Though tragic and emotionally devastating movies can be hard for audiences to witness, they nonetheless offer poignant insight and touch the heartstrings of many. These harrowing stories that are stirring and render us emotionally uncomfortable are impressive cinematic triumphs, as the characters and their adverse circumstances stay in the minds of viewers indefinitely. Such films can usually only be watched once, as witnessing their distressing tales multiple times is more than most can handle. Regardless, these thought-provoking and outstanding features come from some of the most renowned and respected directors and performers.
The incredibly moving narratives, endearing film characters, and gripping premises demand the attention of viewers and have gone on to become some of the most critically acclaimed works in Hollywood history. Whether you need a good cry or simply wish to escape your life problems and witness a fictional figure’s issues instead, there is an extensive library of tear-jerking pictures at your disposal. From the Oscar-winning Lee Daniels drama Precious to the tragically romantic Keira Knightley and James McAvoy movie Atonement, the cinema has no short supply of riveting content. These are some of the most depressing movies of the last two decades.
Updated on September 9th, 2023, by Soniya Hinduja: This article has been updated with additional content to keep the discussion fresh and relevant with even more information and new entries.
13 Hacksaw Ridge (2016)
War dramas have a reputation for leaving you emotionally torn and shaken to the core with their accurate depictions of the harrowing tales from a time long gone. Based on the incredible true story, Hacksaw Ridge tells the tale of Pfc. Desmond T. Doss, a man with rigid religious beliefs who enlists in the military but refuses to carry a weapon into the field.
When he is drafted as an American Army Medic and sent to fight WWII, he enters as a non-combatant on the battlefield and despite being in the middle of the bloodiest conflicts Doss remains a pacifist. He saves the lives of 75 men in the Battle of Okinawa and earns praise for his bravery. Director Mel Gibson spares no detail in showcasing the nightmarish violence of war. From grim injuries and charred injuries to open-flesh wounds and chilling screams, the movie has a nauseating effect on the viewer.
12 Marriage Story (2019)
Brought to the small screen by a brilliant director, Noah Baumbach, Marriage Story takes an intimate dive into a marriage falling apart. Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver are truly mesmerizing as Nicole and Charlie Barber, two people belonging to the creative industry while navigating a bitter divorce and its devastating aftermath.
Throughout the movie, you see Nicole and Charlie getting into arguments where they tear each other apart with piercing jabs at their profession. Their dialogues and expressions feel vividly real and resonate with our tender souls. Baumbach fashions a battleground out of their separation and you see just how scary the dissolution of their family is. Raw and just outright depressing, Marriage Story isn’t for the romantics.
11 Midsommar (2016)
Unfolding in psychedelic fashion, with vibrant cinematography and captivating score, Midsommar holds several horrors in its sun-drenched storyline. Directed by Ari Aster and starring Florence Pugh, the movie follows Dany, a grieving woman, and her insensitive boyfriend, as they go on a trip to a Swedish midsummer festival. However, it isn’t long before their strained relationship descends into something sinister at the hands of pagan rituals and frenzied violence.
This 2016 movie sure wins points for creativity. But perhaps the most beautifully sad part of the movie is when it lures you into the promise of quiet and serenity only to slam you with scenes of shocking brutality. Because in a way, life is a series of calms followed by elongated storms.
10 Short Term 12 (2013)
Masked under the facade of an inspirational high is a depressing glimpse into the lives of troubled teenagers who often go unseen. Set at a group home for at-risk youth, the movie follows Brie Larson in her first leading role as Grace, a compassionate but traumatized counselor trying to find peace and closure by helping broken families and problematic teenagers. However, her tough exterior begins to crack when she sees glimpses of her past in the residents.
Short Term 12 is an affecting indie drama written and directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, who crafts a natural and realistic portrait of these kids. Taking turns in being funny and heartwarming, the film ultimately ends on a chilling and dark note, showing how trauma ripples through generations.
9 Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012)
Before Julia Michaels released her record-breaking song, If The World Was Ending, Director Lorene Scafaria made a film surrounding the same premise. Steve Carell stars as a crass salesman named Dodge whose wife doesn't even flinch before cutting ties after it is announced that an asteroid is nearing Earth and will obliterate almost everything in less than a month. When his neighbor Penny, played by Keira Knightley, delivers the news, he decides that he must find love before it all ends.
The two embark on a bittersweet road trip and along the way discover the meaning of connection. The title, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, itself speaks volumes. And even though Carell and Knightley bring their signature charm and humor to the narrative, the film gets occasionally soppy and the melancholia that lingers is palpable. Imagine being in a story of love knowing there's no future.
8 Atonement (2007)
Based on the Ian McEwan novel of the same name, the period romance movie Atonement features a sensational cast including James McAvoy, Keira Knightley, and Saoirse Ronan, and tells the heartrending story of a 13-year-old aspiring writer who irrevocably alters the lives of several people when she accuses her older sister’s lover of a disturbing crime he did not commit. The young and in-love couple find their relationship torn apart by the lie told by the jealous little sister, and all three must deal with the tragic consequences of her actions.
The faithful adaptation was heralded for its brilliant performances, stunning cinematography and visuals, and emotional depth, and went on to win the Academy Award for Best Original Score. The heavy and deeply intense ending provides a somber conclusion to the harrowing tale, with Rolling Stone writing, “It’s some kind of miracle. Written, directed, and acted to perfection, Atonement sweeps you up on waves of humor, heartbreak, and ravishing romance.”
7 The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008)
Set during World War II and told from the perspective of the eight-year-old Bruno, the 2008 British tragedy The Boy in the Striped Pajamas chronicles a forbidden friendship between the son of a commandant at a German concentration camp and the young Jewish prisoner Shmuel on the other side of the camp fence. The profound and poignant picture is based on the John Boyne novel, and audiences are confronted with the brutality and devastation of the war while realizing the heartbreaking impending fate of the innocent boy.
he lead actors Asa Butterfield and Jack Scanlon delivered performances of a lifetime, with the children’s lonely and strikingly conflicting circumstances ever present throughout the emotionally-heavy drama. The young actors went on to earn nominations at the Young Artists Awards and the British Independent Film Awards for their moving and raw portrayals.
6 Precious (2009)
Adapted from the novel Push by the author Sapphire, Lee Daniels’ Oscar-winning 2009 drama Precious follows an overweight, abused, and illiterate teen who attempts to navigate the streets of Harlem in 1987 while coping with her second pregnancy by her father and the violent and constant abuse of her vicious mother. The superb Gabourey Sidibe made her on-screen debut as Claireece “Precious” Jones, having beat out 300 others in nationwide casting calls despite not having any prior acting experience; her premiere performance rightfully nabbed the actress an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.
In the often difficult-to-watch drama, Precious is invited to enroll in an alternative school and sees an opportunity to take control of her life, finding guidance and encouragement from her kind new teacher Ms. Rain. Sibide told Oprah that she hoped audiences would focus on the message of hope from the film, saying, “Precious, she gets hit by life so many different ways and so many times, but she doesn’t yield to it. She continues to get up and she continues to struggle for a better life.”
5 Melancholia (2011)
Known for his confrontational examination of existential, political, and social issues, Danish director Lars von Trier helmed the 2011 apocalyptic drama art film Melancholia, which centers on two sisters who find their already strained relationship challenged by an approaching doomsday at the hands of a rogue planet about to collide with Earth. Von Trier came up with the idea of the picture during a therapy session for the treatment of his depression and knew from the beginning that the world would end so that audiences wouldn’t be distracted by the suspense of not knowing.
Moviegoers are shown at the beginning of the drama the characters’ fates, with Trier having expressed, “...some things may be thrilling precisely because we know what’s going to happen, but not how they will happen. In Melancholia it’s interesting to see how the characters we follow react as the planet approaches Earth.” The apocalyptic flick premiered at the Cannes Film Festival where it was lauded by critics and film scholars.
4 Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008)
Filmmaker and composer Kurt Kuenne wrote, produced, edited, and directed the 2008 documentary Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father, which depicts the life of his close friend Andrew Bagby, who was murdered after he ended his relationship with his ex-girlfriend Shirley Jane Turner; after the woman was arrested for the brutal crime, she announced she was pregnant with Bagby’s child, a boy she named Zachary. What unfolds in the heart-wrenching tear-jerker and tribute is tough for viewers to stomach, which showcases what can happen when justice goes tragically wrong.
Debuting at the Slamdance Film Festival to critical acclaim, Dear Zachary was praised for its editing and emotional weight; Variety reflected: “The way Kuenne presents the material, with an aggressive style that lingers less than a second on most shots, it’s impossible not to feel emotionally exhausted.” The director donated all profits from the picture to a scholarship established in the names of Andrew and Zachary Bagby.
3 Manchester by the Sea (2016)
Amazon Studios
The critically acclaimed 2016 drama Manchester by the Sea features the talented Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams, and Kyle Chandler, telling the story of a depressed man who is asked to take care of his teenage nephew after the boy’s father dies. In the anguish-ridden film, Affleck portrays the asocial handyman Lee Chandler, a man who is shocked to learn his brother left him as the legal guardian of his nephew. Chandler must face not only his immense grief over the loss of his older sibling but also the intimidating prospect of raising a teenager on his own. His return to the fishing village he grew up in opens old wounds and causes the desolate man to once again face his tragic past in Manchester.
The intense drama, considered by many as the best movie of 2016, offers a painstaking look at the realities of grief and how it can be near impossible to fully recover from, with director Kenneth Lonergan explaining his objective, “Some people live with their trauma for years. I’m not interested in rubbing people’s faces in suffering… But I don’t like this lie that everybody gets over things that easily. Some people can’t get over something major that happened to them at all; why can’t they have a movie too?”
2 Hotel Rwanda (2004)
Based on the Rwandan genocide that took place during the spring of 1994, Terry George’s sobering 2004 drama Hotel Rwanda recounts the violent and abhorrent massacre that claimed the lives of more than 500,000 members of the Tutsi minority ethnic group. Don Cheadle and Sophie Okonedo portray hotelier Paul Rusesabagina and his wife Tatiana, whose efforts helped save the lives of his family and more than 1,000 refugees by sheltering them in the besieged Hôtel des Mille Collines.
Director Terry George sought to tell the story of Rusesabagina and share the horrors of the genocide after expressing his thoughts on the lack of international intervention during the crisis, having commented, “It’s simple… African lives are not seen as valuable as the lives of Europeans and Americans.” Hotel Rwanda does just as the filmmaker intended, capturing the terrifyingly chilling realities of genocide and relentless acts of violence that have become so prevalent in the world.
1 An American Crime (2007)
Recounting the disturbing true story of the torture and murder of Sylvia Likens by Indianapolis single mother Gertrude Baniszewski, the 2007 crime horror drama An American Crime stars Elliot Page and Catherine Keener as Likens and Baniszewski, depicting the teenager’s imprisonment and eventual death due to malnourishment and her extensive injuries. During the production of the shocking picture, most of the cast were unaware of the real Likens murder until they read the script, which was largely based on the court transcripts used for the case.
Keener was initially hesitant to take on the role of the murderous mother Baniszewski for the film, but ultimately agreed after she could not get the story out of her head; the actress said, “There’s sort of this taboo about the subject of child abuse, and I think it should just be busted wide open. Secrets aren’t helping make it go away, and it has to stop. I just feel that if we can contribute a little bit of discussion for it, then good.”