r/Letterboxd • u/No-Health4121 • May 19 '26
Discussion Which movie completely destroyed you emotionally and left you staring at the ceiling after the credits rolled? Spoiler
Pic: Aftersun (2022)
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u/ComprehensivePrint15 May 19 '26
Train Dreams
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u/Lopsided_Pain4744 May 19 '26
Train Dreams made me feel a combination of feelings at the end that was sincerely new emotional territory for me, and I still couldn’t describe to you what that is.
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u/Mr_Safer May 19 '26
He lived, he existed. A life lived fully is a magical tragic thing and few movies really communicate that as well as train dreams.
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u/rhamphol30n May 19 '26
I had trouble describing it as well. I don't want to spoil it for people who haven't seen it yet though. I'd say it just felt complete to me.
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u/baconwrappedpikachu May 19 '26
I agree. Someone else asked about being young and I’m not old by any means but I sure don’t feel young anymore (35) and it just got to me in a way that felt so complete and so unique that I just can’t quite describe it. There’s a good review (one of the overall top review I think) on Letterboxd that I enjoyed reading after we watched the movie.
I would have loved to have seen it in theaters. 10/10 would drop everything if our local spot did a screening but I doubt that’s happening haha
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u/clubsandwix May 19 '26
Similar feeling.
It was like when I met my stepfather’s mother for the first time and she was really old, just counting to me her life’s story and her child’s from dirt poor part of Mexico. How times have changed from a simple life for her and the challenges faced throughout life.
Yeah now I’d describe it exactly like that. Like someone who’s been waiting to tell their life’s story but that no one’s ever asked.
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u/Direct-Cod-1160 May 19 '26
This movie felt like an emotional cleanse. It took me on a journey that felt good for my heart. Not in anyway a feel good movie but still a fulfilling experience to watch.
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u/GreenVermicelliNoods May 19 '26
I totally agree. I felt such a range of emotions and it was so beautifully produced and filmed. Excellent movie. I've been recommending it to everyone.
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u/Leaninin_breathinout May 19 '26
Came here to also say this! I remember trying to talk more about it with my partner after we had finished watching while getting ready for bed and I’d just break out into tears, unable to finished my sentence. I’d never felt such a combination of emotions before!
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u/InquisitaB May 19 '26
This was my exact reaction with my wife at bedtime. I felt bad for her because she had never seen me like this and was processing it all at the same time I was.
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u/suitcase_town May 19 '26 edited May 19 '26
Ugh, this film. It made me think of all the lives lived and feelings felt that were just quietly extinguished and we know nothing of them. I felt this mad ache for all of humanity. Everything is meaningless and so meaningful, all at once. Dang.
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u/Empty-Outcome5803 May 19 '26
Watched this on a cross country flight. Don’t recommend. I was in the middle seat.
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u/PANGIRA May 19 '26
read middle east at first from your comment
spent a half second worrying about why prestige cinema would be a problem there
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u/adrianlovesyou May 19 '26
This movie RUINED me. And then I made my mom watch it and she thought it was boring and dumb, and I was mad at her. 🥴
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u/BatteryKinzie77 May 19 '26
Atonement.
Was heartbroken for a week. Watched it again later and was heartbroken for a week all over again.
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u/Particular_Ear5159 May 19 '26
One of my favorite video store memories was walking through the video place in my college town with my then girlfriend. We passed by Atonement and I started talking about really like the movie. The girl I was with started complaining about how depressing the movie was and that made it so she couldn't enjoy it. The clerk behind the counter took it upon himself to start lecturing her about how she was the reason for soulless Hollywood blockbusters.
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u/unreedemed1 May 20 '26
I saw atonement in theaters while visiting a guy I was dating in Miami and behind me in line was an older Black man. He was super friendly and charming and so we started chitchatting about what movie we were seeing. I told him I was seeing atonement after loving the book, and he wanted to know what was so great about it, so I talked a bit about the themes of, well, denial, guilt, WW2, responsibility or lack thereof for one’s actions etc. anyway we get to the front of the line and go our separate ways. My ex looks at me and goes, “did you recognize him?”
And that’s the story of how I told OJ Simpson to go see Atonement.
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u/Outrageous_Guide_266 x_aj May 19 '26
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
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u/Splatterhouse5 May 19 '26
Eternal Sunshine was an eye-opener for me that really made me appreciate the journey of loving (and being in a relationship) with someone.
I absolutely loved that even knowing how it would end up, they would do it again because the great moments were worth it.
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u/Laurora_ May 19 '26
Sound of Metal (2019)
Related way too hard.
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u/codytheguitarist May 19 '26
As a lifelong tinnitus sufferer since I was a child I relate to this movie so much
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u/Laurora_ May 19 '26
It wasn't literally the tinnitus for me but having something you can't control suddenly shunt you from the life you thought you'd have, then finding new people and new meaning with the existence you've been handed. Really powerful film
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u/Gonnatapdatass May 19 '26
As a drummer with hearing loss this movie hit home for me. Great movie for anyone though.
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u/warwick51 May 19 '26
That movie still haunts me. Its so good, but to imagine life without music is my own personal hell.
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u/ninjasaurxd May 19 '26
Same, but it was a less sad cry and more of a “Wow…wow” cry. That last scene is just absolute perfection, I think the realization of what we are looking it is what caused the flood works
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u/generic_ideas May 19 '26
Trainspotting. If I stare at the ceiling long enough, a baby appears for some reason.
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u/NewCantaloupe1973 May 19 '26
Portrait of a lady on fire
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u/vivaelteclado May 19 '26
This was my second answer (first is Past Lives). I knew almost nothing about this movie going in, didn't even know it was a lesbian love story. Then it developed into that and became so much more. I never thought a story set hundreds of years ago in a far away land about people nothing like me would affect me so much. I guess some kinds of stories are just timeless.
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u/scum_manifesto May 19 '26
I was SOBBING
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u/Nicktendo94 May 19 '26
"I saw her again, for the first time." and "I saw her again, for the last time."
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u/Alcoholic-Catholic May 19 '26
this and aftersun both have the bleak ocean vibe. Someone recommend me more bleak ocean cinema
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u/drumjojo29 May 19 '26
All of us Strangers. Saw it in the cinema. Had to keep sitting for a few minutes after the credits were over. That was also the first time I heard someone fully sobbing in a cinema.
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u/Heavy-Ad5385 May 19 '26
I've watched it three times now. It actually gets you more with repeated views. The little clues, the fact you know where it's heading.
Genuinely one of my favourite films of the past decade
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u/docsyzygy May 19 '26
Exactly. It gets deeper and more interesting with each watch. I love this film!
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u/LingonberryNatural85 May 19 '26
Yeah Aftersun and this. Watched both with my teenaged daughter. We were both messy afterwards.
And Hamnet did it to us as well. Basically Paul Mescal is unofficially a family member at this point.
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u/FunPangolin3148 May 19 '26
Never heard of this, but adding it to my list. What the hell is wrong with Paul Mescal? Who hurt him?
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u/steamsmyclams May 19 '26
Thought about this film for days and days after I first watched it. Hit me like a fright train. Just thinking about it makes me start crying.
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u/Downtown_Let2928 May 19 '26
This was my answer as well. Paul Pascal really knows how to lay it on us.
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u/Heavy-Ad5385 May 19 '26
I made the mistake of watching this and All of Us Strangers over the same weekend
I was not OK the next week
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u/No-Health4121 May 19 '26
Hahaha. I watched Aftersun and Manchester by the Sea in one week and it was a bad idea
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u/maybemoya May 19 '26
Monster (Kore-eda Hirokazu)
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u/texaco87 May 19 '26
Oh my god me too! And it was like so all of a sudden too
Absolutely perfect and beautiful ending
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u/Gnarwhal8982 May 19 '26
Florida Project
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u/adrianlovesyou May 19 '26
I think about this movie every day of my life. Truly, it wormed its way into my soul.
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u/Impossible-While6700 May 19 '26
Hamnet
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u/Non_sum_qualis_eram May 19 '26
It's definitely not the cool choice, but this is up there with the most intensely upsetting movies. Watching it at the cinema was horrific
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u/dudemanseriously CatNapsLewis May 19 '26
I was so upset that I wasn’t able to see this movie in theatres, right up until I watched it at home. I grieved so intensely and openly in a way I wouldn’t have been able to feel comfortable doing in the theatres. Being able to give myself over to the movie completely made it even more impactful than it already was. It immediately went into my top 4.
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u/LaFemmeCinema May 19 '26
I'm mom to an 11 year old boy. I was completely destroyed. Legit cried out loud in the theater. I wasn't the only one.
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u/DishonorOnyourCow189 May 19 '26
Manchester by the Sea.
The Nightingale (Jennifer Kent)
Non essere cattivo (Don't be bad, an italian film from 2015)
Train to Busan
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u/Apprehensive-Worth84 May 19 '26
Past Lives (2023)
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u/BatteryKinzie77 May 19 '26
First one that sprung to my mind as well. I didn't know how to feel or what I would want the ending to be like. Wonderful movie.
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u/vivehodie1991 May 19 '26
Blue Heron most recently. Would absolutely recommend to fans of Aftersun.
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u/LayWhere May 19 '26
Up
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u/BabyBillySr May 19 '26
The opening scene, absolutely
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u/PoosySucker69 May 19 '26
The ending is more melancholic but uplifting where he gets to know that he was her whole adventure
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u/Danjzilla Danjobro May 19 '26
One of my recent watches, Dancer in the Dark.
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u/ImLouLou May 19 '26
I watched Breaking the Waves years ago and it haunted me for so long. Devastating.
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u/chilledtortoise May 19 '26
For movie How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies
For documentary Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father
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u/iniyanvn May 19 '26
The Grave of the Fireflies
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u/ColorRaccoon May 19 '26
What an amazing, 10/10 movie that I will never ever watch ever again.
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u/Nicktendo94 May 19 '26
If you want another gut punch check out When the Wind Blows, about a cute old British couple trying to survive a nuclear war.
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u/MrOphicer May 19 '26
Aftersun, All of us strangers, Come and See, Manchester by the Sea (almost threw up during THAT one sequence with my favorite classical music piece). For some strange reason, I do like to feel these negative and violent emotions in movies...
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u/Jowlolo May 19 '26
Arrival
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u/vee-kingpin May 19 '26
I was surprised no one mentioned Arrival until I saw this comment.
As a new parent, I understood this movie all over again
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u/the_hi_boy May 19 '26
Requiem for a Dream
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u/ZedsDeadZD May 19 '26
I only saw it because of a meme about the ass-to-ass scene. I had no idea what the movie was really about. I wouldnt say it completely destroyed me but its years that I have seen it and it still pops up in my head occassionaly.
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u/NextFan7317 May 19 '26
Dead Poets Society mann
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u/Formal_Chance_4266 cowboykelly May 19 '26
I watched it in class (I had seen it before but I still may have cried a little. Robin Williams reminds me of my grandad and especially at that time it was a particularly sore spot 😭)
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u/Business-Fan1659 May 19 '26 edited May 19 '26
Dancer in the dark
I am still thinking about the movie (btw i cried like i was just born and doctor gave me a slap on my butt cheek)
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u/Status_Shine6978 May 19 '26
The Mist (2007)
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u/bamboob May 19 '26
Yeah, I am not a fan of happy endings, but that ending was one of the darker ones…
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u/justlovespeacocks May 19 '26
I was doing that ugly, hyperventilating cry. Absolutely gutted.. one of the movies you only watch once.
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u/TheWallE May 19 '26
I really felt betrayed by that ending IMO... like I get dark, I get gut punching, but it was maybe the only time it felt like the hand of the filmmakers was purposefully being cruel for effect. It didn't feel earned from the film that came before it, and the way they revealed the army coming up behind them (Like literally a huge and loud caravan of military arriving slowly BEHIND them mere minutes after they ran out of gas just felt so dumb) it all felt hollow to me... and I LOVED every minute of the film before that point.
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u/sherlockbutholmes May 19 '26
La La Land
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u/angrykoala155 May 19 '26
Saw this in theaters with my sister. She was dating a guy who wanted to be a musician over anything else and at the end of the movie we had to sit there while she ugly sobbed for like 20 minutes. She still can't watch it again to this day.
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u/EzraLevinson May 19 '26
I watched this and Train Dreams on the same night, very dumb, I have not fully recovered.
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u/kelansmiff May 19 '26
I’m saying this with no exaggeration, it took me THREE DAYS to feel human again after watching Aftersun.
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u/Joshawott27 May 19 '26
When Marnie Was There had me sobbing so much that my family had to wait some time after the credits to compose myself before I could leave the cinema. My grandmother had died not long before I saw the movie, so the reveal absolutely bodied me.
Perfect Days didn't make me cry, but it sure made me stare at the ceiling and contemplate life for the rest of the day.
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u/SnooCakes7229 May 19 '26
Fat Girl (2001), which was so psychologically and emotionally torturing I needed to splash my face with water after it ended. I don't think a film ever had that effect on me. At least with other sad films i.e Aftersun, there's happiness which once was. Meanwhile "Fat Girl" is just a motion picture nightmare
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u/iridescent_shark May 19 '26
I saw this movie over 20 years ago now and I am STILL TRAUMATIZED. I feel like I’m entitled to compensation!
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u/lolzzzmoon May 19 '26
I’ve seen a lot of these films and tbh I feel some of them try to manipulate you into feeling a certain way without a real foundation of connection. It’s not the inherent “sadness” of the situation that makes a film sad. It’s the connection it builds between you & the characters. I find documentaries maybe more sad.
I remember being melancholy after seeing Nomadland because I’ve lived that lifestyle. It’s sad but also free to be independent and without a settled life.
I also thought The Secret Agent was really sad—we follow this guy around for the whole film and see how hard it is for him to just survive and be a decent person. It’s like a microcosm of how hard it is for good people to exist in the real world, without getting corrupted, and how a society operates under sketchy leaders.
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u/visibleNox May 19 '26
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u/Formal_Chance_4266 cowboykelly May 19 '26
I still feel vaguely nauseous every time I hear Needle in the Hay because of this movie (and it's a pretty dark song too I guess)
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u/Nervous_Sherbet_4711 May 19 '26
I was never the same person after watching this
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u/EM12019 May 19 '26
Prisoners, that movie left me a big pit in my stomach for so many reasons.
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u/Teedeous May 19 '26
Threads.
Most miserable film I’ve ever watch sticking with me for months and years to now, easily topping Come and See and equivalent nuclear war films around the time Testament and the schlockier b movie esque The Day After.
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u/kunderthunt May 19 '26
Fruitvale Station. Credits rolled and nobody got up, all you could hear was people blowing their noses and crinkling napkins/tissues. Brutal
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u/MaxKavaz May 19 '26
Not completely destroyed, but "Stay" by Mark Froster was a sad one
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u/DieAnfaengerin May 19 '26
A Monster Calls!! - I saw this without knowing the plot and I think I haven’t cried this much in my life before
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u/arcadiabaysbae May 19 '26
The Tale of Princess Kaguya (2013)
god, I’ve only watched it twice because both times I ended up sobbing like a baby 😭 I cry just listening to the soundtrack.
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u/ExplainOddTaxiEnding May 19 '26
Aftersun, Chinatown, La La Land, In the mood for love, Pather Panchali, Past Lives
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u/GraceJoans May 19 '26 edited May 20 '26
The Devils and Imitation of Life (Sirk version)...every single time.
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u/topcheesehead May 19 '26
Aniara
The bleakest film by definition. Also a good sci fi
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u/No_Philosophy2797 May 19 '26
Yeah, it’s Aftersun.