8 movies with a sad ending where you shouldn't expect a happy ending

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Many films have taught viewers that in the end, goodness and love will win, despite all the difficulties, and the movie characters are doing well. Basically, viewers like it, because they really want to believe in the best, at least in cinema, even if the happy ending looks more like a miracle than reality. But there are also films in which one should not count on a happy ending of the plot. There are fewer such pictures, but they are remembered better because of the non-triviality of the ending. Perhaps the sad ending will disappoint someone, while others will find it more realistic than the banal blueprint happy ending.

The Wicker Man (1973)

This film will be remembered by viewers for one of the most thrilling and chilling endings that have ever been on television. The plot is based on the story of one sheriff, a staunch Christian Neil Howie (Edward Woodward), who goes to Summerail Island to find the disappeared girl Rowan Morrison (Geraldine Cowper). The islanders greeted the sheriff with cold hostility. Despite the fact that the locals of this island claim that they have never seen this girl here, the inspector still manages to find her.

But the joy of the find was short-lived. The thing is that the sheriff falls into a trap. Since the locals of the island, led by their leader Lord Summerail (Christopher Lee), practice the rituals of Celtic paganism, the inspectors want to be sacrificed. At the end of the film, a frightened Neil Howie finds himself face to face with death. Faith in the righteous power of good literally melts before the eyes of TV viewers, when the Gods, under the solemn singing of the tribe, seem to triumph over progress and development.

The Green Mile (1999)

Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks) is the head of the death row in a prison where all inmates will one day have to walk the "green mile" on their way to the place of execution. This boss has seen enough prisoners and guards throughout his career. But one of the prisoners still surprised him to the core. Despite the impressive size and the accusation of a gruesome crime, John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan) disposes. Viewers literally from the first shots believe and empathize with this hero, and even before it becomes clear that he is innocent of killing children.

At the moment when he helps the warden by curing his wife, the viewer calms down a little and hopes for a happy ending to the film. But the closer the finale was, the less it is believed in the salvation of this kind and polite person. And at the end of the film, all hopes are dashed, execution is inevitable. The film is so emotional that no matter how often the viewer watches it, tears still come to their eyes. A particularly difficult moment is when the hero is in the electric chair and the guards are crying. Still, such films are needed, they will never lose their relevance.

Requiem for a Dream (2000)

The ruthless drama builds on the intertwining storylines of the widow Sarah Goldfarb (Ellen Burstyn) and her drug-addicted son Harry (Jared Leto), as well as his girlfriend Marion (Jennifer Connelly) and friend Tyrone (Marlon Waynes). All four of these characters are key, and they each have their own dream. Harry and his friend dreamed of getting rich, his mother - to star in a popular television program, and the girl - to open her own store. Choosing the wrong ways to implement their goals, as well as due to various kinds of addiction, the dreams of the heroes remain unattainable, and their lives literally collapse.

According to the author's idea, the film tells not only about drug addiction, because absolutely any obsession can destroy a human life, for example, things, food, games, people, and so on. Observing the heroes, you can see three stages of their degradation. The director divided the picture into three parts with a prologue and an epilogue. These parts are named symbolically: "Summer", "Autumn", "Winter", thus denoting not only the time when the action of the film takes place, but also hinting at the gradual deterioration in the lives of the heroes. Moreover, each act is less than the previous one, which indicates an acceleration of events, depending on how things take a more tragic turn.

In this film, the story is so soulfully told that the viewer involuntarily begins to feel sorry for the drug addict, and wait for a happy ending, where the heroes will take up their minds and heal in a new way. But over time, it becomes clear that such a good ending will not be, this makes it even more pity for the heroes of the picture.

Oldboy (2003)

This film can rightfully be called a South Korean masterpiece. Despite the fact that this tape begins as a comedy, then the genre looks more like a detective story, with elements of a psychological thriller, and then turns into a real bloody tragedy. This picture received many awards, as well as rave reviews from critics. The main character of the film is an ordinary businessman Oh Dae-su (Choi Min-sik). On the birthday of his daughter, who is just three years old, he gets drunk on the way home. For hooliganism, a businessman ends up in a police station. From there he is rescued under his care by a friend of the protagonist. But while he moved away to call the wife of his drunken friend, he suddenly disappears.

As a result, Oh Dae-su is kidnapped and sent to a windowless room for an agonizingly long fifteen years. After all these years of inhuman imprisonment, he is released. Now he has the main goal in life - to find his kidnappers and, of course, to avenge the stolen years. But in the end, everything turned out not as he dreamed. O Te-Su is both a victim and an avenger. His life went downhill. His unknown enemy took the dearest from him. He took away his freedom, killed his wife, and made sure that all the evidence pointed to the hero himself. So, if not for the confinement in this room, he would have gone to a real prison. As in other films, you shouldn't count on a happy ending. This picture is filled with wild pain and suffering.

"No Country for Old Men" (2007)

One day, while hunting for antelope, a simple hard worker Llewelin Moss (Josh Brolin) finds in the desert a whole mountain of corpses, a truck filled with drugs, as well as a case with banknotes totaling two million dollars. Having succumbed to temptation, he takes this large sum for himself, not even suspecting how dangerous his life will become now. From now on, he became not a hunter, but a victim pursued by the owners of this case - a dangerous group, eager to return what belongs to them at any cost, and also to punish the impudent thief.

But they are not the only ones who want to get hold of this money. The case is being hunted by two more, hired killer Carlson Wells (Woody Harrelson) and escaped killer Anton Chigur (Javier Bardem), who with his merciless actions resembles a natural disaster. He is no ordinary killer, his actions are manic. He invites all victims to toss a coin, allegedly inviting them to determine their own destiny. But in the end, the villain still wins. So now the life of the protagonist is like some kind of bloody chaos. And this wave of brutality and violence cannot be stopped even by the entire West Texas Police Headquarters.

"Seven Lives" (2008)

The protagonist of the film, Ben Thomas (Will Smith), is a highly successful engineer. One day he had an accident where seven people, including his fiancée, were killed through his fault. This terrible tragedy radically changed his whole life. In order to somehow correct the mistakes of his past, Ben quits his job and helps complete strangers. To return his "debt" to the Universe, the main character of the film becomes a donor for seven people. First he donates part of his liver, then he donates a kidney, then bone marrow, and so on.

Ben chooses the people to whom he donates his organs very carefully. And then one day he meets a terminally ill girl named Emily (Rosario Dawson), who needs a heart transplant. Having got to know her better, he falls in love with Emily, but they are not destined to live happily ever after, because in this film a happy ending is not planned.

Buried Alive (2010)

Regardless of the fact that the budget of the film was modest enough, this thriller with elements of drama has garnered enough accolades. Perhaps this is the merit of the talented Ryan Reynolds, who was very convincing in his role. The main character of the film is under contract in Iraq. One day, during an ambush, Paul loses consciousness. After some time, the man comes to his senses, but does not understand where he is, since the place where he came to was in impenetrable darkness. Finding a lighter and a phone with him, he realizes that he was buried alive in a coffin.

Now he has to go through a lot of difficult psychological and physical struggle for his own survival, he clings to every opportunity to get out of this terrible trap. Thanks to telephone conversations, the viewer understands how the man fell into such a terrible trap. The film shows the search for Paul, but with every minute the supply of oxygen becomes less and less. And now, when the hero despaired, they call him and inform him that he has already been found and is being dug up. But, as it turned out, they did not find him.

Logan (2017)

Unfortunately for fans, this film ended the story of perhaps the most famous mutant in the X-Men universe. Moreover, the film turned out to be unusual, not like many films about superheroes. This is a more mature and serious picture, filled with more drama than a comic book plot. Of course, many knew that this film was a farewell to the image of Wolverine performed by Hugh Jackman, but many hoped for a happier ending than the death of the main character, because a whole generation of people grew up with him.

When the wounds do not heal as quickly as before, and you have to carry an old man in your arms, when you yourself are almost an old man, there is no longer that heroism in your thoughts. Absolutely everyone gets tired of life, even mutants. When watching this film, you realize that somewhere near the end of Wolverine's existence. Saying goodbye to film eras is always difficult, especially if the viewer is serious about what is happening on the screen. The final came out very worthy, but how painful it is to call "Logan" the final.