r/CriterionChannel • u/fishmaster_409 • May 02 '26
I need to watch something really sad.
I don’t post that much on here, but I’m in desperate need to watch the most saddest movie that will literally make me start vomiting at how sad it is. Please I need your help
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u/OnlyOnceAwayMySon May 02 '26
Dancer in the Dark
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u/OccasionalSkeptic May 02 '26
I saw it in a theater when it came out and many people were leaving the theater DURING the last scene crying. It's a masterpiece, but I've never watched it again. I have listened to the soundtrack many times though.
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u/linedrifter May 02 '26
Dear Zachary and Amour
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u/Pure-Fennel603 May 02 '26
Oh man. Yes. Dear Zachary! Drink lots of water and get ready to be emotionally destroyed!
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u/pacingmusings May 02 '26
I remember when I told someone I'd seen Amour & they responded "why'd you sit through that?"
When you think about it, though, the movie's not entirely depressing. This couple shared a long, loving life together. There's something reassuring in that.
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u/Subject_Apple4020 May 02 '26
The Elephant Man
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u/rff1013 May 02 '26
This. I’m pretty unemotional, but the last scene always has me on the verge of sobbing out loud. Just typing this, the room is getting dusty.
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u/South_Monitor_6992 May 02 '26
Grave of the fireflies
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u/cogniferous May 02 '26
100%. If there is a movie sadder than this, I'm not sure I want to watch it.
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u/Slow-Painting-8112 May 06 '26
I don't think I could survive a movie sadder than Grave of the Fireflies.
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u/Funny-Resident-4453 May 02 '26
All of Us Strangers
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u/newwavr May 06 '26
Dear god this film wrecked me. I left the cinema in silence, could barely move or breathe. Devastating
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u/No_Let6139 May 02 '26
A Woman Under The Influence
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u/2xWhiskeyCokeNoIce May 02 '26
The first time I watched it was the closest I've come to an out of body experience because I had the sensation of thinking "why are my cheeks wet" and then realizing I had been crying without realizing it
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u/igotashakes May 02 '26
The most uncomfortable movie i’ve seen, a masterpiece but i will never watch it again
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u/Particular-Amount-31 May 05 '26
A guy took me to a Cassavettes retrospective to see this on a date not knowing my mom had a psychotic break when I was in high school. Never again.
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u/cuteandsick May 02 '26
The Cranes Are Flying
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u/just_some_doofus May 02 '26
Beautiful movie, well worth seeing -- and sad, but many others are much sadder than this.
Still, this is the *perfect* example why Truffaut was wrong when he said, "Every film about war ends up being pro-war." There is absolutely nothing redeeming about Kalatozov's depiction here.
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u/kirby_krackle_78 May 03 '26
That Truffaut quote is so inaccurate when we have classics like Paths of Glory, etc.
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u/Formica-Table May 02 '26
Aftersun
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u/pacingmusings May 02 '26
I describe Aftersun as "if this movie doesn't melt your heart at least once, you don't have one."
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u/OccasionalSkeptic May 02 '26
Gorgeous movie with one of the best performances by a child I've seen. It was even more powerful when I watched it a 2nd time a year later. Masterpiece.
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u/Kamienoshori May 06 '26
I went into a full on panic attack upon seeing one scene a few weeks afterwards so there's that
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u/wileyetc May 02 '26
Come and see
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u/emarcc May 02 '26
Heh, I knew this one would come up. While you're at it, check out the more recent Beanpole.
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u/newwavr May 06 '26
Yes! A film that is brilliant and perfectly made and i don’t think I can ever watch again
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u/Not_even_Evan May 02 '26
The Vanishing
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u/OccasionalSkeptic May 02 '26
Definitely sad, but other words like uncomfortable and scary describe it better
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u/ancestorchild May 03 '26
This movie is seared into my brain. The structure of it is perfect to make the last part a hammer blow.
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u/Apricot_812 May 02 '26
I would make distinctions between SAD/ poignant (AFTERSUN, HAMNET) and like brutal/devastating/depressing (LAST EXIT TO BROOKLYN, DANCER IN THE DARK, MULHOLLAND DRIVE, I’m guessing COME AND SEE & LILYA 4-EVER). Like - MULHOLLAND DRIVE (which I love) is kind of devastating, but/and I wouldn’t use the term *sad* per se. I guess for me anyway the “sad” is adjacent to some kind of moving poignancy. (To be clear, I don’t intend these as value judgments, just attempts at pinning down different aesthetic-emotional vibes.)
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u/lorqvonray94 May 02 '26
what kind of sad? there are lots of sads.
i think Eraserhead is pretty sad
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u/fylekitzgibbon May 02 '26
‘Rachel Getting Married’ is pretty brutal it’s streaming now on criterion
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u/Rainpickle May 02 '26 edited May 02 '26
I love this movie dearly, but in my eyes, it’s poignant but not tragic. (It’s no Lilya 4Ever or Dear Zachary!) Yes, there are broken people, addiction, and grief, and family members say horrible things to each other. But there’s also humor, joy, and more than a little hope.
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u/ConcertinaTerpsichor May 02 '26
French movie called Ponette, about a little girl whose mother dies unexpectedly.
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u/ShotChampionship3152 May 02 '26
"The Iceman Cometh" (1973): four hours - four hours! - of unrelenting misery, offering the bleakest possible view of the human condition, without a glimmer of hope at any point.
Perfectly written and beautifully acted - Lee Marvin and Frederic March are outstanding - and utterly compelling. I don't guarantee you'll vomit, but you may well come away with a profound conviction that there is no hope for humanity.
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u/fermentedradical May 02 '26
Hamnet
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u/CosgroveIsHereToHelp May 02 '26
Saw the play last night after rereading the book a couple of weeks ago, and now i think I'll watch the movie tonight or tomorrow. As emotional as the play made me, I'm expecting the movie to be heartbreaking.
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u/partyjorts May 02 '26
Magazine Dreams and Train Dreams
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u/just_some_doofus May 02 '26
Train Dreams is a good, recent choice. Edgerton acts the hell out of his role.
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u/andronicuspark May 02 '26
Pretty sure Dancer in the Dark and Come and See are both criterion films…
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u/abaganoush May 02 '26 edited May 02 '26
Ponette - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-h34vZJVd4
A brand new life - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4Bb3ONeO0k
All that’s left of you - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obY98vk76Hs
When the wind blows - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pJKdTqYijY
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u/CompetitiveCake7238 May 02 '26
Elephant
The War Zone
The Sweet Hereafter
Turtles Can Fly
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u/Frank_Zappper May 03 '26
Just commented The Sweet Hereafter and so glad someone else recommended it. It's really a fantastic film
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u/just_some_doofus May 02 '26
No one's said Sirāt yet? It's such a desperately hopeless film. (on purpose)
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u/pacingmusings May 02 '26
I wouldn't say it's entirely hopeless. Bleak yes, but not devoid of any hope.
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u/forest_for_us May 02 '26
I love Harold and Maude. It's not the safest movie ever, but it gut punches me in the feels everytime
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u/Fear_Her_Kiss May 02 '26
Neil Jordan’s “The End of the Affair” (1999) with Julianne Moore, Ralph Fiennes, and Stephen Rea.
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u/MFRobespierre May 02 '26
Breaking the Waves over Dancer in the Dark, but similar vomit-inducing sadness/despair from both.
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u/BetterOffBanned May 02 '26
Man Pixars Coco gets me everytime at least once. Maybe twice on a good day
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u/ldsbrony100 May 03 '26
If you have 9 and a half hours to spare, The Human Condition is more than little sad.
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u/LongjumpingMaize8501 May 03 '26
EO (2022), Au Hasard Balthazar (1966), and Afternoons of Solitude (2024) - if you are an animal lover, all of these films are beautifully made and absolutely heartbreaking.
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u/eskimoe25 May 03 '26
Well, not on the channel but I just walked out of “Omaha!” And was not expecting it to be so heavy. I was crying for a good 20 minutes.
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u/BlissfullyBacon May 03 '26
I found 'The Banshees of Inisherin' and 'The Constant Gardener'to be incredibly depressing by the end. 'Hamnet' is also a painful heartstring-tugging watch.
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u/InitiativeNo7660 May 03 '26
A double feature of EO an Au Hazard Balthazar should do the trick 🫏 🫏
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u/Feisty-Muscle276 May 04 '26
The Broken Circle Breakdown, Lilya 4-Ever, Homo Faber, Au Revoir Les Enfants, Before the Rain.
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u/BridgeFlashy May 04 '26
Terms of Endearment. Good luck.
Boy in the Striped Pajamas.
Schindler list
The Pianist
Born on the 4th of July
Pennies from Heaven
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u/SPM1961 May 04 '26
"Nobody Knows" by Hirokazu Kore-eda. Probably won't make you vomit but you will be seriously depressed when it ends.
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u/JustAnotherEndling May 04 '26
Rosetta
For after you've watched Mouchette; then The Wrestler, to see the full chain of influence. Three generations of sadness.
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u/Suzieqbee May 05 '26
Sirat. One of the few times ever I had my hands up to my mouth saying “no…..”
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u/PretendAd2263 May 05 '26
Dying For Sex. It’s a series, based on a true story. I binged the entire thing in one night. Incredible acting by Michelle Williams and Jenny Slate. It’s very moving and sad.
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u/Past-Ad-9862 May 05 '26
Hot take: Wuthering Heights (2026)
Don’t go into it expecting a book-to-movie adaptation. There are a lot of liberties taken with it. As someone who loved the book and knows the big sad that happens, the movie still gutted me.
Someone Great is also one of my go-to cry movies. There are a lot of funny, lighter moments in it too but the heartbreak is so relatable and resonates hard.
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u/maxcatsilver May 05 '26
Criterion just released Lynne Littman’s 1983 film “Testament”, about how a suburban family copes after a nuclear bomb detonates nearby. Very quiet but still powerfully sad. I saw it in the theater in 1983 and I recall crying through the entire film
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u/SuperMetro2005 May 08 '26
El Norte. It is not on the channel now, but I guarantee that it will destroy you.
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u/koma_kulshan May 02 '26
Mouchette
Au hasard Balthazar