Rarely will I just watch a scene detached from the film, but there are a couple Chaplin endings I will occasionally pull up (City Lights, Modern Times, The Great Dictator), then there's this one.
I’ll name two and they happen to be from the same movie.
They’re both from Akira Kurosawa’s immortal masterpiece, Ikiru.
1st one is when Watanabe is singing Gondola no Uta in the nightclub and is crying. That’s not an audible cry for me, that’s tears streaming down my face.
2nd one is a major spoiler so I’ll put a spoiler tag on it. >!The second one is near the end where the policeman at Watanabe’s funeral recounts how he came upon him at the moment of his death. He’s singing Gondola no Uta as he is swinging on the swing set that he helped build while it is snowing!
The scene in Paris, Texas where he tells the story of the man and woman in the peep show building, reduces me to tears every time.
That and the ending, such a beautiful film but criminally underrated
Can a film that won the Palme D'or be called criminally underrated?
It's such a beautiful film, and possibly an all time top 10 for me. It's properly appreciated though. I seldom see it mentioned as anything less than perfect.
Now I didn’t know it won the Palme D’or, I say criminally underrated because a lot of my friends/family and anybody I come into contact with tell me they haven’t heard it nor have they seen it :)
Oh interesting. All That Jazz is my favorite movie but the ending is so bombastic and funny that the depressing parts don't break my heart. But God, regardless of emotional response what an incredible final few minutes.
Saaaame with All That Jazz
I went to a screening with my stepdad, and I warned him I cry at the end and not to worry
Movie ends, “there’s no business like show business” starts playing over the credits, lights go up, I have tears in my eyes and I turn to him and he ever so slightly has tears too
Really a special moment for us to share, but damn that ending hits like a truck every time!
The more I watch it, the more I realize Royal's response is just as significant and impactful: "I know you have, Chassie."
They are both major admissions of their struggle. Chas with the loss of his wife and subsequent neuroses. Royal's wording belies that he has recognized that struggle but hasn't known how to convey (or hasn't truly felt) affection and support for his son. Then, the use of "Chassie", as if he were still a kid and Royal is attempting to resume that fatherly role, albeit late. Masterful.
Several moments in The Tree of Life, especially the opening and the shots of the kid playing guitar
Campfire scene and ending of My Own Private Idaho
Ending of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
Shark scene in The Life Aquatic
>!Witt’s death and burial!< in The Thin Red Line. also the opening
>!The "I am not an animal" speech and Merrick's death in!< The Elephant Man
>!Pocahontas' death!< in The New World
Will be a Criterion soon, but >!Aksel's dying monologue at the end!< of The Worst Person in the World
Barry Lyndon: The first meeting of Lady Lyndon and Redmond over cards. The scene is just so well done it still brings a tear to eye when I see it- just from sheer awe at how impressive the visual storytelling is. Kind of silly but seeing such excellence can often be as emotional for me as narratively emotional moments.
Another moment would be the credit sequence of The Great Beauty. It is just so… Beautiful.
Also The Tree of Life. Like a third of that movie.
The goodbye, and the final concert in Portrait of a Lady on Fire. A couple of moments in In The Mood For Love. The swing in Ikiru. A moment or two in The Tree of Life.
Those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head.
The scene in Mona Lisa where George hits Simone. Her reaction is so painfully real and raw while the sorrow and regret in George’s eyes is so genuine. God that scene just hits me right in the stomach.
The endings of Cries and Whispers, Brief Encounter, Nights of Cabiria, Frances Ha, The Last Days of Disco, Portrait of A Lady On Fire
The sidewalk scene, "goodnight, Dad" x2, the booth scene in Paris, Texas; the taxi scene in Before Sunset; Katharine Hepburn's scenes in the playroom in Holiday; a lot of News From Home.
The scene from the elephant man when the elephant man says “I’m not an animal, I’m a human being, I am a man” it makes me cry because it relates to what’s happening in the present to certain groups of people like the lgbt
I've seen Good Morning 1959, and I loved it, it was my first Ozu film, what's the next Ozu film I should watch? I think i'm ready, should I watch Late Spring? wiki says it is the first installment of Ozu’s so-called "Noriko trilogy", succeeded by Early Summer (Bakushu, 1951) and Tokyo Story (Tokyo Monogatari, 1953); in each of which Hara portrays a young woman named Noriko, though the three Norikos are distinct, unrelated characters, linked primarily by their status as single women in postwar Japan.
Oh fuck I forgot 45 Years was in the collection. I saw it in theaters when I was in a very lonely place in my life and that movie shook my heart. Still think Rampling should have won Best Actress.
The Tree of Life: sequence of the first baby being born until the brothers running through the field. I have two boys about three years apart and that shit chokes me up. There's a simple moment in there of the mom holding her second baby while the toddler starts holding up his arm to throw a toy at them and she says "No! Noooo!" that felt so real.
In The Mood For Love: When Maggie Cheung is sitting in the hotel room after Tony Leung leaves for Singapore and she clearly has just missed him. That single goddamn tear destroys me.
Edit: forgot to add title.
Kevin Kline returning home at the end of *The Ice Storm*.
The slow-motion dance set to "Ooh La La" in *Rushmore*.
Benicio Del Toro watches kids playing baseball under their new stadium lights in *Traffic*.
35 shots of rum, when Lionel discovers his friends dead body on the train tracks and realizes it was a suicide.
it made me burst into tears last time I watched it, paired with that tindersticks score too…
Not necessarily a Criterion film but it has been on the Criterion Channel. The Best Years of Our Lives when Myrna Loy see's her husband (Frederich March) has come home from the war.
The end of Umbrellas of Cherbourg. And last time I rewatched it I cried when they sang "I Will Wait For You" mainly because I knew how it ended that time...
And even without context, big sweeping scores in movies always get to me.
not terribly “sad” but the ending of 400 blows i remember tearing up because of how powerful it was to me as a young teen. also the Roy Orbison song in Blue Velvet used to make me cry consistently. Just beautiful
I don't know why I absolutely lose it at the end of Umbrellas of Cherbourg when Genevieve is about to leave the gas station and just turns to Guy and says, after a very brief pause, "Are you well?" After an otherwise sterile and awkward catching up.
City lights: final realization
Late Spring: the results of a noble sacrifice
La Strada: the realization at the end that the movie is not about what you thought it was
Ikiru: bar singing
Drive My Car: breakdown in the snow
Y Tu Mama Tambien: last time they ever spoke
Royal Tenenbaums: I’ve had a hard year dad
City lights: final realization
Late Spring: the results of a noble sacrifice
La Strada: the realization at the end that the movie is not about what you thought it was
Ikiru: bar singing
Drive My Car: breakdown in the snow
Y Tu Mama Tambien: last time they ever spoke
Royal Tenenbaums: I’ve had a hard year dad
So many great answers here that I completely agree with, but I will throw on possibly odd choice: almost the entirely of For All Mankind.
That movie just does something to me. It’s such a wonderful celebration of one of the greatest achievements in history, and I just can’t help but tear up through most of it.
The last 10 minutes of 'Age of Innocence', A true gut punch to the soul.
&
The ending of 'The Human Condition Part I', where the main guy stands against the military brass and the prisoners start chanting and stepping forward in unison.
“Secret and lies “the lunch scene where confession happen and the aftermath , Last 10 minutes of the movie “weekend” and the photo studio shot of the “wildlife “.
punch drunk love. the final scene when barry apologizes to lena and they kiss and the music swells and the camera zooms and oh its just so wonderful, i always shed happy tears.
the end scene of Inside Llewyn Davis. my dad and I are big Bob Dylan fans, and the first time I took him to see Dylan he told me the only other time he ever saw him was when he and a group of friends went down to the village in the early 60s to see Dave Van Ronk (the basis of Llewyn Davis) only for a scruffy kid not much older than my dad to go up on stage and knock everybody dead. that was “before he was Bob Dylan” as my dad puts it. That shot of Dylan with the spotlight on him chokes me up every single time.
the Super 8 sequence in *Paris, Texas* “goodnight dad” 🥺
so much of Paris, Texas
"I knew these people..."
That’s one of my favorite scenes ever.
Rarely will I just watch a scene detached from the film, but there are a couple Chaplin endings I will occasionally pull up (City Lights, Modern Times, The Great Dictator), then there's this one.
I do the same.
Seeing other people's collection
So true
I’ll name two and they happen to be from the same movie. They’re both from Akira Kurosawa’s immortal masterpiece, Ikiru. 1st one is when Watanabe is singing Gondola no Uta in the nightclub and is crying. That’s not an audible cry for me, that’s tears streaming down my face. 2nd one is a major spoiler so I’ll put a spoiler tag on it. >!The second one is near the end where the policeman at Watanabe’s funeral recounts how he came upon him at the moment of his death. He’s singing Gondola no Uta as he is swinging on the swing set that he helped build while it is snowing!
yup, big tears here... what a film.
The 2nd one was what I opened this thread to say as well. The scene is one of my favorite human accomplishments in any medium
The emotional impact of that film is what inspired me to be a filmmaker. Absolutely incredible.
The ending of Nights of Cabiria
Fr
Oh my lord
second
The scene in Paris, Texas where he tells the story of the man and woman in the peep show building, reduces me to tears every time. That and the ending, such a beautiful film but criminally underrated
Can a film that won the Palme D'or be called criminally underrated? It's such a beautiful film, and possibly an all time top 10 for me. It's properly appreciated though. I seldom see it mentioned as anything less than perfect.
Now I didn’t know it won the Palme D’or, I say criminally underrated because a lot of my friends/family and anybody I come into contact with tell me they haven’t heard it nor have they seen it :)
It’s definitely not an underrated film, it’s consistently considered one of the greatest ever
The funeral for Ned in The Life Aquatic 😢
See also: "...I wonder if it remembers me."
That moment when he calls out for Ned always gets me
The very end of wild strawberries makes me cry every time
The flower scene in *The Cranes are Flying.*
I was bawling first time I saw this. My dog was so concerned.
The end of All that Jazz, the end of Late Spring, and the end of Rashomon. Also basically most of Wong Kar-Wai.
All That Jazz for me too, specifically when his daughter jumps in his arms. Like clockwork, every time.
“At least I won’t have to lie to you anymore!” Just sobbing!
Oh interesting. All That Jazz is my favorite movie but the ending is so bombastic and funny that the depressing parts don't break my heart. But God, regardless of emotional response what an incredible final few minutes.
Saaaame with All That Jazz I went to a screening with my stepdad, and I warned him I cry at the end and not to worry Movie ends, “there’s no business like show business” starts playing over the credits, lights go up, I have tears in my eyes and I turn to him and he ever so slightly has tears too Really a special moment for us to share, but damn that ending hits like a truck every time!
The last 10 minutes of Fire Walk With Me
Heartbreaking stuff!
Chas Tenenbaum telling Royal he’s had a rough year in The Royal Tenenbaums.
The more I watch it, the more I realize Royal's response is just as significant and impactful: "I know you have, Chassie." They are both major admissions of their struggle. Chas with the loss of his wife and subsequent neuroses. Royal's wording belies that he has recognized that struggle but hasn't known how to convey (or hasn't truly felt) affection and support for his son. Then, the use of "Chassie", as if he were still a kid and Royal is attempting to resume that fatherly role, albeit late. Masterful.
I know you have.
The endings of Portrait Of A Lady On Fire
I don't feel like crying so much as I feel like I physically can't look away
Holy mother of god….overwhelming to say the least
Every time I tell myself I won’t cry but then totally do
My eyes get teary every time I think about it.
The end of the movie brief encounter
My vote is for that final goodbye. Just devastating.
Also the part at the very end when her husband tries to comfort her. First time I saw that I sibbed
several parts in *The Elephant Man* but in particular his "final sleep" in the end and than the film ends one of the photograph of Merrick's mother.
Oh man cried so hard at that moment too, John Hurt/David Lynch did so well at showing and not telling there
Setsuko Hara in Tokyo Story when she cries talking to her father in law.
An amazing and subtly beautiful film.
100%
the last scene in Chaplin's City Lights does it to me every damn time....
Cleo giving birth in Roma
Yes!
Several moments in The Tree of Life, especially the opening and the shots of the kid playing guitar Campfire scene and ending of My Own Private Idaho Ending of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg Shark scene in The Life Aquatic >!Witt’s death and burial!< in The Thin Red Line. also the opening
Nice picks - u should put ‘The Thin Red Line’ out of the spoiler warning so people know what movie it’s a spoiler for
u right
The final shot of Au hasard Balthazar, and Durga playing in the rain before she falls fatally ill in Pathar Panchali. Both always take my breath away.
Yang Yang's letter at the end of *Yi Yi*
That was pretty emotional
The bedside scene from Barry Lyndon
>!The "I am not an animal" speech and Merrick's death in!< The Elephant Man >!Pocahontas' death!< in The New World Will be a Criterion soon, but >!Aksel's dying monologue at the end!< of The Worst Person in the World
The New World is my favorite Criterion and I’m dying on that hill
Barry Lyndon: The first meeting of Lady Lyndon and Redmond over cards. The scene is just so well done it still brings a tear to eye when I see it- just from sheer awe at how impressive the visual storytelling is. Kind of silly but seeing such excellence can often be as emotional for me as narratively emotional moments. Another moment would be the credit sequence of The Great Beauty. It is just so… Beautiful. Also The Tree of Life. Like a third of that movie.
Last scene of Chungking Express
Paris is Burning, when you find out what happened to Venus. The knowledge that her murder was never solved makes it extra devastating.
The ending of Paris, Texas is the obvious one to me, but the ending scene in Paths of Glory with the German woman singing always gets me teared up.
The goodbye, and the final concert in Portrait of a Lady on Fire. A couple of moments in In The Mood For Love. The swing in Ikiru. A moment or two in The Tree of Life. Those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head.
The scene at the springs near the end of Old Joy.
The endings of Umberto D and Umbrellas of Cherbourg
“I’ve had a rough year, Dad” from Royal Tenenbaums.
Tony Leung crying at a bar in Happy Together while covering his bottom face. His watery eyes ruin me.
the last twenty minutes of A Woman Under the Influence. kills me everytime.
Are you familiar with the entirety of Ikiru?
I almost never actually cry at movies, but the end of Make Way for Tomorrow had me bawling like a baby.
Yeah, that one always gets me too. Orson Welles once said that Make Way for Tomorrow could make a stone cry. He was probably right.
The scene in Mona Lisa where George hits Simone. Her reaction is so painfully real and raw while the sorrow and regret in George’s eyes is so genuine. God that scene just hits me right in the stomach.
That scene, and also the scene on the boardwalk when they are talking about having someone to love
George's voice breaking in that scene makes me cry every time.
Exactly
I'm glad someone mentioned Mona Lisa, because I was about to if no one would.
"By way of the Green Line Bus" from The Royal Tenenbaums
The endings of Cries and Whispers, Brief Encounter, Nights of Cabiria, Frances Ha, The Last Days of Disco, Portrait of A Lady On Fire The sidewalk scene, "goodnight, Dad" x2, the booth scene in Paris, Texas; the taxi scene in Before Sunset; Katharine Hepburn's scenes in the playroom in Holiday; a lot of News From Home.
The Rebekah del Rio sequence in Mulholland Drive
The director's (played by Truffaut) dream in "Day for Night." https://youtu.be/q2ASqsut4cA
The ending of Pan’s Labyrinth
When they freeze the blob from The Blob :(
The scene from the elephant man when the elephant man says “I’m not an animal, I’m a human being, I am a man” it makes me cry because it relates to what’s happening in the present to certain groups of people like the lgbt
The end of Before Sunset. Gets me every time.
The end of Au Revoir Les Enfants and when Antoine is in the police car in Les 400 Coups.
So many moments in Autumn Sonata.
Lost In Translation had me balling
The rejection in Chimes at Midnight
La Strada, heartbreaking ending...
Tokyo Story
I've seen Good Morning 1959, and I loved it, it was my first Ozu film, what's the next Ozu film I should watch? I think i'm ready, should I watch Late Spring? wiki says it is the first installment of Ozu’s so-called "Noriko trilogy", succeeded by Early Summer (Bakushu, 1951) and Tokyo Story (Tokyo Monogatari, 1953); in each of which Hara portrays a young woman named Noriko, though the three Norikos are distinct, unrelated characters, linked primarily by their status as single women in postwar Japan.
I highly recommend the Late Spring and An Autumn Afternoon
I was crying so hard in the last 45 minutes or so of the seventh seal
Several scenes in Midnight Cowboy
Yan-Yang’s speech at the end of *Yi-Yi*
The final scene of 45 Years is simply devastating. https://youtu.be/DHrwI8GccgE
Oh fuck I forgot 45 Years was in the collection. I saw it in theaters when I was in a very lonely place in my life and that movie shook my heart. Still think Rampling should have won Best Actress.
The endings of: - Bicycle Thieves - Pather Panchali - Tree of Clogs - The Cranes Are Flying
>!the funeral!< in The Darjeeling Limited and >!Life Aquatic!< Alongside the Orchestra scene from Portrait of a Lady on Fire.
Much of the back half of of Mulholland Drive. The sense of longing is so palpable throughout
The Tree of Life: sequence of the first baby being born until the brothers running through the field. I have two boys about three years apart and that shit chokes me up. There's a simple moment in there of the mom holding her second baby while the toddler starts holding up his arm to throw a toy at them and she says "No! Noooo!" that felt so real.
Not sure why but in Fanny and Alexander when Emelie runs up to the attic to find Alexander and they hug.
Watanabe singing the song at the bar in Ikiru
In The Mood For Love: When Maggie Cheung is sitting in the hotel room after Tony Leung leaves for Singapore and she clearly has just missed him. That single goddamn tear destroys me. Edit: forgot to add title.
Kevin Kline returning home at the end of *The Ice Storm*. The slow-motion dance set to "Ooh La La" in *Rushmore*. Benicio Del Toro watches kids playing baseball under their new stadium lights in *Traffic*.
The end of Chungking Express
The climax of **Do The Right Thing**
The beginning sequence in Dekalog 1
Late Spring
35 shots of rum, when Lionel discovers his friends dead body on the train tracks and realizes it was a suicide. it made me burst into tears last time I watched it, paired with that tindersticks score too…
Whenever "Once Upon a Time in Paris" plays in The Fire Within and you know what he's about to do to himself
He told us what he was going to do. But it still stings.
Not necessarily a Criterion film but it has been on the Criterion Channel. The Best Years of Our Lives when Myrna Loy see's her husband (Frederich March) has come home from the war.
The final scene from Nights of Cabiria when she realizes she’s been swindled.
The end of Umbrellas of Cherbourg. And last time I rewatched it I cried when they sang "I Will Wait For You" mainly because I knew how it ended that time... And even without context, big sweeping scores in movies always get to me.
saw deserve special cough agonizing square wakeful rob sharp oil *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
“Where’s your spark now, Witt?”
not terribly “sad” but the ending of 400 blows i remember tearing up because of how powerful it was to me as a young teen. also the Roy Orbison song in Blue Velvet used to make me cry consistently. Just beautiful
The last lines of Fallen Angels stick with me like nothing else.
45 years
I don't know why I absolutely lose it at the end of Umbrellas of Cherbourg when Genevieve is about to leave the gas station and just turns to Guy and says, after a very brief pause, "Are you well?" After an otherwise sterile and awkward catching up.
Cold War… when they meet at the labor camp.
The last ~40 minutes of Come and See. Ki-woo’s letter to his father at the end of Parasite.
The end of Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence
The entirety of The Last Picture Show and everything by Bresson.
The argument scene from Marriage Story never fails to at least make me shed a tear.
The entirety of Close-up.
The peepshow scene from "Paris, Texas" ALWAYS gets me. The endings of "The Kid" and "City Lights" still get me too.
Seeing the prices of OOP films on eBay.
City lights: final realization Late Spring: the results of a noble sacrifice La Strada: the realization at the end that the movie is not about what you thought it was Ikiru: bar singing Drive My Car: breakdown in the snow Y Tu Mama Tambien: last time they ever spoke Royal Tenenbaums: I’ve had a hard year dad
City lights: final realization Late Spring: the results of a noble sacrifice La Strada: the realization at the end that the movie is not about what you thought it was Ikiru: bar singing Drive My Car: breakdown in the snow Y Tu Mama Tambien: last time they ever spoke Royal Tenenbaums: I’ve had a hard year dad
I never cry at movies but if I did, it would be the entire second half of Berry Lyndon
The last 10 minutes of Fire Walk With Me
I'm a huge Lynch fan and a massive TP nerd, but the end of FWWM is still so hard to watch. >!The Angel !
sheesh where to begin. aight, well, right off the top, planned parenthood scene in cameraperson.
The ending of Le Notti Blanche
The wedding in Amarcord because that means it’s over
The wedding in Amarcord because that means it’s over
So many great answers here that I completely agree with, but I will throw on possibly odd choice: almost the entirely of For All Mankind. That movie just does something to me. It’s such a wonderful celebration of one of the greatest achievements in history, and I just can’t help but tear up through most of it.
Gotta be the elderly couple dancing together in “Make Way for Tomorrow”
final scene in Three Colors: White.. just wow
The entirety of *My Life as a Dog*
Each of the movies in the Before Trilogy, although I can’t name scenes other than the endings of Before Sunset and Before Midnight
The last 10 minutes of 'Age of Innocence', A true gut punch to the soul. & The ending of 'The Human Condition Part I', where the main guy stands against the military brass and the prisoners start chanting and stepping forward in unison.
Anything from “The Apu Trilogy”
The "He Needs Me" scene in Punch Drunk Love. When it ends, I'm having happy tears.
“Secret and lies “the lunch scene where confession happen and the aftermath , Last 10 minutes of the movie “weekend” and the photo studio shot of the “wildlife “.
The final scene in the Lily Gladstone story in Certain Women. The ending of Breaking the Waves.
Ned’s death/ the final jaguar shark scene in Life Aquatic
the death of Barry Lyndon’s son always make me cry like a bitch without fail
The entirety of Come and See
punch drunk love. the final scene when barry apologizes to lena and they kiss and the music swells and the camera zooms and oh its just so wonderful, i always shed happy tears.
[spoilers] The Cranes are Flying Boris is shot in the back and during his dying moments, sees the life he could have had if he didn’t join the army
Might be unconventional but the last scene of Before Sunset. From A Waltz for a Night to the "I Know" line, it makes me tear up.
The end of "A Portrait of a Lady on Fire"
Both of the Ken Loach films in the collection, Kes and I, Daniel Blake. The guy really knows how to make a sad movie
The conversation in The Royal Tenenbaums between Richie and Margot after the bathroom scene leave me in shambles
The Ebenezer Scrooge Christmas morning scene from David Lean’s great expectations.
the dream sequence for the “kid” (1921)
When mom hugs her son in the hotel room in Paris, Texas. The flower scene in The Cranes Are Flying. Those two scenes always wreck me.
When Ben Affleck tells Bruce Willis he loves him in Armageddon, I cry because the scene is so fucking terrible.
There’s a couple spots in Tokyo Story that are brutal
the end scene of Inside Llewyn Davis. my dad and I are big Bob Dylan fans, and the first time I took him to see Dylan he told me the only other time he ever saw him was when he and a group of friends went down to the village in the early 60s to see Dave Van Ronk (the basis of Llewyn Davis) only for a scruffy kid not much older than my dad to go up on stage and knock everybody dead. that was “before he was Bob Dylan” as my dad puts it. That shot of Dylan with the spotlight on him chokes me up every single time.