Movies are something which we watch to be entertained, to find a cure for our boredom. But there are movies that leave you with a depressing feel after watching them, movies which depict the utter despair and bleak emptiness in the world without a shred of hope, movies that practically leave you suicidal. The two certainties about life are; it gets better, it gets worse. So are you disappointed with everything? Tired of your job? A relationship heartbreak maybe? Utilities bills? Education loans? Backstabbing friends? You may think your life is worse…it’s a hell. But wait, you just hold on, some people have lives far worse than yours. At least in the movies, these fictional characters’ agony and depressing lives might make you consider yours a blessing. Movies that expose the undeniable infirmity of man, the darkness of the human soul and the pointlessness suffering of the mankind. It’s not always a fairy-tale, and there are no happy endings. Not everything makes sense, it’s absurd and well life…it’s just a series of disappointments.
Warning: After watching these movies you might feel really down, awfully sick. In the worst case you might have to schedule an appointment with your local Psychiatrist. So watch at your own risk.
Note: The movies listed below are not in an order.
Without further ado, here’s the list of the 10 Depressing Movies That Will Make You Visit A Psychiatrist.
Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
“Why do fireflies have to die so soon?”
A movie that can be seen only once, the very thought of this movie is enough to make you cry. If you think Titanic, TFIOS, The Notebook is sad then you have no idea how awfully depressing and sad this movie is. This Studio Ghibli’s animated movie tells the tells the suffering of two war-ravaged Japanese children, whose parents died during the war and were left to look after each other and fend themselves food and shelter. This movie is all about despair, death, and hopelessness.
Irreversible (2002)
“There are no women who can’t come, only men who can’t fuck.”
Irreversible is one of the most disturbing movies of all time, this rape-revenge shocker tale which is told backwards. The story of how time destroys everything, the characters are left with their tragic fates and suffering. The violence depicted makes the movie unpleasant to watch. The infamous 20 minutes long rape scene of Monica Belluci is a horror, with her being beaten and raped, it’s sick and depressing. Watch it if you really have the guts to see some of the most nastiest and graphic violence scenes ever filmed.
Requiem for a Dream (2000)
“In the end it’s all nice.”
There are no happy endings. At least not in this movie, One follows Ellen Burstyn, an elderly woman who aspires to be on television. For her appearance, she is determined to wear her red dress, to become fit in it, she starts taking diet pills. Soon the determination becomes an obsession and the end result is tragic. The other story follows her son, Jared Leto who has a beautiful girlfriend, Jennifer Connelly and loyal friend, Marlon Wayans. They all have some dreams and full of passion, but then their addiction of heroin takes over, and again devastating results. The only good thing about this movie is it tells you to say NO to drugs.
Dancer in the Dark (2000)
“I used to dream that I was in a musical because in a musical nothing dreadful ever happens.”
This is perhaps the most powerful and moving film I’ve ever seen. It’s one of the most heart-breaking and sad stories presented in the history of cinema, it will haunt you for weeks after watching it. Björk plays a simple-minded Czech immigrant who’s slowly going blind because she’s suffering from a rare genetic disease. The same disease is claiming her son’s sight too who has inherited her genes. She does all she can to save up some money for her son’s operation. But things go from bad to worse, her whole life is falling apart, and the only way she is keeping holding up is by pretending that everything is a Hollywood musical, a fantastical projection of a world where nothing can go wrong. The last minutes of the movie are too painful to watch. You’ll forget what it’s like to smile after watching this.
Lilya 4-Ever (2002)
“You remain dead for all eternity but you’re alive only for a brief moment.”
This movie is set in a poverty-stricken part of Russia and it tells the story of 16 year-old Lilya who dreams of starting a new life in America. But her world is turned upside down when her mother callously abandons her, leaves her alone to the mercy of the cruel world. And what follows is the deterioration of her life. Circumstances force her into prostitution, and things only get worse. The poor innocent Lilya experiences the harshness of life, despite being in the helpless situations, she tries her best to make the good out of it. This is just a show, but it shows us what depressing life some children are forced to live through.
The Road (2009)
“I told the boy when you dream about bad things happening, it means you’re still fighting and you’re still alive. It’s when you start to dream about good things that you should start to worry.”
The Road has to be the one of the most depressing movies ever made. The plot is linear, no climax or shocking turn of events. Set in a post-apocalyptic world which is filled with sadness, desperation, hopelessness, terror and pain. The characters aren’t very well-developed, the director doesn’t explain what happened to the world? Story is similar to another depressing movie ‘The Mist’, a father and a son are some of the last remaining people on earth after an unexplained tragedy has happened. The two are just trying to survive, they encounter problems. Unlike The Mist, the father keeps his kid alive in this one.
The Elephant Man (1980)
“Never. Oh, never. Nothing will die. The stream flows, the wind blows, the cloud fleets, the heart beats. Nothing will die.”
It’s a real story based on the life of Joseph Merrick (whom the script calls John Merrick), a man with severe facial deformities in 19th century London. London Hospital surgeon Frederick Treves (played by Anthony Hopkins) finds John Merrick in a freak show where he is cruelly treated and kept by Bytes as an attraction. People see him as a monster, but in actual he is a man with a heart of gold. This is such a touching story. It goes to show how beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
“I came here to drink myself to death.”
Leaving Las Vegas is one of the best Nicholas Cage movies of all time. He gave the best performance of his career. He won an Academy Award for the role of Ben Sanderson. Leaving Las Vegas is a story of Ben Sanderson, a screenwriter whose alcoholism has cost him everything, he’s down the drain. With a failed marriage and nothing left to lose, he goes to Las Vegas, where he decides that he would drink himself to death. During his stay in Las Vegas he develops a relationship with a prostitute named Sera. She tries to save Ben, but he doesn’t want to be saved. The movie ends with the two making love final time, and Ben dies shortly thereafter.
Breaking the Waves (1996)
“Everyone has something they’re good at. I’ve always been stupid, but I’m good at this.”
Any list is not complete without the films of Lars Von Trier, he is a tormented guy, and he is pretty good at crushing souls through his films. The plot is simple, it follows the story of a devout religious prude Scottish woman who in love with an oil-rig worker. The Stellan Skarsgard’s oil-rig worker gets crippled after marrying the woman. On his deathbed he asks his wife to find another lover and give him the details. The wife, Bess, believes these suggestions are the will of God and does accordingly as her husband asks. And what follows is worse, a sweet innocent woman stepping into the prostitution.
Synecdoche, New York (2008)
“Everyone is disappointing the more you know them.”
Synecdoche, New York is a complex, creative, multi-layer piece of cinema which allows for many interpretations. The plot Caden Cotard, a play-writer and director who gets a massive grant which he uses to build a replica of New York in a colossal warehouse, where his players perform their scenes behind closed doors. As he works on an increasingly elaborate stage production whose extreme commitment to realism begins to blur the boundaries between fiction and reality.
