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A happy ending is a must for most films, as the audience likes it when the characters end well, even if it looks like a miracle.
There are much fewer pictures with a sad ending, but ironically, it is they who sit in the memory more firmly than the banal “and they lived happily ever after.”
Here are the top 10 films without a happy ending that every self-respecting movie fan should watch.
Attention! There are spoilers in this post, so be prepared.
10 Green Mile | 1999
The polite giant John Coffey wins over the viewer from the first line, from the first appearance in the frame, despite the frightening dimensions and the crimes imputed to him. Even before it becomes known about his innocence in the murder of children, you already sincerely feel sorry for him.
When he heals the wife of the head of the prison, there is a natural hope for his salvation and you mechanically relax, but as the final approaches, you understand more and more clearly that the execution is inevitable.
When he sits in the electric chair, and the guards cry, then you, even if you are an adult man, involuntarily roll up a lump in your throat. Even if this is not the first, not the second and not the fifth viewing.
Still, Darabont shot a masterpiece for all time, which will never go out of fashion.
9. Logan | 2017
The end of the story of the most famous mutant of the X-Men universe turned out to be completely different from other superheroes. This is a grown-up, serious film that is more of a quality drama than a comic book.
Everyone knew perfectly well that this picture would be Hugh Jackman’s farewell to the image of the clawed hero and in the finale he must die, but they did not want to believe in it.
A whole generation has grown up with him, for whom his departure means much more than that same “Thanos snap” in the penultimate Avengers.
8. Requiem for a Dream | 2000
Cult in a certain sense, the film by Darren Aronofsky shows, though not exemplary people, but still evoking sympathy. Yes, it is difficult to feel sorry for a drug addict (the only exception is the mother of the protagonist), but the story is presented in such a way that involuntarily you begin to sympathize.
Watching “Requiem for a Dream” for the first time, you automatically wait for a happy ending: now everyone will take up their minds, get off the needle, stop drinking pills and live happily ever after with a new outlook on the world.
Gradually realizing that this will not happen, you begin to feel sorry for the characters even more and wait for what the director has prepared instead of a happy ending.
7. Buried alive | 2010
An exemplary thriller and an equally exemplary drama, which was filmed for a penny and entirely “left” on the acting talent of Ryan Reynolds.
His hero wakes up in a coffin and realizes that he is buried alive. He only had a phone and a lighter with him, with which you can light up your box and make a phone call, but not get out.
From telephone conversations, the viewer learns how the protagonist got into such a bind, and we are also shown the process of his search.
The closer to the finale, the less oxygen remains, and when it seems that there is no hope, they call the hero and say that they have found it and are already digging it out. Alas, they did not find and dug up him ..
6. Seven | 1995
One of the best thrillers not only of the 90s, but in general in the history of the genre, brilliantly shot by David Fincher.
Two police officers, played by Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt, are hunting for a maniac (Kevin Spacey), and in the finale they even catch him, but as a result, he still outplays them in his monstrous game with other people’s lives.
Even if he is handcuffed, kneeling, and the protagonist shoots him at close range, he still won. We will not spoil until the end, better see for yourself (suddenly someone has not yet looked).
5. Paradise Lake | 2008
At first glance, Paradise Lake may seem like a banal horror movie with a non-trivial plot plot: a group of young guys come to rest, but as a result they begin to die one by one.
Only the main character manages to avoid a terrible fate over and over again, but when it seems that she escaped and found a safe haven in a random house, it turns out that this house is not at all random, and its residents are not good Samaritans.
It is the death of the main character, as well as the almost complete absence of plot holes, that distinguishes this film from the rest, making it an order of magnitude stronger.
4. Irreversibility | 2002
One of the best roles of Monica Bellucci, as well as one of the most shocking films that the Cannes Film Festival has ever seen. During the premiere, more than 200 spectators left the hall, unable to withstand the level of “tin” on the screen, and some really “got sick” and they needed medical help.
The picture shows the story in reverse order, that is, first we see the monstrous ending, and then we observe the events that led to it. And no matter how hard it is to watch, it is very difficult to tear yourself away.
3. Mysterious river | 2003
Drama directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon and Tim Robbins, tells the story of three friends, one of whom was raped as a child by a pedophile.
After 30 years, this hero is suspected of killing the daughter of a second friend, and the third is a sheriff who is trying to figure everything out. The heartbroken father, having lost hope of finding evidence, kills the suspect, but the next day he learns that he was not guilty.
And it seems that the heroes decide to live on and no one commits suicide because of pangs of conscience, but such an ending still cannot be called a happy ending.
2. Seven Lives | 2008
Will Smith’s character is a successful engineer who gets into an accident. Through his fault, 7 people die, including his fiancee, and this completely changes his life.
Having quit his job, he decides to pay back the debt of the Universe by becoming a donor for 7 people. First, he donates part of the liver, then the kidney, then the bone marrow, etc.
He carefully chooses the people to whom he donates organs, and finally finds a “client” for his heart – a girl who will die without a transplant. Having met her, he falls in love, and they would live happily ever after, but there is no wonderful ending in this film.
1. Oldboy | 2003
A South Korean masterpiece by director Park Chan-wook about a man who is locked in a windowless room for 15 years and then released. Now his goal is to find his captors and avenge the years of suffering, but as a result, the hero only suffers even more.
This is not just a final without a happy ending – here is one of the most “roaring” finals in the history of world cinema. If you haven’t seen it, be sure to watch it, but only the original, not the 2013 Hollywood remake.
The American version of this story is more sterile and boring, while the Korean version is filled with pain, filth and suffering.