Can you recommend some depressing movies?

Killaqueen!!!

Ok, not depressing movies, but movies with depressed protaganists. I recently found out that someone close to me suffers with depression and I realised that I find movies that deal with depression really interesting, plus they usually have good soundtracks!

I've seen Garden State, Elizabethtown, About Schmidt...

Doesn't have to be depression per se but should be a movie with mental illness preavalant.

me_right_one

Trainspotting, requiem to a dream, shallow grave

pipsqueak

"lamb", liam neeson, very depressing

MagicMarker

One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest

Plastic Bari

The Notebook

cashback

Sideways

pikachucheeks

My Left Foot.

The Truman Show.

A Beautiful Mind.

MonicaBing

If im wrong here please correct me, but i think What dreams may come with Robin Williams may help? I am Sam maybe too, and the johnny Depp movie, Benny and Joon?

Killaqueen!!!

Benny and Joon - great movie.

Does The Notebook have a depressed person in it..? Can't remember!

Armin_Tamzarian

If you want a film that's exceedingly excellent and depressing
at the same time then watch 'The Deerhunter'.

Delirium

Spider, directed by David Cronenberg, Ralph Fiennes in the lead role.
Definitely depressing and has mental illness in it.

carrieb

Killaqueen!!! wrote: »

Benny and Joon - great movie.

Does The Notebook have a depressed person in it..? Can't remember!

No! Not that I can think of...

jimbozo

Naked directed by Mike Leigh

Sample quotes:

Johnny: Have you ever thought, right, but you don't know, but you may have already lived the happiest day in your whole ****in' life and all you have left to look forward to is ****in' sickness and purgatory?

A scene to whey your appetite. Dont know how to embed youtube:

PirateShampoo

Titanic

jimbozo

Sorry misread your post. You are asking for films about depression!!
Still would recommend the film anyway.

Shryke

The Royal Tenenbaums would be well worth the watch.

bnt

No-one mentioned Girl, Interrupted yet? This is where Angelina Jolie picked up her Oscar:

Razors pain you,
Rivers are damp,
Acid stains you,
Drugs cause cramp,
Guns aren't lawful,
Nooses give,
Gas smells awful,
Ya might as well live.

Another one is The Virgin Suicides - but that one is more about the way depression was not noticed by anyone, until it was too late. Compare that to The Accidental Tourist, which is one of my favourite films, about a man who hides his depression from almost everyone, including himself. In this film, Geena Davis (also an Oscar winning performance) does notice, which makes all the difference in the end.

L31mr0d

+1 for Requiem for a Dream

OP are you looking for movies about depression, but that can be in any genre, or does the movie itself have to be depressing?

ronnie3585

+2 for Requiem for a Dream.

Without a doubt the most depressing film I've ever seen.

Deer Hunter is quite depressing too.

CyberWaste

I found 28 days later depressing for some reason.

Tom Trojan

The Perfect Storm.

A. Carruthers

Many people I have noticed have mentioned 'requiem for a dream' as their choice for most depressing movie. One that is probably even moreso however and is also centred around drug addiction is 'The Panic in Needle Park'. There is something about this movies mix of 70s film, New York and drugs that will have you knocking down to your local DIY store for a short length of rope. I defy you to find anything uplifting about this movie! For something along the same lines and also exhibiting hopelessness on an epic scale try also 'Kids' and 'Midnight Cowboy'.

A. Carruthers

Theres also a Russian war movie called 'Come and See'. Should do the job. And also 'Mysterious Skin'.

97i9y3941

leaving las vegas *i like that movie

Latchy

Two movies

The Heart is is a lonely Hunter - 1968 ( about a deaf mutes in 50s america)



The Day of the Locust - 1975 .

Based on a 1939 novel by American author Nathanael West, set in Hollywood, California during the Great Depression, depicting the alienation and desperation of a disparate group of individuals who exist at the fringes of the movie industry.

cashback

I forgot to mention Control. About Joy Division singer Ian Curtis. Now that has a great soundtrack.

Nevyn

Terms of endearment, the boy in the striped pajamas.

damonjewel

A. Carruthers wrote: »

Theres also a Russian war movie called 'Come and See'. Should do the job. And also 'Mysterious Skin'.

two other very depressing russian fims with depressing protaginists are Stalker and Solaris (remade with George Clooney but the original is very haunting)

Are they about depression? but they are certainly about the downside of the human condition

maybe you should watch some Spike Milligan a very serious sufferer of Manic depression and his comedy is always tinged with a certain darkness

deco05ie

"Johnny got his gun" and "dear zachary"
the second will make you depressed and then just pissed off.
oh and "Keane"

ProjectColossus

Happiness, although, it's kind of a black comedy too..

SalmoTheLeaper

I recommend "Frozen Land" its a Finnish film, really excellent. The story is a chain of events whereby one bad deed leads on to another, lots of different characters are interlinked throughout. Saw it with a few mates a few years ago, they said it was the most depressing film they'd ever seen!!! I enjoyed it a lot though

Professey Chin

deco05ie wrote: »

"Johnny got his gun" and "dear zachary"
the second will make you depressed and then just pissed off.
oh and "Keane"

+1 for Johnny Got His Gun
I cant watch it without singing One though

And someone in another thread mentioned Threads
Christ thats a depressing film and disturbing :eek:

L31mr0d

A. Carruthers wrote: »

'Midnight Cowboy'.

+1 Completely forgot about that movie. Dustin Hoffman puts in a truly excellent performance, depressing as it is.

Another depressing John Voight movie is "The Champ" ... I believe one scene in it, and if you've seen it you'll know, was voted one of the saddest scenes in any movie ever.

But I think we are getting off the OP's question. I think he wants movies where a character in the movie is depressed, not that the movie will make the watcher depressed. I can think of plenty of depressing movies that don't have any depressed people in them.

In regards to mental illness and depression, it's a hard one, maybe this list will help:

http://home.epix.net/~tcannon1/psychmovies/mood.html

meglome

Face Off, that depressed me.

Otis Driftwood

Sherry Baby

Nil By Mouth

The War Zone

The Black Oil

Downfall

Hagar

Marley & Me. The missus was in floods.

Sleipnir

"Bad Leutenant"
"Leaving Las Vegas"

Krieg

Garage

Indie18

I enjoyed The Machinist with Christian Bale, it has that kind of dark depressing feel about it.

luckat

Little Miss Sunshine - depressing and hilarious.

godspal

vivre sa vie
Wild Strawberries

A. Carruthers

SalmoTheLeaper wrote: »

I recommend "Frozen Land" its a Finnish film, really excellent. The story is a chain of events whereby one bad deed leads on to another, lots of different characters are interlinked throughout. Saw it with a few mates a few years ago, they said it was the most depressing film they'd ever seen!!! I enjoyed it a lot though

SalmoTheLeaper is that about the disillusioned teacher and features a hoover salesman? I think I watched that at about 1 in the morning on RTE a few months ago...tis good. strange one

SpitfireIV

SalmoTheLeaper wrote: »

I recommend "Frozen Land" its a Finnish film, really excellent. The story is a chain of events whereby one bad deed leads on to another, lots of different characters are interlinked throughout. Saw it with a few mates a few years ago, they said it was the most depressing film they'd ever seen!!! I enjoyed it a lot though

Another depressing Finnish movie is 'Noi Albinoi' (Noi the Albino), its pretty dark (with a few touches of comedy though) but overall is pretty bleak........but still a good movie!

kraggy

Didn't ANYONE read the op?

They're looking for films that feature depressed characters or characters with mental illness, not depressing films.

One flew over the cuckoo's nest is the closest that anyone came.

Found this on a quick search

On the edge

Cillian Murphy is in it. Got decent enough score on Imdb but I haven't seen it.

Also, not really depression but a good film all the same is Shine starring Geoffrey Rush. Won best film at the Oscars in 1996 I think.

kraggy

Didn't ANYONE read the op?

They're looking for films that feature depressed characters or characters with mental illness, not depressing films.

One flew over the cuckoo's nest is the closest that anyone came.

Found this on a quick search

On the edge

Cillian Murphy is in it. Got decent enough score on Imdb but I haven't seen it.

Also, not really depression (character becomes mentally ill but not depression per se, don't want to give too much away) but a good film all the same is Shine starring Geoffrey Rush. Won best film at the Oscars in 1996 I think.

Armin_Tamzarian

kraggy wrote: »

Didn't ANYONE read the op?

They're looking for films that feature depressed characters or characters with mental illness, not depressing films.

One flew over the cuckoo's nest is the closest that anyone came.

Guess you're right.
Christopher Walken's character in 'The Deer Hunter' ends up
being so cheerful and happy-go-lucky.

I mean how could you describe someone who regularly plays Russian Roulette as being mentally ill?

Eirebear

kraggy wrote: »

Found this on a quick search

On the edge

Cillian Murphy is in it. Got decent enough score on Imdb but I haven't seen it.

Not a bad film at all.

SpitfireIV

kraggy wrote: »

Didn't ANYONE read the op?

They're looking for films that feature depressed characters or characters with mental illness, not depressing films.

One flew over the cuckoo's nest is the closest that anyone came.

Found this on a quick search

On the edge

Cillian Murphy is in it. Got decent enough score on Imdb but I haven't seen it.

Also, not really depression but a good film all the same is Shine starring Geoffrey Rush. Won best film at the Oscars in 1996 I think.

Aye, Noi is pretty depressed!

cashback

kraggy wrote: »

Didn't ANYONE read the op?

They're looking for films that feature depressed characters or characters with mental illness, not depressing films.

One flew over the cuckoo's nest is the closest that anyone came.

Right, so Ian Curtis in Control was just in a bad mood then was he?
And Paul Giamatti plays a depressed writer in Sideways.

bnt

kraggy wrote: »

Didn't ANYONE read the op?

They're looking for films that feature depressed characters or characters with mental illness, not depressing films.

One flew over the cuckoo's nest is the closest that anyone came.

Did YOU read my post on page 2? You could argue that Winona Ryder's character in Girl, Interrupted might not have been really depressed, but she certainly encountered a few genuine cases on the way to finding out. Ditto for Prozac Nation.

(I once thought I was depressed, but then I read a bit about depression, and happened to meet someone genuinely depressed. I could see it was quite a long way down, and that I wasn't really in danger of going that way, so I stopped worrying about depression. )