Five Of The Most Depressing Films Ever

Wallowing in the afterglow of a feel good film? Want to wash that away with something that is black, dark and depressing? I thought so. Here are five films that will have you staring at blank wall for hours, vowing to only watch horrible comedies where a man dresses in drag (yes, I’m looking at you Big Momma’s House)… So, without further interruptions, here are five of the most depressing films ever.

BABEL

Ok, let’s sit down to watch Babel. It’s got Brad Pitt in it and Cate Blanchett – great. Oh and look, we are on a bus trip through Morocco with Richard and Susan Jones (Brad and Cate Blanchett) – nice. Sure, they have their marriage problems but they are working on it.

Then on a hillside in Morocco two kids fire a gun at a bus… Once the stray bullet punctures Susan, the film starts to tumble in the abyss of despair. Switching between three linked stories, the film lurches from one tragic mess to the next. From the Japanese girl Cheiko (Rinko Kikuchi) who can’t deal with the death of her mother, the Mexican babysitter looking after Richard and Susan’s kids who decides to visit Mexico and her sister’s wedding and things don’t go well there either, and then we come back to the story of the Moroccan kids who fired the bullet that started the spiral of sadness. No one gets out of this film emotionally intact and neither does anyone watching it.

MAY

A quirky horror film. About a quirky girl.

Not much to get depressed about here, right?

The lonely May (Angela Bettis) struggles to fit in anywhere and despite attempts cannot keep or make friends to solve this quandary May decides that she will make her own friend… from other people’s body parts. Doesn’t sound like a sad or depressing movie… yet… but wait.

After going on her body part harvest with an ice-box in tow, May begins to sew her new ‘friend’ together. However, when May realises that her new friend Amy can’t see her, May cuts out her own eye, and gives it to the bits and pieces doll she had created. In May’s mind, the doll comes to life and touches her lovingly and May bleeding, smiles because she has a perfect friend that understands her and she will never be lonely again. Downright sad and depressing.

IRREVERSIBLE

Oh dear, where to start… I think anywhere in Gaspar Noe’s non-stop depression session. Nothing good happens to anyone, except maybe the perpetrator of the act that kicks off a horrible sequence of violence and despair.

Aside from the horrible rape (made all the worse by the figure in the background watching and doing nothing to help) and the worst nightclub bashing ever filmed, it is the general tone of the film, that starts at the end and never lets you settle. Noe has punished audiences since his debut with his films, but seriously – stop it Gaspar please, we get it – humans suck.

I SAW THE DEVIL

Brutal on both a visceral and emotional level, I Saw The Devil kicks your front teeth in from the start and just keeps on whaling on you. From the depressing search of Soo Hyun’s (Lee Byung Hun) fiancé, to finding her head in a lake, to the constant appalling acts committed by Jang Kyung Chul (Choi Min Sik) I Saw The Devil never lets up. You even understand the vengeance exacted throughout the film but then just when you think that this gory, revenge tale has run its course and that you are satisfied that a justice of sorts has been doled out, the hero of the story then ups the ante and then some.. As he walks away knowing what he has done, he breaks down crying, proving that revenge does not put things right, it only further drags everyone else down.

REQUIEM FOR A DREAM

Darren Aronofsky’s anti-drug film is like a riding a train to depression city with stops along the way at sadness and horror.

As the characters start sinking lower, Aronofsky turns the screws, pushing them further into the mire and just when you think it can’t get worse it does. We know everything is not going to end well for these characters but we don’t how bad things are going to get. When it all falls apart it crashes and burns and as the quick edits start speeding up, misery is heaped upon misery until the films ends and you find yourself in the same place as all the characters – the foetal position.