Sweden and based on a true story. Heartbreaking.

by Anonymousreply 52June 16, 2025 2:03 AM

The Good Mother (with Diane Keaton).

by Anonymousreply 53June 16, 2025 2:13 AM

close is heartbreaking.

by Anonymousreply 54June 16, 2025 3:05 AM

EO is so sad.

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by Anonymousreply 55June 16, 2025 3:30 AM

Amore

by Anonymousreply 56June 17, 2025 12:56 AM

Oh dearing myself! Amour

by Anonymousreply 57June 17, 2025 1:01 AM

The Elephant Man and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.

by Anonymousreply 58June 17, 2025 1:05 AM

I can’t see Mask again.

I cry at the end of Johnny Eager.

Yeah. Brian’s Song. I thought it was great.

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by Anonymousreply 59June 17, 2025 5:45 AM

A sad donkey movie? That’s just too much R55

by Anonymousreply 60June 17, 2025 7:56 AM

Wit

Manchester by the Sea

And two foreign language films:

Cries and Whispers

Tree of the Wooden Clogs

by Anonymousreply 61June 17, 2025 10:14 AM

"Terms of Endearment" kills me still. When it on cable, I'd stop watching it right before Debra Winger gets sick. Almost every Pixar movie has a heartbreaking scene. There was a TV movie, with Mary Tyler Moore and Bernadette Peters called "The Last Best Year". Bernadette plays a loner (with no friends) who finds out she is dying, and Mary Tyler Moore is her therapist. Both help each other come to grips with their past. I can't even think about this movie without crying.

by Anonymousreply 62June 17, 2025 12:15 PM

[quote] Another entry would be 'Night, Mother

The saddest part--Sissy always looks like half of her nose was chopped off.

by Anonymousreply 63June 17, 2025 12:26 PM

I watched Cocoon and Cocoon: The Return last week. They were some of my favorite movies as a child, especially the first one. I had never realized how sad they are. Cocoon is really about the tragedy of aging and seeing people you love die. It's about the limitations of humans and then the salvation that comes with the arrival of these extraterrestrial beings who come from a planet where you never age, get sick or die. It's a planet of pure light and love where wars don't exist. To see these elderly people leave for this planet at the end of the first movie was a very emotional experience for me. It made me sad that being a human is so full of suffering and that these beings of light may never come for us.

by Anonymousreply 64June 17, 2025 1:52 PM

R64 I could have done without Cocoon: The Return, but the first one was a classic, and yes, at its heart, it's a very sad film.

The most heartbreaking part for me was when Jack Gilford's character's wife dies. Throughout the movie, Gilford didn't trust what was going on at the pool and wouldn't let his wife go, despite the fact that her health was failing and all of her friends urged him to take her there. Then when she died, he carried her body to the pool and tried to get her to come back to life. That scene just broke me. I think Gilford should've gotten an Oscar nomination for his role in the movie, not Don Ameche.

by Anonymousreply 65June 17, 2025 2:01 PM

I only watched Cocoon once, and I was 12. I remember it being very emotional. Anything with elderly people gets to me.

by Anonymousreply 66June 17, 2025 6:21 PM

Still Alice

by Anonymousreply 67June 17, 2025 11:24 PM

Two of my favorites also happen to be two of the saddest I've seen:

"The Last Picture Show"

"Aftersun"

by Anonymousreply 68June 18, 2025 1:08 AM

The Green Mile - especially the ending scene with the sleeping mouse. Chills…

by Anonymousreply 69June 18, 2025 6:00 AM

I can never watch A.I. - Artificial Intelligence again.

I cried so hard at the end of that movie, and it took me awhile to stop as well.

by Anonymousreply 70June 18, 2025 6:09 AM

R70 that movie speaks to the wounded gay inner child in all of us. Powerful film!

by Anonymousreply 71June 18, 2025 6:17 AM
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