# What is the saddest movie of all time?

> From wartime tragedy and terminal illness to lost love and slow heartbreak, these films don't just make you cry — they stay with you long after the credits roll. Which one broke you?

*By YPB Team · Published April 8, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/what-is-the-saddest-movie-of-all-time*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Schindler's List**
   Steven Spielberg's 1993 Holocaust masterpiece follows German industrialist Oskar Schindler as he saves over a thousand Jewish refugees.
2. **Grave of the Fireflies**
   Isao Takahata's 1988 Studio Ghibli masterpiece follows two orphaned Japanese siblings struggling to survive after WWII firebombings.
3. **The Green Mile**
   A gentle giant on death row possesses miraculous powers in this 1999 Stephen King adaptation that shatters you by its final act.
4. **Requiem for a Dream**
   Darren Aronofsky's 2000 harrowing descent into addiction follows four people as their dreams crumble into devastating reality.
5. **Brokeback Mountain**
   Ang Lee's 2005 landmark film follows two cowboys whose secret love affair unfolds over decades of longing and regret.
6. **Titanic**
   James Cameron's 1997 epic romance unfolds aboard the doomed ocean liner, with Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in star-making performances.
7. **Hachi: A Dog's Tale**
   Based on a true story, Richard Gere stars in this 2009 tearjerker about a dog who waited at a train station for his deceased owner every day for nine years.
8. **Marley & Me**
   Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston star in this 2008 comedy-drama about a couple and their lovably destructive Labrador — until the devastating finale.
9. **Dancer in the Dark**
   Björk won the Palme d'Or for her role as an immigrant worker going blind who escapes into musical fantasy in Lars von Trier's 2000 tragedy.
10. **Amour**
   Michael Haneke's Palme d'Or winner follows an elderly couple as one suffers a stroke and the other lovingly cares for them to the end.
11. **Manchester by the Sea**
   Casey Affleck plays a grief-stricken man who must care for his nephew after his brother's death in this understated 2016 masterpiece of loss.
12. **My Girl**
   A morbidly curious 11-year-old girl growing up in her father's funeral home faces her first taste of real loss in this 1991 coming-of-age tearjerker.
13. **Steel Magnolias**
   A powerhouse ensemble cast including Meryl Streep, Sally Field, and Dolly Parton navigate friendship, love, and loss in this 1989 Southern drama.
14. **Terms of Endearment**
   Shirley MacLaine and Debra Winger star in this 1983 Oscar-sweeping drama about a complicated mother-daughter relationship tested by illness.

Tags: movies, tv shows, emotional
