Movies can be a great unifier. Seen all over most of the world, they often make us feel as though we are connected, no matter how far we may be, and allow us to bond over a shared experience – whether happy, sad, or everything in between. They are also extremely popular, especially in the United States, with almost half of American adults frequenting the theater at least once a month and the choices can often seem vast.
Each year, there are more than 2,000 films released worldwide in 13 primary genres – horror, comedy, romance, action, crime, drama, science fiction, fantasy, sports, mystery, western, war, and thriller. With this incredible variety, there is typically something for everything across all categories. Not all films are blockbuster hits and don’t see the commercial success or critical acclaim of others.
Then there are the films that achieve outstanding recognition for the topics they cover, topics that often fall into the tragic category. Whether about the atrocities of war, heartache, illness, and more, these films tend to have a significant impact on us, but also stand the test of time. A considerable amount of people thoroughly enjoy sad movies, films that resonate so deeply that it feels as though we’ve lived the journey alongside each character.
But what elicits sadness differs for everyone. The personal struggles the hero or heroine is facing onscreen may strike a chord, whether a doomed romance, dashed hopes, the demise of something cherished, the death of a loved one, a heroic sacrifice, or even animal mistreatment.
To compile a list of what we believe could be considered the saddest movies ever made, 24/7 Tempo researched published lists of sad movies on the film site Internet Movie Database (IMDb). We chose films based on our own film-going experiences and definitions of “sad” and narrowed it down from a list of more than 600 movies shown on user-created lists of sad films on IMDb. Our final list was attained by choosing films that were the most popular with both amateur and professional viewers, considering the Rotten Tomatoes average critic and audience ratings and the IMDb average user ratings.
To be included on the list, films needed at least 10,000 user ratings between IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes along with 10 approved Tomatometer critic reviews. Editorial discretion shaped the final rankings. Movies that lacked sufficient emotional impact were omitted, while others that were deemed essential viewing were added. The list spans genres from animation to exceptional biopics and true stories (Don’t miss the 50 best movies based on true events.)
Here are the greatest tragic movies of the 21st century
Dancer in the Dark (2000)
- IMDb rating: 7.9 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 69%
- RT audience score: 91%
This heart-tugging tale, set in Washington state in 1964, stars the Icelandic pop star Björk as a musical-loving Czech immigrant who is slowly going blind from a genetic condition. As she desperately tries to save money for an operation that will prevent her young son from suffering the same fate, she periodically breaks into song and dance. Her cop neighbor, himself in need of funds, steals from her, leading to a deadly confrontation.
Pay It Forward (2000)
- IMDb rating: 7.2 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 39%
- RT audience score: 77%
A young boy (Haley Joel Osment) takes a social studies assignment to heart in this saccharine melodrama. His idea of “paying it forward” (i.e. passing selfless favors onto others) kicks off a national wave of human kindness. Audiences were more receptive to the film than critics, many of whom found it a bit too self-righteous and sentimental.
Requiem for a Dream (2000)
- IMDb rating: 8.3 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 79%
- RT audience score: 93%
Darren Aronofsky’s sophomore feature delivers a brutal examination of the nature of addiction. Based on Hubert Selby Jr.’s similarly gritty novel, it depicts four Coney Island residents as they sink into various states of despair.
One Hour Photo (2002)
- IMDb rating: 6.8 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 82%
- RT audience score: 65%
A lonely photo technician (Robin Williams) develops a twisted obsession with a family of loyal customers in this psychological thriller. As he plunges himself into their lives, dark secrets bubble to the surface.
The Pianist (2002)
- IMDb rating: 8.5 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 95%
- RT audience score: 96%
Based on the life of Polish-Jewish pianist and Holocaust survivor Władysław Szpilman, this saga follows the man’s experiences during the Nazi occupation of his native country. After his family is shipped off to the death camp, he helps smuggle arms to Resistance fighters, witnesses the unsuccessful Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, is taken in by a sympathetic Nazi officer, and survives the war.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
- IMDb rating: 8.3 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 92%
- RT audience score: 94%
“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” stands out from other films thanks to its relentless creativity, driven by the film’s director Michel Gondry, and co-writer Charlie Kaufman. The clever direction and original screenwriting help highlight a story of heartbreak, in which two former lovers attempt to remove all memories of their failed relationship.
Hotel Rwanda (2004)
- IMDb rating: 8.1 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 91%
- RT audience score: 94%
In the African Republic of Rwanda in 1994, civil war rages between the two principal ethnic groups, the Hutu and the Tutsi, also known as the Rwandan Genocide. The manager of Belgian-owned Hôtel des Mille Collines in Kigali, the country’s capital, turns the high-class hotel into a refuge for persecuted Tutsi until he and his family, along with the refugees, can flee to safety.
World Trade Center (2006)
- IMDb rating: 5.9 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 67%
- RT audience score: 60%
Follow two Port Authority police officers (Nicolas Cage and Michael Peña) as they respond to the terrorist attacks on 9/11 and get caught under collapsed rubble. Director Oliver Stone eschews politics in favor of taut visuals and a melodramatic tone.
Atonement (2007)
- IMDb rating: 7.8 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 83%
- RT audience score: 80%
On the eve of World War II, a country house romance between a young woman from a wealthy family and the housekeeper’s son is interrupted when he is unjustly accused by the woman’s jealous sister of raping a young relative. He goes to prison and then into the army. Before he ships out, he has one last meeting with his love, who has remained true to him and believes in his innocence.
In the end, we learn that the meeting was invented as part of a novel written by the now-elderly sister, as an act of atonement for her lie. The young man died of blood poisoning at the Battle of Dunkirk, and his love was drowned in a London subway tunnel that flooded after a German bomb attack.
Bridge to Terabithia (2007)
- IMDb rating: 7.2 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 85%
- RT audience score: 70%
Katherine Paterson’s heart-wrenching novel laid the groundwork for this coming-of-age drama, in which two young outcasts escape to a fantasy world. Rife with CGI visuals and richly drawn characters, it offers an enduring take on the value of friendship and imagination.
Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium (2007)
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- IMDb rating: 6.2 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 38%
- RT audience score: 55%
This children’s fantasy film welcomes viewers to a magical toy store, owned by the eccentric Mr. Magorium (Dustin Hoffman). Manager Molly Mahoney (Natalie Portman) prepares to take over the operation, but can only do so if she truly believes in both magic and herself.
Milk (2008)
- IMDb rating: 7.5 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 93%
- RT audience score: 89%
Sean Penn won an Oscar for his portrayal of real-life activist and martyr Harvey Milk in this biographical drama. Set in the 1970s, it chronicles Milk’s rise into politics and his tireless advocacy for gay rights. Gus Van Sant directs.
Seven Pounds (2008)
- IMDb rating: 7.6 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 27%
- RT audience score: 75%
Forever burdened by a tragic event, a man (Will Smith) seeks redemption by changing the lives of seven strangers. The film makes compelling use of narrative devices such as flashbacks, retaining the air of a mystery as it builds toward one final reveal.
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008)
- IMDb rating: 7.8 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 64%
- RT audience score: 85%
The eight-year-old son (Asa Butterfield) of a Nazi Commander befriends a concentration camp prisoner (Jack Scanlon) in this Holocaust drama. Innocence gives way to experience as the story builds toward its unforgettable conclusion.
The Lovely Bones (2009)
- IMDb rating: 6.7 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 32%
- RT audience score: 52%
This supernatural thriller drama tells the story of a young girl who is murdered and now watches over her family and her killer. She remains in limbo and she grapples with choosing between revenge and helping her family move on.
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011)
LOS ANGELES, CA - JANUARY 18: Actor Tom Hanks attends the Peoples Choice Awards 2017 at Microsoft Theater on January 18, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images for Peoples Choice Awards)
- IMDb rating: 6.9 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 45%
- RT audience score: 61%
A young boy (Thomas Horn) uncovers the mysterious key that his deceased father left behind in this sentimental drama. That sends him on a journey across New York City, where the shadow of 9/11 still looms large. It’s based on Jonathan Safran Foer’s best-selling novel of the same name.
Restless (2011)
- IMDb rating: 6.7 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 38%
- RT audience score: 48%
This Gus Van Sant drama centers on the romance between a terminally ill girl (Mia Wasikowska) and a death-obsessed boy (Henry Hopper). Coping with tragedy provides for an overarching motif.
Amour (2012)
- IMDb rating: 7.9 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 93%
- RT audience score: 82%
This French tear-jerker is about two former musicians and piano teachers, husband and wife, both in their 80s. One morning, the woman has a stroke and ends up partially paralyzed. When she gets out of the hospital, her husband promises she will never go back, and when he can no longer care for her, it ends in tragedy.
What Maisie Knew (2012)
- IMDb rating: 7.4 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 87%
- RT audience score: 80%
A young girl gets stuck in the middle of a bitter custody battle between two self-absorbed parents in this searing drama. As the saga unfolds, it causes potentially irreversible damage to her psychological development. Onata Aprile gives a knockout performance as Maisie.
12 Years a Slave (2013)
- IMDb rating: 8.1 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 95%
- RT audience score: 90%
Based on an 1853 memoir by a free black man from Saratoga, New York, who was kidnapped and sold into slavery, this film convincingly evokes the cruelty of plantation life, but it also pays tribute to the resilience of the enslaved. Though the story ends with the hero returning to his home and family, he has lost 12 years of his life and missed seeing his children grow into adults.
Her (2013)
- IMDb rating: 8.0 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 94%
- RT audience score: 82%
A lonely introvert going through a divorce buys an operating system with artificial intelligence, gives her a female identity, and falls in love with her (she reciprocates). All goes well until she tells him that she interacts with thousands of other people, too, and is in love with 641 of them. She then tells him that she and other similar operating systems have evolved beyond humanity, and leaves for another plane of being.
The Book Thief (2013)
- IMDb rating: 7.5 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 48%
- RT audience score: 73%
Young orphan Liesel (Sophie Nelisse) develops a passion for reading in this WWII drama, adapted from a best-selling novel. When her adoptive parents take in a Jewish refugee, it puts their lives at risk. Audiences were kinder to the film than critics.
Still Alice (2014)
- IMDb rating: 7.5 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 85%
- RT audience score: 85%
Grappling with early-onset Alzheimer’s Disease, a linguistics professor (Julianne Moore) slowly loses her sense of identity. All the while, her family watches on in despair. The film earned Moore an Academy Award for Best Actress.
The Fault in Our Stars (2014)
- IMDb rating: 7.7 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 81%
- RT audience score: 85%
Based on John Green’s best-selling novel, this coming-of-age drama follows two teenage cancer patients (Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort) on a life-changing journey. It was shot on an estimated budget of just $12 million, earning over $307 million at the worldwide box office.
A Monster Calls (2016)
- IMDb rating: 7.5 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 86%
- RT audience score: 81%
Beset by his mother’s illness, (Felicity Jones), a young boy (Lewis MacDougall) makes an unlikely friend in the form of a magic tree monster (voiced by Liam Neeson). Writing for The Australian, critic David Stratton calls it “a small, almost delicate film that will richly reward those who connect with it.”
Christine (2016)
- IMDb rating: 6.9 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 88%
- RT audience score: 71%
- Directed by: Antonio Campos
- Starring: Rebecca Hall, Michael C. Hall, Tracy Letts, Maria Dizzia
Based on actual events, this biographical drama stars Rebecca Hall as 1970s TV reporter Christine Chubbuck. Determined to succeed in a highly competitive industry, Chubbuck’s growing depression gives way to an unforgettable public act.
Call Me By Your Name (2017)
- IMDb rating: 7.9 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 94%
- RT audience score: 86%
Against a bucolic backdrop, romance blossoms between a male college graduate (Armie Hammer) and a teenage boy (Timothée Chalamet). But it wasn’t meant to be.
If Beale Street Could Talk (2018)
- IMDb rating: 7.1 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 95%
- RT audience score: 71%
Oscar-nominated “If Beale Street Could Talk” tells the story of a pregnant woman in the 1970s in Harlem on a mission to prove that her fiancé is innocent of the crime he was arrested for.
Roma (2018)
- IMDb rating: 7.7 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 96%
- RT audience score: 72%
“Roma” tells the story of an indigenous live-in housekeeper in Mexico City in the 1970s. Problems arise when her boyfriend abandons her after she gets pregnant and her employer runs away with his mistress.
Pieces of a Woman (2020)
- IMDb rating: 7.1 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 75%
- RT audience score: 85%
Vanessa Kirby was nominated for an Oscar for her performance as a young woman whose baby dies during child labor. The harrowing movie examines how a family deals with the loss of a child.