The Saddest Movies of All Time

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 self-less 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.

Darren Aronofsky’s sophomore feature delivers a brutal examination on 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.

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.

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” 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.