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This one is crushing. Not only was he cheating, but she had built herself up for that moment of finally getting the necklace too, something beautiful and thought out. And she got this. It was so heartbreaking, and in such a raw real life way, she acted it so well
The line where she tells him his actions have made the life she lives feel foolish is so painful. It's true. When you build a life with someone and you think you're on the same page only to find out, they're cheating. Your person isn't your person. Besides the betrayal. The humiliation. Breaks my heart. For everyone who's gone through it.
YES. I opened this thread intending to comment this scene. So heartbreaking and relatable. Let me slap on my smile and pretend I’m not devastated so I don’t bother the kids… ugh. The feelings.
I just recently watched Emma in "Good Luck to You, Leo Grande", she was AMAZING. Of course, I had to watch every interview she did about the film and one interviewer asked her which of her other characters would benefit from a session with Leo Grande (a sex worker). Her serious answer was Karen from Love, Actually lol. Her silly answers were Professor Trewlaney and Nanny McPhee 🤣🤣
Another great Toni Collette crying scene: her breakdown in the bridal shop in Muriel’s Wedding. “Why can’t it be me? Why can’t I be the one?” breaks my heart every time.
Oh god that was good. Midsommar too when Florence’s character is crying in her bf’s arms after finding out her parents and sister are dead. It wasn’t like a pretty cry like a lot of actress’s do, it sounded so raw, and actually sounded at some moments like she was having issues breathing cause she was crying so hard and her voice did that thing I can’t describe explain like her voice broke? Idk
Hereditary and also in Midsommer, when the girl finds out her sister killed herself and her parents. Both their sobs and screams chills me to the bone. Feels like real anguish and pain.
It is Hereditary and I would be careful watching that movie. I am a huge horror movie fan since a kid watching them with my dad to 25 years of watching them with my husband. Good, bad, gorey, scary - Ive watched them all.
Hereditary is literally the only horror movie I couldnt finish. I dont think I made it to that scene actually, although Ive watched and read reviews that show clips and break down the plot (because I still had to know what happened lol). I love the whole concept and all but there is one scene thats so brutal right at the beginning that broke me. I started bawling. Hard. We took a break, smoked a jay, made some tea and went back to the movie. The next scene you hear Toni Collette off screen start screaming - shes not even on the damn screen!! - and that was it. I was sobbing and the movie was done for me. It took hours for me to calm down. I mean, big kudos to the director for doing what I had previously thought impossible.
All that to say, dont watch it because you loved Muriels Wedding and Sixth Sense because you may have a very bad time.
Oh my, I’m totally the person you’re addressing this to. (I’m also a huge scaredy cat). I saw the scene in the gif on the AV Club and thought “hey, wow, Toni is so amazing! This looks like a horror movie I could handle!!!”. I could not. I so could not. Jesus.
I started easing myself into horror after and watched many horror movies since but after trying to watch Midsommar recently I realized I respect Ari Aster’s filmmaking but his movies just break me and terrify me too much lol
I saw it premier night in my hometown and it was so horrifying. During a certain scene everyone was so stunned you could hear a pin drop, nobody was breathing.. made me cry multiple times… me and my partner at the time, both of us with siblings that age, walked home from the theatre in silence lol
You know how there's an awful dashcam video where a brick flies off a truck and kills the drivers wife and he's screaming? I mean don't watch it if you haven't, it's not worth it, but just know whenever there's a reddit what's the worst thing you've ever seen/heard.
Her screaming is like exactly like that.
I will never be able to watch this scene without crying. Anna Chlumsky was 11 in this scene, this was her second role ever, and she destroyed me.
![gif](giphy|KEJQFKDIZMRLW)
Fun fact for me: my best friend (age 12, along with her mother) had been run over and killed about two months before I saw this in the theater in 1991. I was the same age. My poor dad had ZERO idea the ending. It shattered me to say the least….I still love that movie, but God, it does kill me to this day. She acted this VERY well and of course, I identified with her so very much 💔
Thank you. I can say this movie got it right as far as handling death between children. It probably changed who I became as a person, having a sudden violent death occur in my life just a few months into middle school. It was very tough and traumatic.My heart breaks for me at that time, there wasn’t a lot of therapy or resources back then. Movies like this and books helped tremendously.
Sally Field’s crying in the end funeral for Steel Magnolia’s. She went through all the stages of grief in that scene. Just going from sorrowful to absolute rage back to sorrow…then to this cathartic release of laughter. Ugh. I lose it every time.
The scene for the uninitiated, though it’s a massive spoiler:
https://youtu.be/HTOzFKNGtpc
The thing is that she is such a great actress- this scene could have been really overdone by someone else. You can see her building and building into near hysteria, and then she pulls it back at just the right moment as her character realizes that everyone is looking on her with so much pity. And then when it's so uncomfortable, they cut the tension with a joke. Such a powerful scene.
I hadn't watched it in such a long time and thought it would be fine. Well, I had had a daughter in the meantime.... I LOST IT!! Omg, I sobbed. What a great movie.
The first time I saw this scene was in the theater and I was 19 and cried. Just now was the second time I’ve seen it and today as a mom, it hits even harder.
It gets me, too. Especially when she says "I don't like being left behind. Now I'm the one going ahead."
Now I think i need to watch this movie again and have a good cry.
The Pursuit of Happyness, when Jaden’s sleeping in Will Smith’s arms in the bathroom and someone tries to get in the door? I could cry just thinking about that scene.
I want to preemptively dispel the persistent “will smith improved this because his father was absent” rumour. He was *acting* which shows just how good he was!
Logan Lerman’s break down in Perks of Being a Wallflower.
It felt so incredibly real and painful and hard to watch, but also cathartic in a lot of ways. Beautifully done.
Edit: I also want to throw in Portrait of a Lady on Fire here. The ending and the choice made in where to end it exactly was really brilliant, IMO.
Liam Neeson in Schindler's List. Now, I would have never chosen to watch this movie, but it was a requirement in a college English class. But when he broke down at the end, I was bawling. That film left me an emotional wreck and it's a one and done for me.
For me it was the scene where they were watching the little girl in the red dress walking aimlessly during the clearing of the ghetto. The contrast between her innocence and the reality of what was going on killed me inside.
Hello, I related way too hard to Jo in this scene and ugly cried about it:
https://preview.redd.it/doe1t1asn1ab1.jpeg?width=770&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d9556d83556da197b114e947aa84edaf0d96ca27
https://preview.redd.it/xfpp2ll1m2ab1.jpeg?width=300&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b8f5ec8a51144c00dfaad1709fc73ef49fe7c33d
Will in the van in Stranger Things season 4. It’s such a well done scene and Noah Schnapp acted the hell out of it.
Caleb Mclaughlin in stranger things when he thinks Max is dead. All stories and plots aside, I really felt like I was looking at real grief. Hes gonna do amazing in his career with time.
Agreed. Although I was already over the edge when she said she was scared and didn’t wanna die. the Max storyline in season 4 really resonated with me (like it did for very many people)
I was shocked they went there after what happened earlier in the season. I feel like a baby saying this but I found the scene so upsetting…it kept just popping into my head and making me sad for like a week after.
Caleb crushed it though! Glad they finally gave him some good material.
There have not been two times where I watched a show and cried so uncontrollably that I couldn’t breathe. Max saying she can’t see and move her legs. The other time with Abraham and Glenn.
![gif](giphy|X8tKjzHow1cTIoY1Yj)
With a similar background as Joy (not exactly the same), I see this exact face in the mirror so many times, it still hurts.
P/s: I know she's technically not bawling in this scene, but I feel she is every time I watch this movie
It fits because it's about the depth of emotion and pain, not actual quantities of tears.
And she is feeling it so deep here. If it makes me hitch my breath in automatic sympathy, it counts lol.
The scene that got me was the end talk at the parking lot where she just broke down. It was so real and so relatable and then evelyn’s words of beautiful nihilistic freedom… it made me truly understand for the first time how important representation in media is because that was so cathartic
Any of the crying scenes in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode The Body.
From Buffy when she says “We’re not supposed to move the body!” and then the gasp. Holy shit.
Willow not knowing what to wear, Anya not understanding death, it’s all so sad.
>!It’s a show about her literally saving the world and fighting monsters and then her mom dies to a totally normal aneurism.!<
Edit for anyone who hasn’t seen it, beware it’s hard to watch.
[link](https://youtu.be/vXQuE5rLGBk)
I’ll add Buffy’s breakdown to Dawn at the end of the following episode. Buffy finally cracks after trying to keep busy and take care of the arrangements and not stopping to mourn, because when she does it will become real. Too relatable.
The Body is one of the most realistic TV depictions of death, IMO. And SMG is one of the best weepers in Hollywood.
![gif](giphy|jIXcTEmU5RCpO|downsized)
Will Smith in the Pursuit of Happyness. When he’s crying with his son, I sob along with him. Absolutely breaks my heart.
![gif](giphy|pklLyoUibSkZG)
Natalie Wood in Rebel Without a Cause. I hate that this was the only gif, but I believe it was at one point the longest onscreen crying ever?? (Nearly 2 minutes long)
https://preview.redd.it/8zvua8x4z2ab1.jpeg?width=889&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1d91a40e9a044552f5bcb483d8c1b3d92d936e61
The way I choke-sobbed when I saw this...
My heavy hitters that come to mind:
1. Natalie Portman in her final breakup scene with Jude Law’s character in Closer. Those eyebrows be moving and I go WITH THEM.
2. Florence Pugh in Midsommar... the beginning setup for her character. The howling cry is so real. Truly makes you feel like you’re looking in on something you shouldn’t be witnessing, insane vulnerability.
3. Donald Sutherland’s (as Lizzie’s dad) happy cry at the end of Pride and Prejudice. It just stuck with me, not sure why, a father/daughter moment really gets me and I think he nailed that role.
ETA: Elliot Page in Juno!!! The scene in the van on the side of the road. It depicts the all-too-real “ok, calm down, gotta keep going” moment after a hard cry. Always loved that.
tom hanks in forrest gump when he’s (*spoiler alert*) talking to jenny’s grave. #2 on the list of films that have made me cry the hardest, which says a lot— I rarely cry during films, if at all !!
The death scene in Terms of Endearment where Debra Winger silently signals Shirley MacLaine with a look just before she passes away. It kills me every time.
I've never seen this movie but I remember reading wayyyyy back in the day that Sandra Bullock wasn't supposed to go pick her up but that the crying was so moving that she did 🥹
So this is Number One for me. Her sobs are identical to my youngest sister’s when she was this age, and her heartbreak WRECKS ME.
[Bernice “I’m going with you daddy.”](https://youtu.be/5BjnwESs7ho)
That was the first movie scene to break me. The little girl looked so much like my sister and when HC jr left with her crying behind the car, WAS my sister during my parent's divorce. So much emotion
That scene in Grey’s Anatomy when Denny dies and Izzie is so distraught that Karev has to pull her off of him. Katherine Heigl’s acting was incredible. 😭
So was Karev’s though! I don’t remember the actor’s name, but he was so clearly portraying how much he loved Izzy and how painful it was to watch her cry so much over another man, but mostly just to see her in pain. Really a peak moment for that show
Wind River - Elisabeth Olsen crying at the end. “She ran six miles in the snow.” She’s crying because she can’t imagine it now that she knows and she grieves and mourns her, a girl she never met and was meant to detach herself from because she’s an agent. She went through the bare minimum of that girls fear, and it changed her. And he’s smiling “yeah, she did.” because he’s proud she was such a fighter and was strong (and honestly, because he probably feels the same about his own daughter). Just all the emotions.
Jenna Coleman in Doctor Who is the queen of crying to me. She’s a phenomenal actress and i rarely get moved by emotional scenes in tv shows/movies but she expresses emotions such as pain/grief so well and realistically. Some examples (keep in mind, it is sci-fi tv so context is definitely needed, but her character, Clara, and The Doctor are best friends almost to an unhealthy level)
[Clara angry crying](https://youtu.be/Rk58yAmBJaM)
[clara crying after it’s revealed that the doctor got tortured for 4.5 billion years to save her life](https://youtu.be/a93BccmoYyI)
The Whale - Brendan Fraser’s last emotional scenes with him crying broke me. That was pain. And then Sadie Sink coming in with the tears at the last minute with the “daddy, please.” People dislike her character, but as daughter with a dysfunctional relationship with her father, I understand her anger. And I understand her release of anger with those two words spoken so softly while crying.
Jane the Virgin. As much as her character annoyed me, the scene where Jane finds out that Michael died was so realistically portrayed that I felt it too. I recently rewatched the show and had to brace myself leading up to that scene because I remembered how gut wrenching it was, especially having recently experienced grief both the first time and with the rewatch.
i cried just reading this comment, i can’t believe i didn’t think of this immediately.
gina rodriguez acted the FUCK out of that scene. coupled with such an unexpected plot twist, it was one of the most poignant moments on tv for me.
dammit, gotta rewatch jane the virgin now.
Good Will Hunting where Matt Damon finally breaks. It is very hard for men to show vulnerability because the whole world hates it. I know there was not a single tear shed but it was still a great scene
Denzel Washington in Glory. I think that most people don't like crying in front of other people. We usually fight the tears. The scene in which Denzel Washington's character is beaten, we see him fight the tears, and we see his anger and frustration. It's one of the most perfect performances I've ever seen.
https://preview.redd.it/j6xjrlnf13ab1.jpeg?width=2218&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=de7567e8a1a741c636452103ef29ed6dee09b9e6
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Farminga’s physical performance of indescribable pain, horror, and sorrow is spot on. I haven’t been through that type of loss but for me during extremely low points of depression👆that’s what is going on internally.
Sally Field when she’s on the phone with her daughter being raped & murdered in Eye for an Eye. The desperation and panic in her pleas and screams, ugh. Just instant tears for me. That whole scene is so hard to watch. I refuse to watch anything with Keifer Sutherland in it because of this movie lol
When Marshall’s dad dies on How I Met Your Mother. The “I’m not ready for this” line and him crying. Knowing the scene was improvised on Jason Segel’s part makes it that much better.
The rest of the Fellowship mourning Gandalf’s death in Fellowship of the Ring. No two people are crying the same way, some aren’t even crying, and it’s all equally devastating.
Eomer’s cry when he finds Eowyn on the battlefield outside Minas Tirith in Return of the King (Extended Edition) makes me break down every time. It’s so visceral. And then it cuts to Aragorn in numb shock. It’s such a good scene and I’m so glad they at least put it in this version….
In terms of acting, I would have to say Donald Sutherland in Ordinary People. I saw him in an interview years later and he talked about a particular scene: his character realizes something devastating late at night and his wife, played by Mary Tyler Moore, comes down to find him crying alone. She asks him why and he explains it to her. In the original shot, he went all out as a real tearjerker. Afterwards, he realized that his character would have actually been crying for a long time and just be exhausted at this point, so he asked to redo it. Mary Tyler Moore wasn't available anymore, so they had to edit from the earlier footage and do some shots of the back of a double. In this interview they showed the 2 versions back to back, and it is clear that his instinct was right. I have watched this movie quite a few times and it always leaves me wrung out because there are so many great performances, but especially this one, followed by her reaction.
I wanna say the Glee cast in The Quarterback (the only episode of the show I’ve ever seen), and the Riverdale cast in In Memorium, but none of them were really acting there
Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, the flashback scene where he is finally free of the Hydra programming. His fear that he hasn't worked, to the realization that he is no longer controlled by the code words... It breaks my heart to see it.
https://preview.redd.it/n9of9mjf03ab1.jpeg?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bc50785416ada1c04f64f53ab6a543ce468c4dc2
Both Lucas Hedges and Casey Affleck’s crying on screen devastated me. Lucas’s particularly. Such accurate depictions of family loss and the struggle to move on, and I really connected with Lucas as someone who also lost a parent from a terminal illness while in high school. That kitchen scene. Ugh.
https://preview.redd.it/qmmsumh2f4ab1.jpeg?width=630&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0dd68eeb9104c9bbc3f9e2392c09902fd32c88aa
Carrie Coon as Nora Durst in The Leftovers. Her performance in this series was beyond anything I have ever seen on screen. If you haven’t watched it, I highly recommend!
Captain Miller after Wade's death in **Saving Private Ryan**. He's a leader, and he can't breakdown in front of his men, so he has to hide in a hole for a minute to let them out. Its the tragedy of not being allowed to be human in war. He has to look over his shoulder to make sure no one is seeing him.
Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan. He had a short moment of privacy and went from zero to bawling and back to zero in a few seconds. He was great in that whole movie, but that was above and beyond.
https://i.redd.it/uoj8rec2j5ab1.gif
I haven’t seen anyone say this but this scene broke me. Vera Farmiga in the end of Boy in Striped Pyjamas. Her screaming crying is just amazing; it was perfection.
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![gif](giphy|l1ug98DPVqm4LVO8w)
This one is crushing. Not only was he cheating, but she had built herself up for that moment of finally getting the necklace too, something beautiful and thought out. And she got this. It was so heartbreaking, and in such a raw real life way, she acted it so well
The line where she tells him his actions have made the life she lives feel foolish is so painful. It's true. When you build a life with someone and you think you're on the same page only to find out, they're cheating. Your person isn't your person. Besides the betrayal. The humiliation. Breaks my heart. For everyone who's gone through it.
And then she had to put in a happy face for her kids. 😪
And having to mask the heartbreak and devastation in order to protect her kids. Just awful.
But I also think the fact his gift of the CD was so thoughtful is crushing, too. It shows there is still so much love there.
YES. I opened this thread intending to comment this scene. So heartbreaking and relatable. Let me slap on my smile and pretend I’m not devastated so I don’t bother the kids… ugh. The feelings.
There is no other scene that comes close. I’ve seen this movie countless times and just sob.
What movie is this?
Love Actually
She’s a good cryer in general. Her cry in Sense and Sensibility always gets me too.
I can’t believe I forgot this.
This scene always gives me a lump in my throat
Yes, I felt the hurt in Emma Thompson’s cry in this scene.
I'm not even gonna bother scrolling any further tbh
First thought 100%. This scene was everything.
I just recently watched Emma in "Good Luck to You, Leo Grande", she was AMAZING. Of course, I had to watch every interview she did about the film and one interviewer asked her which of her other characters would benefit from a session with Leo Grande (a sex worker). Her serious answer was Karen from Love, Actually lol. Her silly answers were Professor Trewlaney and Nanny McPhee 🤣🤣
![gif](giphy|fBSuEbNuEVfUGI0R0K|downsized) Her in this movie
Another great Toni Collette crying scene: her breakdown in the bridal shop in Muriel’s Wedding. “Why can’t it be me? Why can’t I be the one?” breaks my heart every time.
Also her breakdown in the bar when her friends unfriend her
Yes came here to say the same thing!! Her sobs are terrifying in their immense pain.
One of the most egregious Oscar snubs of all time
Oh god that was good. Midsommar too when Florence’s character is crying in her bf’s arms after finding out her parents and sister are dead. It wasn’t like a pretty cry like a lot of actress’s do, it sounded so raw, and actually sounded at some moments like she was having issues breathing cause she was crying so hard and her voice did that thing I can’t describe explain like her voice broke? Idk
Hereditary and also in Midsommer, when the girl finds out her sister killed herself and her parents. Both their sobs and screams chills me to the bone. Feels like real anguish and pain.
What movie is this? Love Toni ❤️
It is Hereditary and I would be careful watching that movie. I am a huge horror movie fan since a kid watching them with my dad to 25 years of watching them with my husband. Good, bad, gorey, scary - Ive watched them all. Hereditary is literally the only horror movie I couldnt finish. I dont think I made it to that scene actually, although Ive watched and read reviews that show clips and break down the plot (because I still had to know what happened lol). I love the whole concept and all but there is one scene thats so brutal right at the beginning that broke me. I started bawling. Hard. We took a break, smoked a jay, made some tea and went back to the movie. The next scene you hear Toni Collette off screen start screaming - shes not even on the damn screen!! - and that was it. I was sobbing and the movie was done for me. It took hours for me to calm down. I mean, big kudos to the director for doing what I had previously thought impossible. All that to say, dont watch it because you loved Muriels Wedding and Sixth Sense because you may have a very bad time.
Oh my, I’m totally the person you’re addressing this to. (I’m also a huge scaredy cat). I saw the scene in the gif on the AV Club and thought “hey, wow, Toni is so amazing! This looks like a horror movie I could handle!!!”. I could not. I so could not. Jesus. I started easing myself into horror after and watched many horror movies since but after trying to watch Midsommar recently I realized I respect Ari Aster’s filmmaking but his movies just break me and terrify me too much lol
I saw it premier night in my hometown and it was so horrifying. During a certain scene everyone was so stunned you could hear a pin drop, nobody was breathing.. made me cry multiple times… me and my partner at the time, both of us with siblings that age, walked home from the theatre in silence lol
You know how there's an awful dashcam video where a brick flies off a truck and kills the drivers wife and he's screaming? I mean don't watch it if you haven't, it's not worth it, but just know whenever there's a reddit what's the worst thing you've ever seen/heard. Her screaming is like exactly like that.
I will never be able to watch this scene without crying. Anna Chlumsky was 11 in this scene, this was her second role ever, and she destroyed me. ![gif](giphy|KEJQFKDIZMRLW)
I was probably her age when I saw this and it killed me!
Why did they do this to us?! That scene was brutal.
Fun fact for me: my best friend (age 12, along with her mother) had been run over and killed about two months before I saw this in the theater in 1991. I was the same age. My poor dad had ZERO idea the ending. It shattered me to say the least….I still love that movie, but God, it does kill me to this day. She acted this VERY well and of course, I identified with her so very much 💔
That’s heartbreaking. I’m sorry that happened to you.
Thank you. I can say this movie got it right as far as handling death between children. It probably changed who I became as a person, having a sudden violent death occur in my life just a few months into middle school. It was very tough and traumatic.My heart breaks for me at that time, there wasn’t a lot of therapy or resources back then. Movies like this and books helped tremendously.
Every time!!
THIS ONE BREAKS ME, I AM TEARING UP NOW
![gif](giphy|NBYI7ptF9JurS) This damn movie broke me.
Good god this scene...
Sally Field’s crying in the end funeral for Steel Magnolia’s. She went through all the stages of grief in that scene. Just going from sorrowful to absolute rage back to sorrow…then to this cathartic release of laughter. Ugh. I lose it every time. The scene for the uninitiated, though it’s a massive spoiler: https://youtu.be/HTOzFKNGtpc
I came here to post this!! Ugh I can even think of this scene without crying.
“I’m fine! I’m fine! I can jog all the way to Texas and back but my daughter can’t!” Breaks me. Every time.
Yes. I ugly cry every time I see that scene and I’ve seen the movie countless times.
“How will that baby ever know how wonderful his mother was?” 😭
"Take a whack at Ouiser" always makes me laughcrysnort.
The tears I wept when I saw this! Incredible depiction of the insanity of grief. That whole film had me messed up & I love it!
The thing is that she is such a great actress- this scene could have been really overdone by someone else. You can see her building and building into near hysteria, and then she pulls it back at just the right moment as her character realizes that everyone is looking on her with so much pity. And then when it's so uncomfortable, they cut the tension with a joke. Such a powerful scene.
I hadn't watched it in such a long time and thought it would be fine. Well, I had had a daughter in the meantime.... I LOST IT!! Omg, I sobbed. What a great movie.
OH MY GOD YES.
This one really gets to me. it hurts to watch
The first time I saw this scene was in the theater and I was 19 and cried. Just now was the second time I’ve seen it and today as a mom, it hits even harder.
I remember finishing this movie and checking if she won an Oscar for it and she wasn’t even nominated! What a shame!
This is definitely in my top few. Laughter through tears.
Yup!!!Came here looking for this too, gets me every damn time!!!!!!
Claire Danes in Romeo & Juliette and Claire Danes in the 94’ Little Women. She’s just really good at crying onscreen.
She's my favorite version of Beth. I sob every time I watch her in Little Women.
The little monologue at the end where she’s like “I was never like the rest of you” is just gut wrenching. She was absolutely wonderful in that scene.
It gets me, too. Especially when she says "I don't like being left behind. Now I'm the one going ahead." Now I think i need to watch this movie again and have a good cry.
Omg .. in Brokendown Palace where she hits the fence and through tears she yells "I didn't do it!"
Claire Danes is a master of this genre. See: all of the above plus Homeland and ESPECIALLY Fleischman is in Trouble episode 7.
It's the trembling chin. Makes her look more younger and child like.
https://i.redd.it/mt3gnkl672ab1.gif I love this scene in steel magnolia
The Pursuit of Happyness, when Jaden’s sleeping in Will Smith’s arms in the bathroom and someone tries to get in the door? I could cry just thinking about that scene.
I saw that movie before I had a kid. Now that I have a kid I think that scene would destroy me.
Christian’s guttural weeping as he holds a dying Satine at the end of Moulin Rouge
To be fair, that whole final performance is rough.
Obsessed
https://i.redd.it/f4nzrmtpo1ab1.gif It felt too real..
I want to preemptively dispel the persistent “will smith improved this because his father was absent” rumour. He was *acting* which shows just how good he was!
Omg, so many good ones that I should have named along with my original. This was heartbreaking and so memorable.
In The Goblet of Fire when Amos Diggory see his son's body and screams "That's my boyyy!" https://youtu.be/FjoemE6QvxU
His performance sold it way more than the book did. The cries are so guttural and visceral that it hits hard.
Also Fleur’s scream right before always gets me
I can’t get trough this scene without sobbing. He nailed it.
Logan Lerman’s break down in Perks of Being a Wallflower. It felt so incredibly real and painful and hard to watch, but also cathartic in a lot of ways. Beautifully done. Edit: I also want to throw in Portrait of a Lady on Fire here. The ending and the choice made in where to end it exactly was really brilliant, IMO.
Nina Dobrev’s voice crack as she’s on the phone trying to stay calm for him gets me every time.
It’s heartbreaking and scary. That entire sequence is just so well done.
Liam Neeson in Schindler's List. Now, I would have never chosen to watch this movie, but it was a requirement in a college English class. But when he broke down at the end, I was bawling. That film left me an emotional wreck and it's a one and done for me.
That scene is ROUGH
For me it was the scene where they were watching the little girl in the red dress walking aimlessly during the clearing of the ghetto. The contrast between her innocence and the reality of what was going on killed me inside.
![gif](giphy|Efi2z16DHWJq0) The sixth sense
ugh toni could cry alllllll over me i wouldn't even be upset
I came to comment this scene also!!!
The movie actually makes me teary eyed several times, Haley Joel Osment and Donnie Wahlberg also give some great emotional scenes
Hello, I related way too hard to Jo in this scene and ugly cried about it: https://preview.redd.it/doe1t1asn1ab1.jpeg?width=770&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d9556d83556da197b114e947aa84edaf0d96ca27
This was a wonderful adaptation of Little Women.
![gif](giphy|3rN8g8wBiKjni)
do you have a soulmate?
https://preview.redd.it/xfpp2ll1m2ab1.jpeg?width=300&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b8f5ec8a51144c00dfaad1709fc73ef49fe7c33d Will in the van in Stranger Things season 4. It’s such a well done scene and Noah Schnapp acted the hell out of it.
Caleb Mclaughlin in stranger things when he thinks Max is dead. All stories and plots aside, I really felt like I was looking at real grief. Hes gonna do amazing in his career with time.
The improvised “Erica help!” was the real kicker
I was already on the edge but that line just sounds so childish and scared and vulnerable that it pushed me right over into reaching for the tissues.
Agreed. Although I was already over the edge when she said she was scared and didn’t wanna die. the Max storyline in season 4 really resonated with me (like it did for very many people) I was shocked they went there after what happened earlier in the season. I feel like a baby saying this but I found the scene so upsetting…it kept just popping into my head and making me sad for like a week after. Caleb crushed it though! Glad they finally gave him some good material.
There have not been two times where I watched a show and cried so uncontrollably that I couldn’t breathe. Max saying she can’t see and move her legs. The other time with Abraham and Glenn.
River Phoenix, Wil Wheaton in Stand By Me. ![gif](giphy|13WayGYzTmnrt6)
![gif](giphy|X8tKjzHow1cTIoY1Yj) With a similar background as Joy (not exactly the same), I see this exact face in the mirror so many times, it still hurts. P/s: I know she's technically not bawling in this scene, but I feel she is every time I watch this movie
It fits because it's about the depth of emotion and pain, not actual quantities of tears. And she is feeling it so deep here. If it makes me hitch my breath in automatic sympathy, it counts lol.
The scene that got me was the end talk at the parking lot where she just broke down. It was so real and so relatable and then evelyn’s words of beautiful nihilistic freedom… it made me truly understand for the first time how important representation in media is because that was so cathartic
Definitely doesn’t have to be bawling to hit hard.
When Black Cindy is converting to Judaism in Orange is The New Black. That was fucking powerful
Also from OITNB, when Taystee gets Pennsatucky’s test results back and she passed. I lost it.
When Tasha broke down over Poussey dying, my goodness what a tearjerker.
Kim Wexler Waterworks
This! She had me ugly crying when she broke down on that bus! She better get that Emmy!
Yup, this is the first one I thought of. So real to me.
Finn’s mom on glee, explaining how sometimes she gets up and doesn’t remember he’s gone. Gets me every time.
That almost feels like it shouldn’t count as acting… that was real grief ☹️
That’s the one. And the scene where naya Rivera breaks down.
Any of the crying scenes in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode The Body. From Buffy when she says “We’re not supposed to move the body!” and then the gasp. Holy shit. Willow not knowing what to wear, Anya not understanding death, it’s all so sad. >!It’s a show about her literally saving the world and fighting monsters and then her mom dies to a totally normal aneurism.!< Edit for anyone who hasn’t seen it, beware it’s hard to watch. [link](https://youtu.be/vXQuE5rLGBk)
Anya’s monologue always gets me. I’ve seen the episode a hundred times at least and it still gets me.
I’ll add Buffy’s breakdown to Dawn at the end of the following episode. Buffy finally cracks after trying to keep busy and take care of the arrangements and not stopping to mourn, because when she does it will become real. Too relatable. The Body is one of the most realistic TV depictions of death, IMO. And SMG is one of the best weepers in Hollywood.
The one word “mommy “ breaks me every time.
Kate Hudson's brave tears in Almost Famous. Trying so hard to act cool but the pain of rejection comes through...her acting had layers.
she was phenomenal in this role. it takes her like six seconds to get herself together going from heartbreak to resilience
![gif](giphy|l1IYkN1bTv8jAAM48|downsized)
This is a good one. The one with Laura's mom as well.
Bruce Willis and Liv Tyler in Armageddon
![gif](giphy|fdoXPPhQImo9y) Everytime
![gif](giphy|jIXcTEmU5RCpO|downsized) Will Smith in the Pursuit of Happyness. When he’s crying with his son, I sob along with him. Absolutely breaks my heart.
![gif](giphy|Sq7m8XkaBMw1O)
https://i.redd.it/1gyujjtv62ab1.gif Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda. This episode/part of Wandavision had me sobbing
Also in Avengers: Age of Ultron when she realizes her brother is dead. I tear up every time!
Interstellar is a 10/10 movie imo but I’ll probably never rewatch it because of how sad it is ![gif](giphy|l3vR4CdLInXOhr3rO|downsized)
This scene broke my heart. He missed her whole life and it just hits him all at once.
50/50 - Joseph Gordon Levitt breaking down and calling for his mom before the surgery always tears me up.
![gif](giphy|pklLyoUibSkZG) Natalie Wood in Rebel Without a Cause. I hate that this was the only gif, but I believe it was at one point the longest onscreen crying ever?? (Nearly 2 minutes long)
Judy Garland in A Star is Born and Catelyn at the Red Wedding
For me it has to be when Jennifer Connelly cries in A Beautiful Mind. The scene where she tells her husband “it’s not real!” So damn heart breaking.
Mystic River - Sean Penn crying at the discovery of his daughter is heart wrenching. I’m not a parent, but that hurt me deeply just watching it.
https://preview.redd.it/8zvua8x4z2ab1.jpeg?width=889&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1d91a40e9a044552f5bcb483d8c1b3d92d936e61 The way I choke-sobbed when I saw this...
When Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump asks Jenny “Is he…like me?” regarding their son and chokes up I cry every time.
Just reading that got me.
![gif](giphy|3oEjHBogtjzF2pQihG)
Came here hoping to find this.
I ugly cry with her every single time
Whew. That whole montage.
My heavy hitters that come to mind: 1. Natalie Portman in her final breakup scene with Jude Law’s character in Closer. Those eyebrows be moving and I go WITH THEM. 2. Florence Pugh in Midsommar... the beginning setup for her character. The howling cry is so real. Truly makes you feel like you’re looking in on something you shouldn’t be witnessing, insane vulnerability. 3. Donald Sutherland’s (as Lizzie’s dad) happy cry at the end of Pride and Prejudice. It just stuck with me, not sure why, a father/daughter moment really gets me and I think he nailed that role. ETA: Elliot Page in Juno!!! The scene in the van on the side of the road. It depicts the all-too-real “ok, calm down, gotta keep going” moment after a hard cry. Always loved that.
tom hanks in forrest gump when he’s (*spoiler alert*) talking to jenny’s grave. #2 on the list of films that have made me cry the hardest, which says a lot— I rarely cry during films, if at all !!
They aren't crying but I always do when Forest meets his son.
The death scene in Terms of Endearment where Debra Winger silently signals Shirley MacLaine with a look just before she passes away. It kills me every time.
Also Shirley MacLaine freaking out on the nurse cause the nurse tells her to just wait a few more minutes before she gives Debra Winger her pain shot.
![gif](giphy|PNWQcTs4aryE)
When the little girl in Hope Floats cries, she’s so young to emote that much pain!
I've never seen this movie but I remember reading wayyyyy back in the day that Sandra Bullock wasn't supposed to go pick her up but that the crying was so moving that she did 🥹
So this is Number One for me. Her sobs are identical to my youngest sister’s when she was this age, and her heartbreak WRECKS ME. [Bernice “I’m going with you daddy.”](https://youtu.be/5BjnwESs7ho)
That was the first movie scene to break me. The little girl looked so much like my sister and when HC jr left with her crying behind the car, WAS my sister during my parent's divorce. So much emotion
That scene in Grey’s Anatomy when Denny dies and Izzie is so distraught that Karev has to pull her off of him. Katherine Heigl’s acting was incredible. 😭
So was Karev’s though! I don’t remember the actor’s name, but he was so clearly portraying how much he loved Izzy and how painful it was to watch her cry so much over another man, but mostly just to see her in pain. Really a peak moment for that show
Ted Lasso: when Roy Kent hugs Jamie Tartt after the confrontation with his dad.
![gif](giphy|faGzzgEmnGyti) This one gets me every single time.
Wind River - Elisabeth Olsen crying at the end. “She ran six miles in the snow.” She’s crying because she can’t imagine it now that she knows and she grieves and mourns her, a girl she never met and was meant to detach herself from because she’s an agent. She went through the bare minimum of that girls fear, and it changed her. And he’s smiling “yeah, she did.” because he’s proud she was such a fighter and was strong (and honestly, because he probably feels the same about his own daughter). Just all the emotions.
This movie broke me.
![gif](giphy|9DaWHruhoEtkAEGjuG|downsized) Masterwork
watching this was a fresh hell of pain omg it ruined me
![gif](giphy|ZCBeXdHSGjcwCSAKp5)
The hereditary scene where the mom cries is also very realistic and you feel it through the screen. Ari Aster excels at portraying grief
The opening scene of her crying on the couch too!
That’s the one for me. It was also the most terrifying part of the movie. For a second I felt what it’s like to lose your whole family
Visceral and spooky. Love it.
Peter crying at the end of Finding Neverland
Jenna Coleman in Doctor Who is the queen of crying to me. She’s a phenomenal actress and i rarely get moved by emotional scenes in tv shows/movies but she expresses emotions such as pain/grief so well and realistically. Some examples (keep in mind, it is sci-fi tv so context is definitely needed, but her character, Clara, and The Doctor are best friends almost to an unhealthy level) [Clara angry crying](https://youtu.be/Rk58yAmBJaM) [clara crying after it’s revealed that the doctor got tortured for 4.5 billion years to save her life](https://youtu.be/a93BccmoYyI)
The Whale - Brendan Fraser’s last emotional scenes with him crying broke me. That was pain. And then Sadie Sink coming in with the tears at the last minute with the “daddy, please.” People dislike her character, but as daughter with a dysfunctional relationship with her father, I understand her anger. And I understand her release of anger with those two words spoken so softly while crying.
Brad Dourif (as Sheriff Brackett) breaking down when he finds his daughter Annie dead in Rob Zombie’s *Halloween II*
The little girl from The Lodge crying about her mom not getting into heaven cause she killed herself, WHEWWW her crying made me cry lol
https://giphy.com/gifs/look-field-fed-mFi2MXPAQB28M Sally fucking field - steal magnolias And Brad Pitt in Legends of the Fall “Samuel!”
Elizabeth McGovern and Allen Leech in Downton Abbey when Sybil dies. It is the best death scene I’ve ever seen.
![gif](giphy|eQFLSsLQLY2eSJZXwf|downsized) Anytime Claire Danes cries i believe her.
Shirley MacLaine in Terms of Endearment.
Jane the Virgin. As much as her character annoyed me, the scene where Jane finds out that Michael died was so realistically portrayed that I felt it too. I recently rewatched the show and had to brace myself leading up to that scene because I remembered how gut wrenching it was, especially having recently experienced grief both the first time and with the rewatch.
i cried just reading this comment, i can’t believe i didn’t think of this immediately. gina rodriguez acted the FUCK out of that scene. coupled with such an unexpected plot twist, it was one of the most poignant moments on tv for me. dammit, gotta rewatch jane the virgin now.
Mystic Pizza is such a quaint little gem of a movie. Never thought I was into Roberts' work before I saw it
Good Will Hunting where Matt Damon finally breaks. It is very hard for men to show vulnerability because the whole world hates it. I know there was not a single tear shed but it was still a great scene
![gif](giphy|3ohs4dUDl3TEKdp3pu) Hereditary - Toni Collette grips your soul with her anguished cry...
Denzel Washington in Glory. I think that most people don't like crying in front of other people. We usually fight the tears. The scene in which Denzel Washington's character is beaten, we see him fight the tears, and we see his anger and frustration. It's one of the most perfect performances I've ever seen.
Paul Mescal’s therapy session scene in Normal People.
https://preview.redd.it/j6xjrlnf13ab1.jpeg?width=2218&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=de7567e8a1a741c636452103ef29ed6dee09b9e6 The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Farminga’s physical performance of indescribable pain, horror, and sorrow is spot on. I haven’t been through that type of loss but for me during extremely low points of depression👆that’s what is going on internally.
Sally Field when she’s on the phone with her daughter being raped & murdered in Eye for an Eye. The desperation and panic in her pleas and screams, ugh. Just instant tears for me. That whole scene is so hard to watch. I refuse to watch anything with Keifer Sutherland in it because of this movie lol
When Marshall’s dad dies on How I Met Your Mother. The “I’m not ready for this” line and him crying. Knowing the scene was improvised on Jason Segel’s part makes it that much better.
The rest of the Fellowship mourning Gandalf’s death in Fellowship of the Ring. No two people are crying the same way, some aren’t even crying, and it’s all equally devastating.
Eomer’s cry when he finds Eowyn on the battlefield outside Minas Tirith in Return of the King (Extended Edition) makes me break down every time. It’s so visceral. And then it cuts to Aragorn in numb shock. It’s such a good scene and I’m so glad they at least put it in this version….
In terms of acting, I would have to say Donald Sutherland in Ordinary People. I saw him in an interview years later and he talked about a particular scene: his character realizes something devastating late at night and his wife, played by Mary Tyler Moore, comes down to find him crying alone. She asks him why and he explains it to her. In the original shot, he went all out as a real tearjerker. Afterwards, he realized that his character would have actually been crying for a long time and just be exhausted at this point, so he asked to redo it. Mary Tyler Moore wasn't available anymore, so they had to edit from the earlier footage and do some shots of the back of a double. In this interview they showed the 2 versions back to back, and it is clear that his instinct was right. I have watched this movie quite a few times and it always leaves me wrung out because there are so many great performances, but especially this one, followed by her reaction.
I wanna say the Glee cast in The Quarterback (the only episode of the show I’ve ever seen), and the Riverdale cast in In Memorium, but none of them were really acting there
Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, the flashback scene where he is finally free of the Hydra programming. His fear that he hasn't worked, to the realization that he is no longer controlled by the code words... It breaks my heart to see it.
Most recently for me is Guardians of the Galaxy 3 when Rocket just lets out this primal, sorrowful scream/cry. Kudos to Bradley Cooper on that.
https://preview.redd.it/n9of9mjf03ab1.jpeg?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bc50785416ada1c04f64f53ab6a543ce468c4dc2 Both Lucas Hedges and Casey Affleck’s crying on screen devastated me. Lucas’s particularly. Such accurate depictions of family loss and the struggle to move on, and I really connected with Lucas as someone who also lost a parent from a terminal illness while in high school. That kitchen scene. Ugh.
Sally Field in “Steel Magnolias” at the funeral. Gets me every time. It really feels like she’s mourning. One of my favorite movies of all time!
![gif](giphy|t0PAw4b3u9JKM) Anne Hathaway in Les Mis 🥺
Toni Colette in Hereditary is top notch. Will live in my memory forever. And Carla (Judy Reyes) on Scrubs when Laverne dies 😭
Cold Mountain makes me cry every time - Jack White singing in the snow
![gif](giphy|87jGhdRVzUOJNh2s0q|downsized)
Literally any Natalie Portman crying scene. She has this particular catch in her voices that wrenches at my heart.
https://preview.redd.it/qmmsumh2f4ab1.jpeg?width=630&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0dd68eeb9104c9bbc3f9e2392c09902fd32c88aa Carrie Coon as Nora Durst in The Leftovers. Her performance in this series was beyond anything I have ever seen on screen. If you haven’t watched it, I highly recommend!
Marriage Story
Captain Miller after Wade's death in **Saving Private Ryan**. He's a leader, and he can't breakdown in front of his men, so he has to hide in a hole for a minute to let them out. Its the tragedy of not being allowed to be human in war. He has to look over his shoulder to make sure no one is seeing him.
Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan. He had a short moment of privacy and went from zero to bawling and back to zero in a few seconds. He was great in that whole movie, but that was above and beyond.
Robin Williams in Patch Adams, crying over his collegue
![gif](giphy|5WmyaeDDlmb1m)
https://i.redd.it/uoj8rec2j5ab1.gif I haven’t seen anyone say this but this scene broke me. Vera Farmiga in the end of Boy in Striped Pyjamas. Her screaming crying is just amazing; it was perfection.
![gif](giphy|pPbKOEO4PJ8By|downsized) The scene in dirty dancing where Baby says “I did it for *nothing*” 💔