I forget where I read this, but someone made the obvious connection between A Serious Man and the Book of Job (you know … the Old Testament?). Going further, this person said that after all the tribulations/horrible stuff, God chose to speak to Job out of a whirlwind.
It doesn’t really make any part of that movie less depressing, but it’s kind of awe-inspiring to think of the end as a revelation instead of just more bad shit happening.
For me, a depressing film is one that is completely devoid of any sense of hope, or anything redemptive at all, especially when the protagonist doesn’t seem deserving of the endless pile of shit he is being buried in. What comes to mind is a film called Seize the Day with Robin Williams. I remember very little of it, but I can never forget the depressed feeling I had throughout the film, without relent, even at the end. The guy deserved a break, and every time it seemed as if he may just get something, he came up empty, and was kicked while he was down to add insult to injury. It was unbearable.
Many of the films listed here that I’ve seen are truly sad, even heartbreaking, but don’t necessarily leave me feeling depressed, somehow. Robert Bresson and Vittorio De Sica seem to have cornered the market in my mind, the two of them holding five of the saddest I’ve seen, those of course being Mouchette, Au hasard Balthazar, Umberto D., Bicycle Thieves, and one I haven’t seen mentioned yet, The Children Are Watching Us; the ending was the most heartbreaking I’ve ever seen, literally taking my breath away. Au revoir, les enfants is right up there too.
I agree with Mouchette and Au hasard Balthazar.
I’ll add Lilya 4-ever, Synecdoche, New York, Come and See, the first half of Bad Boy Bubby, and The Human Condition.
One bleak film I don’t think has been mentioned is Julian Goldberger’s, The Hawk is Dying(2006). It’s based on a Harry Crews novel and starred Paul Giamatti.
Crumb
Wiseau’s The Room (not a joke, the storyline is very dark to me)
Submit Me Now
9 hours of Claude Lanzmann’s “Shoah” was pretty depressing, so was “Eden Lake.”
“Salo” is up there too.
Born on the Fourth of July
The Deer Hunter, nuff said
Rob Zombie’s Halloween, because I actually paid money I earned to watch that piece of shit.
I can feel the tears coming, reliving films is an incredible experience.
Anyway, I agree with the ones I’ve seen mentioned, there’s a lot on here I haven’t seen yet
so I’m making a list for those as well.
I have a strong desire for films that will leave me emotionally drained.
Here are the ones that have left a beautiful scar forever staying with me:
Umberto D.
Au revoir, les enfants
Synecdoche, New York
Bicycle Thieves
Lilja 4-ever
Dancer in the Dark
Nights of Cabiria
Stalker, La Feu Follet, La Moustache, Elze is Gilijos.
Requiem for a Dream, nothing good comes out of that movie. You’ve invested all this time with these good but flawed characters and none of them gets a somewhat uplifting ending. In fact we leave each character in their worst state.
Ikiru
Mike Leigh’s “Bleak Moments” depressed me to the point of having to turn it off halfway through. The struggling 20-something musician attempting to begin a magazine ended up reminding me of my own jobless situation.
“The Apartment”. I know it’s considered a romantic comedy and (SPOILER ALERT) has a happy ending, but I couldn’t get past the bleak lives of Jack Lemmon’s and Shirley MacLaine’s characters. They both have empty menial jobs by day, and are horribly used by their bosses by night — hard to come back from that with romance.
has to be Eraserhead. good lord, i mean i loved the movie and thought it was made really well. but thats the reason it was so depressing is that it was made too well. thats the kind of feeling i had only gotten in my worst nightmares before i saw it. just completely hopeless and depressing
love liza (2002).
Mysterious Skin wrecked me for at least a week after watching it.
Lilya 4 Ever, it just got more and more depressing as it progressed.
well i love depressing love stories, so i’ll start with
1. tempting heart by sylvia chang
2. 2046 by wkw
3, atonement by joe wright
i got depressed for weeks on end after watching these 3 particular movies and would not be watching them for a long time after..
other than that anything about troubled child or person always gets me really depressed, so:
1. naked – mike leigh
2. manic
3. boy a
thats about it…
The Elephant Man, Germany Year Zero, and Venom and Eternity for varying reasons
I find eternal sunshine of the spotless mind incredibly depressing…..im not sure why lol
Salesman
i’ve only seen the first half of the princess and the warrior, but the fact that the main character feels like she’s obligated to jack of crazy dudes in the hospital, was so disgusting that i felt like shit for the rest of the day
Everyone will understand what I mean when I say Bambi…
Twilight….pretty much made me lose faith in humanity, I was on suicide watch for nearly a week
I think it would be Dead Times by René Laloux which was horribly depressing to me.
NANKYOKU MONOGATARI [aka ANTARCTICA] (’83) – Koreyoshi Kurahara – Two Japanese scientists, Ushioda and Ochi, develop a bond with their sled dogs while on an expedition in Antarctica… they eventually leave Antarctica, only to return to search for the dogs inadvertently marooned there.
Boys don’t cry
Dancer in the dark
Schindler’s list
So many, but here’s a few:
The Ice Storm
Frozen River
Things We Lost in the Fire
The Elephant Man
Harold and Maude
Testament
Lona
A Serious Man? Hm. I guess so… but I wouldn’t have ever thought of it. I mean, clearly nothing about it is happy, but the fact that the ending of it is so horrible that it’s almost comical, I didn’t walk away from it overly sad. I understand the idea behind it being depressing, I just didn’t get that from the movie itself.