Happy ending is a must for most films, as the viewer likes the characters to 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 memory stronger than the banal “and they lived happily ever after.”
We present the 10 best films without a happy ending, which every self-respecting movie fan should watch.
Attention! You can’t do without spoilers in such material, so be prepared.
10. The Green Mile | 1999
The polite giant John Coffey has attracted the viewer from the first remark, from the first appearance in the frame, despite the terrifying dimensions and the crimes imputed to him. Even before it becomes known of his innocence in killing children, he is sincerely sorry.
When he heals the wife of the head of the prison, there is a logical hope for his salvation and you mechanically relax, but with the approach of the finale you realize more clearly that execution is inevitable.
When he sits on an electric chair, and the guards cry, then you, even an adult man, involuntarily rolls a lump to your throat. Even if this is not the first, not the second and not the fifth viewing.
Still, Darabont took off a masterpiece of all time, which will never go out of style.
9. Logan | 2017
The completion of the story of the most famous mutant of the universe “People X” turned out to be completely different from other superheroics. This is an adult, serious film, in which more from high-quality drama than from comics.
Everyone knew that this picture will be the farewell of Hugh Jackman with the image of a clawed hero and in the finale he must die, but did not want to believe in it.
A whole generation has grown up with him, for whom his departure means much more than the very “click of Thanos” in the penultimate Avengers.
8. Requiem for a dream | 2000
The cult film in a certain sense by Darren Aronofsky shows though not exemplary people, but still provoking sympathy. Yes, it’s hard to feel sorry for the addict (the only exception is the mother of the protagonist), but the story is presented in such a way that you involuntarily start to sympathize.
Watching “Requiem for a Dream” for the first time you automatically wait for a happy ending: now everyone will take up the mind, get off the needle, stop drinking pills and heal happily ever after with a new outlook on the world.
Gradually realizing that this will not happen, you begin to pity the heroes even more and wait for what the director has prepared instead of a happy end.
7. Buried alive | 2010
An exemplary thriller and an equally exemplary drama, which was shot for a penny and completely "left" on the acting talent of Ryan Reynolds.
His hero comes to his senses in a coffin and realizes that he is buried alive. With him, there was only a phone and a lighter, with which you can highlight your drawer and make a call, but not get out.
From telephone conversations, the viewer learns how the protagonist got into such a binding, and they also show us the process of his searches.
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 found him and already dig it out. Alas, they found and dug up not him ..
6. Seven | 1995
One of the best thrillers of not only the 90s, but also in the entire history of the genre, brilliantly shot by David Fincher.
Two policemen, played by Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt, hunt for the maniac (Kevin Spacey), and even catch him in the finale, but as a result, he is still replayed in his monstrous game by alien lives.
Let him be handcuffed, kneeling and the main character shoots him at point blank range, he won anyway. We will not spoil to the end, it is better to see for yourself (suddenly someone still has not looked).
5. Paradise Lake | 2008
At first glance, “Paradise Lake” may seem like a banal horror story with a non-trivial plot: a group of young children come to rest, but as a result they begin to die one by one.
Only the main character, time after time, manages to avoid a terrible fate, but when it seems that she escaped and found safe refuge in a random house, it turns out that this house is not at all random, and its tenants are not good Samaritans.
It is the death of the main character, as well as the almost complete absence of plot holes that sets this film apart from the rest, making it an order of magnitude stronger.
4. Irreversibility | 2002
One of Monica Bellucci's best roles, as well as one of the most shocking films 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 were really “bad” and they needed medical help.
The picture shows the story in the 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’s very difficult to break away.
3. The mysterious river | 2003
A drama directed by Clint Eastwood with Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon and Tim Robbins in the lead roles, telling of three friends, one of whom was raped by a pedophile in childhood.
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 it out. The heartbroken father, having lost hope of finding evidence, kills the suspect, but the next day he finds out that he was not guilty.
And it seems that the heroes decide to live on and no one commits suicide because of the pangs of conscience, but you still cannot name such a ending a happy ending.
2. Seven lives | 2008
Will Smith's hero is a successful engineer who has an accident. Through his fault, 7 people die, including his bride, and this completely changes his life.
Having quit his job, he decides to repay the debt of the Universe, 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 gives his organs, and finally finds a “client” in his heart - a girl who will die without a transplant. Having met her, he falls in love, and he would have lived happily ever after, but there is no wonderful ending in this film.
1. Oldboy | 2003
South Korean director’s masterpiece, Pak Chan Uku, about a man who was locked in a windowless room for 15 years and then released. Now his goal is to find his captors and avenge years of suffering, but as a result, the hero only suffers even more.
This is not just a final without a happy end - here is one of the most “vicious” finals in the history of world cinema. If you didn’t see 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 one is filled with pain, dirt and suffering.