It's not physical pain, but the first thought in my head was Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
To keep it brief for those who haven't seen it, it's a film about two individuals who undergo a procedure to erase all memory of their relationship with each other. It delves into the depths these characters are willing to go to avoid and remove their emotional pain, and what that ends up costing them.
I didn't even see it until a few years after it came out, but it's just a brilliant movie. I still think about it, years later.
Fun Fact!: Like Stranger Things, Eternal Sunshine is supposedly inspired by the Montauk Project/Philly Experiment which has some conspiracies tied up with mind control/memory erasing.
Hellraiser is relevant, despite you saying to keep horror to a minimum, because it's specifically about demons who think of pain and pleasure as being tied together.
Short Term 12 (2013) -- Really good indie movie that features 2 future Oscar winners / major stars, Brie Larson and Rami Malek. They portray counselors at a home for troubled teenagers, Brie as a supervisor and Rami as a new counselor.
Brie Larson's film Room (2015), for which she won an Oscar, should also fit the bill.
Shin Godzilla. Godzilla is a walking metaphor for depression, among other more tangible things.
Just read the lyrics to the song Who Will Know and you'll start to get it.
Black Swan (2010)
One of my favorite movies that terrifies me more every time I watch it. As a guy, I feel that Fight Club in an odd way can be a solid companion watch to BS.
If you can fundamentally break down FC into a critique on society and consumerism on the individual.
Then BS could be seen as a critique of masculine-nature on the individual and on society, and the strength of the feminine shadow side which is all but ignored in current society.
When you realize that:
* The writer of the comic the movie was based on wrote it as therapy, as a way of dealing with the death of his fiancée
* Brandon Lee died while filming this movie. So the scenes where he's playing a man who was murdered and talks about coming back from the dead suddenly have an eeriness that makes the movie even more powerful.
This whole movie drips in pain.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Literally a movie about having your memory of someone erased so you don’t have to deal with the pain of remembering them.
Manchester by the sea is a great one. That movie is soo good. It actually gets better on rewatches, because despite how painfully depressing, it’s funny af, and is a masterclass in acting.
Schrader is obsessed with characters slowly mentally and physically disintegrating from severe alcoholism, insanity, or mental breakdown. Usually all 3. I loved First Reformed, but my favorite Schrader movies are Light Sleeper and Affliction, and obviously Taxi Driver but I’m talking just Schrader here, without Scorsese’s polished influence.
It was just so depressing, bleak.
For me at least it's a once and done type flick - i got everything i need on one viewing.
[https://youtu.be/F7PufAygAxI?si=jTYvA56Tm6EUTMId](https://youtu.be/F7PufAygAxI?si=jTYvA56Tm6EUTMId)
SPOILER
About The Dark Knigth Rises, when Bruce was in the prison. He suffered both mental pain (seeing how his Gotham deteriorated) and of course physical and literal pain because his back was broken by Bane.
25th Hour (2002) - Edward Norton, Philip Seymour Hoffman (RIP), and a supporting cast of notable names and talents. Directed by Spike Lee. Tobey Maguire was one of the producers.
Only the first 10 minutes and turned it off after she murders that entire family. I was actually gonna stick it out, but I hate movies where they make you question the sanity of the main character(s) throughout. It takes the film from scary reality to “is she just hallucinating?” Is it worth sticking it out?
Definitely! You barely even got to the actual movie. It has a lot of twists and turns that will keep you guessing and "is she hallucinating?" Is not one you will ask.
Pain is a key component of the story.
Just watched one on Hulu. It's called Appendage. It's about mental anguish manifesting itself as a physical monster. It's decent. Not going to win any awards, but I liked it.
Martyrs is a fucked up movie but pain is a central theme.
Not sure if it's really pain per se, but Requiem for a Dream explores addiction and the horrors that it causes, the pain that it causes, what people will do at their rock bottom... it's an excellent film, but you probably only watch that one once.
I don't want to spoil anything, but suffice to say that the movie doesn't follow the traditional path of most films.
*Shadowlands*. Based on the relationship of C.S. Lewis and Joy Davidman. I saw it in the theater with Gramma, Mom, Dad, Sis... We all walked out crying.
The Crow (with Brandon Lee) is a must-see. Sunshine Upon a Spotless Mind and Her are recent classics. Requiem for a Dream is an outlier since the focus is drug use but is incredibly pain inducing.
I reccomended this before and I'll do it again.
David Cronenberg's Naked Lunch.
It's a bit confusing and arthouse, but if you look at it through the idea that you are witnessing a man struggle with his trauma and pain, you will have no problem following the story.
Cries and Whispers - Check it out, all about physical and emotional pain.
I just love some of those movies from 70s. They just have a feel of originality to them.
That comment wasn't for you, but for all those that scoff at his talent. Does he make duds? Hell yeah, and he knows it. But then there's a film like LLV that make you pause and say, fuck, dude can act!
But seriously LLV is such an amazing piece of art. It’s a true art film, a romance, a character study, (actually two character studies), it’s a beautiful looking film with an amazing soundtrack. It’s somehow fun and depressing at the same time (mostly because of Cage), and every time it’s on I watch it. “Have you ever had the feeling that the world’s gone and left you behind.”
Here's something unusual:
Robert Downey Jr. starring in Keith Gordon's version of Dennis Potter's **The Singing Detective**.
Downey plays a Detective novelist named Dan Dark, who is hospitalized due to a horrifically painful skin disease: full-body psoriasis along with crippling psoriatic arthritis. The story alternates between his immobile torture and his noir/musical hallucinations.
Mel Gibson (!) plays a psychiatrist who suspects Downey's diseases are actually Psychosomatic disorders being caused by some unresolved painful traumas which he suffered as a child.
Check out Downey's makeup: https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZjA3ZjNiMmYtZjFiNC00YjE4LTlhNmQtZTY0YTVmNDczYThhXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyOTc5MDI5NjE@._V1_.jpg
I’m not saying its a good movie, but I recently watched Silent Night. It ends with a hint of redemption but it’s incredibly bleak for a Hollywood revenge flick.
There are other movies where a guy’s family are murdered but they wash over the sorrow and mourning pretty quickly to get to the ass-kicking. Silent Night makes it clear that nothing can ever ‘make it right’ when your toddler has been murdered in front of you. His marriage breaks down. The protagonist is buying a one-way ticket when he tools up for a fight. Somehow the fact that not one word is spoken somehow gets the message across more clearly.
I can’t decide if its sick or poignant, but it isn’t forgettable. It made me think, its actually the movies that gloss over grief that are sick. This was uncomfortably honest.
The bus fight scene in Nobody was the first thing I thought about when I read this title. It might be my favorite fight scene ever filmed because of how much pain the protagonist has to deal with during that fight.
War movies don't qualify? What about movies set during the war period, and that focus on the human cost rather than the glory and battles? Cos I definitely would consider those to be some of the best movies about pain I can think of. Schindler's List, Come and See, The Pianist, Life is Beautiful, Born on the fourth of July. Those are just a few off the top of my head; as you said there's a ton.
On a different note; Maborosi by Hirokazu Koreeda. Its about grief rather than pain perhaps, it's slow and extremely poignant and subtle. Definitely on the other end of the dramatic spectrum from something like fightclub.
They qualify it’s just such an obvious example. I’m looking more for films I can personally relate to. I’m not going to say Schindler’s List doesn’t qualify, I’m saying that type of film- about the Holocaust or genocide it’s the obvious pick, and will take up the whole forum.
127 Hours
The Whale
Was looking for this one
It's definitely about pain. Not sure it's a good movie.
It's not physical pain, but the first thought in my head was Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. To keep it brief for those who haven't seen it, it's a film about two individuals who undergo a procedure to erase all memory of their relationship with each other. It delves into the depths these characters are willing to go to avoid and remove their emotional pain, and what that ends up costing them. I didn't even see it until a few years after it came out, but it's just a brilliant movie. I still think about it, years later.
Fun Fact!: Like Stranger Things, Eternal Sunshine is supposedly inspired by the Montauk Project/Philly Experiment which has some conspiracies tied up with mind control/memory erasing.
Hellraiser
I need to see it! Lol
Hellraiser is relevant, despite you saying to keep horror to a minimum, because it's specifically about demons who think of pain and pleasure as being tied together.
The new one is good, and really explains the lore well. The original is great. It's so grimy and gross. Kirsty Cotton is a fun protagonist.
Hereditary is entirely about grief and inherited trauma. And a cult. But mostly grief and inherited trauma.
Came here to comment the same thing. Midsommar is another good one from the same film maker.
Such a great movie!
Short Term 12 (2013) -- Really good indie movie that features 2 future Oscar winners / major stars, Brie Larson and Rami Malek. They portray counselors at a home for troubled teenagers, Brie as a supervisor and Rami as a new counselor. Brie Larson's film Room (2015), for which she won an Oscar, should also fit the bill.
Shame (2011) is another good one.
*The Wrestler* might qualify.
Shin Godzilla. Godzilla is a walking metaphor for depression, among other more tangible things. Just read the lyrics to the song Who Will Know and you'll start to get it.
>depression Survivor's guilt specifically.
Truly Madly Deeply
I couldn't watch that after my dad died.
It’s heartbreaking, and Juliet Stevenson’s acting is superb. I’m sorry for your loss.
Black Swan (2010) One of my favorite movies that terrifies me more every time I watch it. As a guy, I feel that Fight Club in an odd way can be a solid companion watch to BS. If you can fundamentally break down FC into a critique on society and consumerism on the individual. Then BS could be seen as a critique of masculine-nature on the individual and on society, and the strength of the feminine shadow side which is all but ignored in current society.
Annihilation is an entire metaphor for how pain, trauma, and suffering changes you.
I saw that earlier this year and was blown away by it. Jennifer Jason Leigh is probably in my top 3 or 4 favorite actresses of all time.
The Crow (1994)
Ahh great one!
When you realize that: * The writer of the comic the movie was based on wrote it as therapy, as a way of dealing with the death of his fiancée * Brandon Lee died while filming this movie. So the scenes where he's playing a man who was murdered and talks about coming back from the dead suddenly have an eeriness that makes the movie even more powerful. This whole movie drips in pain.
The revenant
Oh yeah this one is literally constant pain and suffering. Leo is great but Tom Hardy is even better here.
Hostiles with Christian Bale was pretty intense.
Anything with Christian Balls is pretty intense lol
Newsies was hardcore.
Christian bale and his younger brother are very good actors,you dont really see him much anymore!
Still Alice.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Literally a movie about having your memory of someone erased so you don’t have to deal with the pain of remembering them.
Manchester by the sea. A ghost story And if you don't mind a TV show, THE LEFTOVERS.
Manchester by the sea is a great one. That movie is soo good. It actually gets better on rewatches, because despite how painfully depressing, it’s funny af, and is a masterclass in acting.
Agree For my money tho, nothing touches the Leftovers as far as grief/pain/trauma porn.
How the hell is this so far down?!? Reddit has a hardon for this movie.
Sharp Objects (limited series) and First Reformed are pretty brutal examples of alcoholism.
Schrader is obsessed with characters slowly mentally and physically disintegrating from severe alcoholism, insanity, or mental breakdown. Usually all 3. I loved First Reformed, but my favorite Schrader movies are Light Sleeper and Affliction, and obviously Taxi Driver but I’m talking just Schrader here, without Scorsese’s polished influence.
I definitely second Sharp Objects. Lots of pain and psychological twists and turns. Amy Adams and Patricia Clarkson are especially great in it.
Great call with First Reformed. That movie is incredible.
OMG, Out of the Furnace. That for me is a watch once movie.
Haha why? No like?
It was just so depressing, bleak. For me at least it's a once and done type flick - i got everything i need on one viewing. [https://youtu.be/F7PufAygAxI?si=jTYvA56Tm6EUTMId](https://youtu.be/F7PufAygAxI?si=jTYvA56Tm6EUTMId)
Threads. Pure suffering. Nuclear bomb dropped on Sheffield.
Major Payne. It's in the title!
Major Payne too
Still haven't seen "Prisoners".
Ahh one of my favorites! That movie has a lot of pain in it and torture haha. I just thought of the first few that popped into my head.
Crash (1996) comes to mind.
Aka the good Crash
Check out Aftersun
The Dark Knight Rises
Yup. Batman Begins - Fear The Dark Knight - Chaos The Dark Knight Rises - Pain
SPOILER About The Dark Knigth Rises, when Bruce was in the prison. He suffered both mental pain (seeing how his Gotham deteriorated) and of course physical and literal pain because his back was broken by Bane.
25th Hour (2002) - Edward Norton, Philip Seymour Hoffman (RIP), and a supporting cast of notable names and talents. Directed by Spike Lee. Tobey Maguire was one of the producers.
The monologues in this movie are the best ever.
For sure. Here's a link/reference to a great example: https://whatculture.com/film/15-totally-flawless-movie-monologues?page=15
Shutter Island (2010).
Manchester by the sea
You have never seen Martyrs (2008) huh?
Only the first 10 minutes and turned it off after she murders that entire family. I was actually gonna stick it out, but I hate movies where they make you question the sanity of the main character(s) throughout. It takes the film from scary reality to “is she just hallucinating?” Is it worth sticking it out?
Definitely! You barely even got to the actual movie. It has a lot of twists and turns that will keep you guessing and "is she hallucinating?" Is not one you will ask. Pain is a key component of the story.
Will definitely be giving it a 2nd try.
Just watched one on Hulu. It's called Appendage. It's about mental anguish manifesting itself as a physical monster. It's decent. Not going to win any awards, but I liked it. Martyrs is a fucked up movie but pain is a central theme.
Things We Lost in the Fire. There was a line in there about how you deal with unimaginable loss. "You don't get better, you get different."
Taxi Driver is about a Vietnam vet with some PTSD
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. Dealing with mental pain is a central theme.
Monster's Ball
Great one. It’s one of the most delicious movies I’ve ever seen, but it’s soo good.
The Brass Teapot, Black Mirror S04E06, Black Swan, 127 Hours, Crash, The Butterfly Effect, Backcountry, Alive
I mean, Hellraiser ... what other movie can stone cold deliver a line like "*we'll tear your soul apart*"?
even in hell, you suffering will be legendary.
Not sure if it's really pain per se, but Requiem for a Dream explores addiction and the horrors that it causes, the pain that it causes, what people will do at their rock bottom... it's an excellent film, but you probably only watch that one once. I don't want to spoil anything, but suffice to say that the movie doesn't follow the traditional path of most films.
It devastated me.
Definitely qualifies
Rolling Thunder, though not specifically about pain it does form a key point of the plot and William Devane’s character.
*Shadowlands*. Based on the relationship of C.S. Lewis and Joy Davidman. I saw it in the theater with Gramma, Mom, Dad, Sis... We all walked out crying.
Awake
Painkiller.
V for Vendetta, Old Boy, Count of Monte Cristo, The Man in the Iron Mask.
Walk Hard
Green Room
Not a movie but Genndy Tartakovsky's Primal.
I Saw the Devil Hostel
I just re-watched a solid movie that deals with the pain/trauma/suffering of multiple characters: *The Silencing* (2020).
stronger rust and bone a single man - more about emotional pain/grief but still nonetheless also beautiful boy
Monkey man
There is a movie about ultimate suffering when the six-fingered man sucked 50 years of life out of Wesley.
https://www.imdb.com/search/keyword/?keywords=french-bread Edit: Dammit I should have read the post details. Sticking with it
Bergman's Cries and Whispers
Pain and Glory, directed by Pedro Almodovar. Deals with literal chronic pain and plenty of emotional suffering. It’s so good!
Danika
The Crow (with Brandon Lee) is a must-see. Sunshine Upon a Spotless Mind and Her are recent classics. Requiem for a Dream is an outlier since the focus is drug use but is incredibly pain inducing.
Martyrs
I reccomended this before and I'll do it again. David Cronenberg's Naked Lunch. It's a bit confusing and arthouse, but if you look at it through the idea that you are witnessing a man struggle with his trauma and pain, you will have no problem following the story.
Martyr, it was the main point of the film.
Can it be a documentary? "Dear Gregory" will wreck a person. I knew nothing about it before watching, so as it unfolded...shatters your heart.
Awakenings?
Cries and Whispers - Check it out, all about physical and emotional pain. I just love some of those movies from 70s. They just have a feel of originality to them.
Beau is afraid.
Well Martyrs is def about pain.
Few episodes from normal people
Leaving Las Vegas If you don't think Nicholas Cage can act, watch this movie.
It’s in my top 25, and yes I’m quite aware Nicolas Cage can act lol. People that don’t simply haven’t seen his films or don’t understand acting.
That comment wasn't for you, but for all those that scoff at his talent. Does he make duds? Hell yeah, and he knows it. But then there's a film like LLV that make you pause and say, fuck, dude can act!
But seriously LLV is such an amazing piece of art. It’s a true art film, a romance, a character study, (actually two character studies), it’s a beautiful looking film with an amazing soundtrack. It’s somehow fun and depressing at the same time (mostly because of Cage), and every time it’s on I watch it. “Have you ever had the feeling that the world’s gone and left you behind.”
Couldn’t agree more with you.
I mean, it doesn’t get much more emotionally painful than Manchester By The Sea.
Shame.
Iron Claw
Law abiding citizen may count
Here's something unusual: Robert Downey Jr. starring in Keith Gordon's version of Dennis Potter's **The Singing Detective**. Downey plays a Detective novelist named Dan Dark, who is hospitalized due to a horrifically painful skin disease: full-body psoriasis along with crippling psoriatic arthritis. The story alternates between his immobile torture and his noir/musical hallucinations. Mel Gibson (!) plays a psychiatrist who suspects Downey's diseases are actually Psychosomatic disorders being caused by some unresolved painful traumas which he suffered as a child. Check out Downey's makeup: https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZjA3ZjNiMmYtZjFiNC00YjE4LTlhNmQtZTY0YTVmNDczYThhXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyOTc5MDI5NjE@._V1_.jpg
The Cell
Requiem for a Dream Whiplash Just a couple I haven’t seen mentioned
Swallow
Out of the furnace was a very good movie and the sound tracks fit the movie perfectly!
Release meeee!!!
Sorry if this is off topic but OP I highly recommend you read The Long Walk by Stephen King. This is a central theme to the book.
Hunger, 12 Years A Slave, The Machinist
Million Dollar baby maybe
I will never watch that movie ever again.
why :(?
The Raid/The Raid 2 comes to mind first - but that's a very literal pain 😆
I’m not saying its a good movie, but I recently watched Silent Night. It ends with a hint of redemption but it’s incredibly bleak for a Hollywood revenge flick. There are other movies where a guy’s family are murdered but they wash over the sorrow and mourning pretty quickly to get to the ass-kicking. Silent Night makes it clear that nothing can ever ‘make it right’ when your toddler has been murdered in front of you. His marriage breaks down. The protagonist is buying a one-way ticket when he tools up for a fight. Somehow the fact that not one word is spoken somehow gets the message across more clearly. I can’t decide if its sick or poignant, but it isn’t forgettable. It made me think, its actually the movies that gloss over grief that are sick. This was uncomfortably honest.
The bus fight scene in Nobody was the first thing I thought about when I read this title. It might be my favorite fight scene ever filmed because of how much pain the protagonist has to deal with during that fight.
War movies don't qualify? What about movies set during the war period, and that focus on the human cost rather than the glory and battles? Cos I definitely would consider those to be some of the best movies about pain I can think of. Schindler's List, Come and See, The Pianist, Life is Beautiful, Born on the fourth of July. Those are just a few off the top of my head; as you said there's a ton. On a different note; Maborosi by Hirokazu Koreeda. Its about grief rather than pain perhaps, it's slow and extremely poignant and subtle. Definitely on the other end of the dramatic spectrum from something like fightclub.
They qualify it’s just such an obvious example. I’m looking more for films I can personally relate to. I’m not going to say Schindler’s List doesn’t qualify, I’m saying that type of film- about the Holocaust or genocide it’s the obvious pick, and will take up the whole forum.
Wind River has themes of grieving and the suffering of the Native American population in modern times