The 12 Greatest Crying Scenes In Films, Ranked

Crying, one of the crucial primal expressions of emotion, interprets throughout language and tradition, typically bringing viewers themselves to tears. However not all film crying is created equal. Tears do not robotically make an incredible film scene; the mixture of appearing, directing, and writing does.

It is troublesome to correctly calibrate the depth of a crying scene. Ought to the actor be full-on sobbing or ugly crying a lá Tobey Maguire within the “Spider-Man” movies? Ought to the tears look elegant and composed, like Cher’s stunning tears on the opera in “Moonstruck”? The viewers has to imagine that the character’s circumstances are value crying over and that their tears are real, lest they snicker as a substitute of feeling empathetic.

The perfect cinematic crying scenes require actors to showcase their appearing chops whereas additionally including depth to the character and the story. When carried out properly, tearful moments wordlessly let the viewer in on a personality’s true emotions. Scenes like this turn out to be iconic as a result of they’re profound sufficient to stay in moviegoers’ minds lengthy after the credit roll. We have compiled the 12 greatest crying scenes in film historical past, so get your tissues prepared.

Beloved by many as a Christmas traditional, sure components of “Love, Really” did not age properly. However there’s one scene in “Love Really” that is undeniably good, whether or not you just like the movie or not. One subplot follows Daniel (Liam Neeson) and Karen (Emma Thompson), a middle-aged married couple with youngsters. Within the lead-up to Christmas, Karen finds an exquisite necklace her husband purchased and assumes it is a reward for her. She finds out on Christmas morning that the reward was truly for his mistress.

An awesome piece of writing and a superb efficiency from Thompson, the scene hits all the suitable emotional notes. Karen opens her reward and finds a Joni Mitchell CD relatively than the necklace. Moments later, she makes an excuse to go away and shuts herself within the bed room. Karen places on the CD, and we enter the scene with “Each Sides Now” enjoying. She stands stock-still within the bed room as silent tears start to fall. Karen provides herself a second to cry earlier than blotting her face and returning to her household, fussing with the bedspread as she leaves.

It is an understated efficiency from Thompson, however that is why it is so highly effective. She barely permits herself time to grieve her marriage earlier than going again to her household, and watching her put herself again collectively and resume celebrating Christmas is heartbreaking.

One in all Matt Damon’s most celebrated performances, “Good Will Searching” –- which he wrote with pal and co-star Ben Affleck -– is greatest remembered for one extremely emotional scene. Damon performs Will, a self-sabotaging troublemaker and math genius who works as a janitor. Will begins seeing a therapist, Dr. Sean Maguire (Robin Williams), as a requirement to proceed working with a professor who found his abilities.

Initially, Will dismisses the thought of remedy and refuses to take Sean significantly. Ultimately, they’ve a breakthrough, and Will reveals the abuse he suffered as a baby. Sean provides Will one final piece of knowledge throughout their remaining session collectively. “It is not your fault,” Sean tells him, referring to his abusive foster father. Will says, “I do know,” however Sean retains repeating the phrase till it hits residence. Will’s tears flip to sobs, and he stands in Sean’s workplace crying into his arms like he could not do as a boy.

Although it is Damon who sheds tears, Williams’ efficiency is simply as vital. His sort, compassionate, and affected person demeanor warms the guts, and his openness and fatherly care on this scene permit Will to search out peace. Damon’s Will might solely have this weak second with Williams’ beneficiant, goodhearted Sean, and the mixture of these two stirring performances ends in a poignant, memorable scene.

Leonardo DiCaprio cries extra in films than nearly any of his friends. He is shed tears in over a dozen movies, brimming with ardour and despair in every of them. In Baz Luhrmann’s “Romeo + Juliet,” the film that ushered within the period of cool Shakespeare, DiCaprio cries on a number of events. Within the play’s memorable conclusion, Romeo breaks down upon discovering Juliet useless (or so he thinks). However that is not the movie’s biggest crying scene. That comes shortly earlier than the lovers’ remaining moments.

Romeo’s cousin, Balthasar (Jesse Bradford), involves the trailer park the place Romeo is hiding and informs him of Juliet’s loss of life, not figuring out in regards to the potion she took. Romeo walks additional into the desert, sinking to his knees in despair. “I defy you stars,” he yells on the sky, wracked with sobs. He then screams Juliet’s title earlier than dropping his breath, overcome by sobs and grief.

DiCaprio’s devotion to the movie’s vivid emotional register and his boyish demeanor each contribute to this scene’s efficiency. His cries sound like these of a boy, reminding how younger the lovers are. His response comes off as adolescent angst, whereas his excessive ardour lends itself to the movie’s theatrical tone. The movie –- and this scene –- are classics for a purpose, owing as a lot to the actors’ enthusiastic performances as to Luhrmann’s inventive route.

The forged of “Glory” consists of many gifted actors -– Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman, Andre Braugher, Matthew Broderick, Cary and Elwes –- however solely one in all them received an Academy Award for the movie. Broderick performs real-life soldier Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, who led an African American regiment within the Civil Conflict, and Washington performs Journey, a previously enslaved member of the regiment.

Washington received his first Oscar for “Glory,” largely attributable to one tearful second. The scene takes place after Journey deserts (for a very good purpose) and is caught. The racist Sergeant Main Mulcahy (John Finn) calls for that Journey be flogged, and Shaw acquiesces. When Mulcahy rips Journey’s shirt off, we see the handfuls of scars on his again. Journey rips off the remainder of his shirt and defiantly seems at Shaw as he settles into his place. There is not any worry in his eyes, simply anger and defiance.

He stares Shaw down with a glance of contempt, however not shock –- he is come to anticipate this sort of remedy. Close to the top of his punishment, a single tear rolls down Journey’s face, revealing that whereas he could also be sturdy, he is nonetheless a human being, and he might be harm. This second is a significant purpose why it was Washington’s breakout movie and the very best Civil Conflict film ever made.

“Interstellar,” Christopher Nolan’s emotional masterpiece, comprises a well-known crying scene involving Matthew McConaughey. Although the scene could really feel like previous information to chronically on-line people, it is value contemplating alongside a few of cinema’s greatest tearful moments.

McConaughey performs Cooper, a NASA pilot turned farmer residing by means of a local weather apocalypse. He goes on an area mission to colonize a liveable planet, leaving his kids behind. As a consequence of time dilation, as soon as Cooper leaves the planet, 23 years on Earth have handed. Cooper receives years value of messages from his youngsters, Tom (Timothée Chalamet, then Casey Affleck) and Murph (Jessica Chastain). Tom tells Cooper of assembly his spouse, having a son, and the loss of life of his grandfather. He solely receives one message from a still-angry Murph, when she’s the identical age as Cooper was when he left.

McConaughey solely utters just a few phrases, and he performs the scene alone, gazing a TV display. Regardless of these uncommon circumstances, McConaughey provides a gut-wrenching efficiency that emphasizes how a lot ache this lacking time has brought on him. It is a devastating flip of occasions, and McConaughey delivers the extent of despair the scene necessitates.

Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan (typically generally known as SRK) is undoubtedly one of many biggest on-screen criers in cinema historical past. He cries in a good portion of his movies, typically a number of instances per image. Khan’s tears in some way seem greater and extra vibrant than the tears of different actors.

A few of his greatest crying happens within the 2002 film “Devdas.” Khan performs Devdas Mukherjee, a rich younger man returning residence after a decade finding out in London. Devdas reunites together with his childhood greatest pal, Paro (Aishwarya Rai), and so they fall in love. They’d prefer to get married, however Devdas’ mom disapproves as a result of they’re from totally different castes. After a lot backwards and forwards between the households, Devdas provides up on Paro, and he or she marries an older widower.

After dropping Paro, Devdas visits a brothel, the place he meets an exquisite and kindhearted courtesan, Chandramukhi (Madhuri Dixit). Chandramukhi falls in love with Devdas, whereas Devdas falls into alcoholism. In a single tragic second, Devdas is drunk by the river following a Durga Puja competition. Chandramukhi tries to consolation him, however he behaves belligerently, hurling hurtful phrases and breaking glass bottles. Khan cries for many of the almost five-minute scene, oscillating between anger and anguish. It is a masterful efficiency from Khan, and although fairly theatrical, the scene serves because the movie’s emotional middle.

The traditional movie “Metal Magnolias” follows a gaggle of close-knit ladies in a small Louisiana city. The unimaginable ensemble forged consists of Sally Subject, Julia Roberts, Dolly Parton, Olympia Dukakis, Shirley MacLaine, and Daryl Hannah. Subject performs M’Lynn, whose daughter, Shelby (Julia Roberts), has kind 1 diabetes. Shelby’s loss of life, a 12 months after she provides start to her first youngster, serves because the turning level of the film.

The perfect scene within the film takes place after Shelby’s funeral. M’Lynn begins by describing how a lot Shelby’s loss of life saddens her, however how she was grateful to have been along with her at the beginning of her life and the very finish. Then her anger bubbles up. She begins shouting about how unfair it’s that Shelby was taken from her. “I need to know why,” she screams, exclaiming that she looks like hitting somebody. In a shocking flip of occasions, her pal Clairee (Dukakis) diffuses the scenario with laughter, suggesting that M’Lynn slap the grouchy Ouiser (MacLaine) to expel her anger.

The exceptional scene soars partly due to what an emotional rollercoaster it’s. The tone switches from unhappiness to anger to humor each minute, reflecting the messy actuality of grief and friendship. Subject carries the scene, and the way in which she embodies M’Lynn’s resistance to after which acceptance of her ache is jaw-dropping. The opposite ladies’s reactions to M’Lynn, in addition to the dynamic approach the scene is shot and blocked, solely add to its brilliance.

Many individuals take into account Tom Cruise a daredevil motion hero and nothing else, and his all-time greatest efficiency, in Paul Thomas Anderson’s masterpiece, “Magnolia,” is just too typically missed. Cruise performs Frank T.J. Mackey, a pick-up artist who travels across the nation educating males find out how to seduce ladies in essentially the most misogynistic method potential. He is not the sort of character you root for, however Cruise does the not possible: he reveals Frank’s humanity and invitations you to empathize with a personality you hate.

Frank’s father, who deserted him when he was a baby and by no means returned, even when his mom was dying of most cancers, contacts Frank to inform him he is dying. Upon arriving at his bedside, Frank addresses him with pure disgust, calling Earl (Jason Robards) a “prick” and a “c***sucker.”

As he retains speaking, it is obvious there’s extra than simply anger behind his eyes – there’s additionally deep, deep ache. “I am not going to cry for you,” Frank grits out with tears in his eyes. He tells Earl that he hates him, earlier than breaking down into heaving sobs, his total physique shaking. “Do not go away, you f***ing ***gap,” he cries out, almost hyperventilating.

It is a profoundly shifting efficiency, and it confronts us with the truth that within Frank, there’s nonetheless a damaged little boy. Cruise’s efficiency is supposedly primarily based on his personal abusive father, whom Cruise was estranged from till he was dying. It is essentially the most weak and trustworthy we have ever seen Cruise, and the scene is stunning in its depth.

Toni Collette delivers one in all her greatest performances in “The Sixth Sense,” enjoying Lynn, the mom of Haley Joel Osment’s character, Cole. For a lot of the movie, Lynn does not perceive what’s taking place along with her son. Lastly, whereas they’re caught in visitors in the future, Cole reveals the reality. He tells Lynn that somebody died within the accident up forward, and he is aware of that as a result of the useless lady is standing subsequent to his window. He explains that he sees ghosts, and typically they inform him to do issues.

Although she assures him that she does not suppose he is a freak, she does not appear to imagine Cole. That’s, till he tells her he typically talks to Lynn’s mom, his grandmother. At first, she’s indignant, pondering he is mendacity, however then he tells her particulars about his grandmother he by no means might have recognized in any other case. As the reality dawns on her, tears properly up in her eyes, and she will be able to hardly converse.

Collette’s efficiency right here is excellent, and it feels completely pure. With none phrases, she’s capable of convey the depth of Lynn’s emotions about her mom and the unresolved nature of their relationship. Although Bruce Willis is (rightly) lauded for his efficiency within the film, it is Collette that delivers among the best scenes.

The discharge of “Les Misérables” was the second when everybody appeared to hate Anne Hathaway for no purpose aside from her pleasure about profitable an Oscar and her enthusiasm in regards to the movie. Wanting again, it is clear this backlash was unfounded, and that her efficiency was worthy of an Academy Award.

Take her crowning achievement within the film. Hathaway’s character, Fantine, sings “I Dreamed a Dream” after dropping her manufacturing facility job and descending into poverty. The tune describes Fantine’s enthusiasm for all times when she was youthful, ending with the devastating revelation that “there are desires that can not be / And there are storms we can’t climate.”

Hathaway provides her all within the stay rendition of the tune. Although she’s a gifted singer and hits all the suitable notes, she commits extra to delivering an emotional efficiency than displaying off her vocal chops. She begins with quiet resignation, earlier than sitting up and leaning into her unhappiness whereas reminiscing. She then shifts to anger whereas describing the person who left her, earlier than collapsing into damaged give up as soon as extra. Hathaway brings her tears to the fore whereas singing the famously troublesome tune, utilizing the cracks in her voice and her labored respiratory so as to add emotional texture to the tune. 

Although many movies finish with a personality crying, one stands out. In Céline Sciamma’s 18th-century-set “Portrait of a Girl on Hearth,” Noémie Merlant performs Marianne, a painter employed to create a marriage portrait of a not too long ago betrothed lady. The bride-to-be, Héloïse (Adèle Haenel), resists her marriage, and Marianne should observe and paint her in secret. Marianne and Héloïse fall in love however can’t be collectively.

Earlier within the movie, Marianne performs Héloïse the Summer time portion of Vivaldi’s “4 Seasons.” Years after they’ve stated goodbye, Vivaldi returns. Marianne and Héloïse each attend the identical symphony efficiency, and Marianne watches Héloïse from throughout the room. As “4 Seasons” begins enjoying, we slowly zoom in on Héloïse’s face as she begins to cry. The movie ends with a close-up of Héloïse sobbing as she watches the efficiency, reminded, in fact, of her life-changing expertise with Marianne.

Haenel’s efficiency is unimaginable, and the depth of emotion –- and reminiscence -– displayed on her face astounds, however that is not the one purpose it is a masterpiece. Simply after Marianne sees Héloïse within the theater, she informs us in a voice-over that Héloïse by no means noticed her. Which means that because the efficiency begins and Héloïse’s tears begin to fall, we’re not left anxiously questioning if Héloïse seems over. As a substitute, all our focus rests on Héloïse’s face, and we’re invited into the scene, seeing it from Marianne’s perspective and turning into an intimate witness to the second.

It is plain: Viola Davis is one in all our biggest residing actors. In “Fences,” for which Davis received her first (and solely) Oscar, she reveals us precisely why. Essentially the most pivotal second within the movie happens when Troy (Denzel Washington) confesses to his spouse Rose (Davis) that he is had an affair. Troy makes an attempt to justify his actions, describing how he is felt caught since he married her and gave up his baseball desires.

“It is not straightforward for me to confess that I have been standing in the identical place for 18 years,” Troy tells Rose, who’s turning into more and more indignant. “Properly, I have been standing with you,” she yells. “I gave eighteen years of my life to face in the identical spot with you.” She explains that she had hopes and desires too, however she gave them up for Troy and received nothing in return.

Davis performs the scene ferociously. Although she has flashes of anger within the first half of the scene, it is not till Troy’s line about “18 years” that her rage takes over. She cries for the whole seven-minute scene, however on this second, her tears tackle one other dimension. As she’s telling Troy how a lot she’s sacrificed and the way egocentric he is been, snot begins streaming into her mouth and off of her face as extra tears arrive. Embodying this degree of emotion for therefore lengthy is a unprecedented feat, and it floods out of Davis like water.