The Best Sad Movies on Netflix Right Now

Why seek out a pulse-pounding action film or a knee-slapping comedy when you can get the waterworks going? Sad movies resonate longer and more deeply than do others. They connect with a part of us that wants to feel something more than mere entertainment when we sit back and tune out the rest of the world. And yet, they might remind us of our own lives, of the one that got away, of a lost family member.

Heartbreak is shared across the spectrum of the human condition in such a way that total strangers having endured a similar pain, or having survived the same horrific event, oft bond like the best of friends. Because sorrow unites us all. So get those tissues ready and convince yourself that you’re not crying; you just have something in both of your eyes. These are the best sad movies on Netflix right now.

Editor’s note: This article was updated May 2022 to include To the Bone, Big Fish, Pieces of a Woman, Soul Surfer, Saving Private Ryan, and Les Misérables.

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Warrior (2011)

Director/Writer: Gavin O’Connor

Writers: Anthony Tambakis, Cliff Dorfman

Cast: Joel Edgerton, Tom Hardy, Nick Nolte, Jennifer Morrison, Frank Grillo

A story that starts out as being about mixed martial arts before becoming so much more, Warrior is a film that is sure to leave you tearing up in its final moments. It centers on two brothers, Tom Hardy‘s Tommy and Joel Edgerton‘s Brendan, who both find themselves competing in the same fighting tournament in order to better their lives. Both actors are simply outstanding, especially when they share scenes with their father, Nick Nolte’s gruff Paddy. Even as it is a film that is about men pummeling each other, it is also a story that lives and breathes in its quiet moments. The more you learn about each character in the fractured family, the more your heart breaks for all of them. Writer-director Gavin O’Connor ensures every emotion is felt with complete sincerity, making the end scene and its use of the absolutely perfect song by The National one that shatters you to pieces. – Chase Hutchinson

To the Bone (2017)

Director/Writer: Marti Noxon

Cast: Lily Collins, Keanu Reeves, Carrie Preston, Lili Taylor, Alex Sharp Leslie Bibb

Any film that deals with anorexia and food disorders must be treated with the utmost sensitivity. To the Bone doesn’t stigmatize its characters and thankfully shows the diversity of experiences that those living with eating disorders endure. Lily Collins’ character Ellen struggles with anorexia. She is admitted into a communal living space, where she interacts with other young adults in similar situations. Collins gives one of the most emotional, heartbreaking performances of her career. To the Bone also features a standout supporting performance from Keanu Reeves; Reeves plays the untraditional specialist Dr. William Beckham, who encourages his patients to heal emotionally, physically, and spiritually. – Liam Gaughan

Big Fish (2003)

Director: Tim Burton

Writer: John August, based on the novel by Daniel Wallace

Cast: Ewan McGregor, Billy Crudup, Jessica Lange, Albert Finney, Marion Cotillard, Danny DeVito, Helena Bonham Carter

It’s no secret that Tim Burton has had a mixed track record lately (no one was all that impressed with Dark Shadows or Alice in Wonderland), but 2003’s Big Fish is one of the most emotionally resonant films of his entire career. Both weirdly wondrous and entirely sincere, Big Fish is the type of “feel good” movie that still makes you cry. A grieving son (Billy Crudup) cares for his dying father (Albert Finney), who tells him elaborate stories about his adventures as a young man (Ewan McGregor). Framing the story around a series of heightened reflections is the perfect way to contextualize Burton’s style. –Liam Gaughan

Pieces of a Woman (2020)

Director: Kornél Mundruczó

Writer: Kata Wéber, based on a play by Wéber and Mundruczó

Cast: Vanessa Kirby, Shia Labeouf, Ellen Burnstyn, Sarah Snook

The opening sequence of Pieces of a Woman is so completely heartbreaking that you wouldn’t be blamed for shutting it off mid-stream. A woman (Vanessa Kirby) loses her child during a home birth in one of the most devastating scenes in recent film history. The film never completely hits that emotional apex quite again, nor does it have to. It’s a subtle story of healing in the aftermath of unimaginable loss. Kirby feels heartbreakingly disconnected from life, and she received a much deserved Academy Award nomination for her performance. Pieces of a Woman asks challenging questions about the aftermath of a tragedy; will “punishing” the responsible party actually solve anything?- Liam Gaughan

Soul Surfer (2011)

Director: Sean McNamara

Writer: Sean McNamara, Deborah Schwartz, Douglas Schwartz, and Michael Berk

Cast: AnnaSophia Robb, Helen Hunt, Dennis Quaid, Lorraine Nicholson, Carrie Underwood

Soul Surfer chronicles the true story of Bethany Hamilton, played by AnnaSophia Robb, a surfer who loses her left arm after a shark attack. That doesn’t hold Bethany down for long, as after she recuperates, she gets back on the board and learns to surf with one arm; she later goes on to compete again. While her story goes on to be an inspirational one, it doesn’t skip past the devastation Bethany and her family felt when she believes her surfing future has slipped away, not to mention the fear of Bethany not making it after losing 60% of the blood in her body. Soul Surfer takes your tears of sadness and transforms them into tears of joy by the end of the movie. – Meredith Loftus

Saving Private Ryan (1998)

Director: Steven Spielberg

Writer: Robert Rodat

Cast: Tom Hanks, Edward Burns, Tom Sizemore, Vin Diesel, Giovanni Ribisi, Matt Damon

Widely considered one of the best war films, Saving Private Ryan tells the story of a band of soldiers, led by Tom Hanks, on a mission to retrieve a soldier who gets to return home. Steven Spielberg effortlessly blends the epic action of war with the personal stories of these men. Set during World War II, these men are faced with the horrors of war, which also forces them to confront their personal demons along the way. Due to the subject matter, war comes at a cost, which makes for some heart-wrenching deaths in the effort to bring Private Ryan (Matt Damon) back from enemy lines. By the end of the nearly three-hour runtime, you feel like you’ve been to hell and back with these men, so be sure to keep a box of tissues nearby! – Meredith Loftus

Les Misérables (2012)

Director: Tom Hooper

Writer: William Nicholson, Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schönberg, and Herbert Kretzmer

Cast: Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Helena Bonham Carter, Sacha Baron Cohen

With a title that’s translated as “The Miserables,” you know you’re in for a sad movie with very few moments of levity. Based on the famous Victor Hugo novel-turned-musical, Tom Hooper directs the adaptation of the story of a man on the run (Hugh Jackman) during a turbulent time in France. This somber musical also follows the tragedy of Fantine (Anne Hathaway), who’s unable to support her young daughter, played as an adult by Amanda Seyfried. She is later taken into the care of Jean Valjean. By having the actors singing on set, they’re able to emote the melancholy and loss that follows each of these characters across time and circumstance. Nominated for eight Academy Awards, Les Misérables brings down the house into a puddle of tears. – Meredith Loftus

Marriage Story (2019)

Director/Writer: Noah Baumbach

Cast: Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson, Azhy Robertson, Laura Dern, Ray Liotta

The movie that spawned a thousand memes of Adam Driver punching a wall, Marriage Story is also writer-director Noah Baumbach at his best and simultaneously most personal. It is a heartbreaking work that follows Driver’s Charlie and Scarlett Johansson’s Nicole as they experience their marriage falling apart, piece by piece. Concerned about the impact it could have on their son, both try to get an amicable divorce only to discover that they both have a lot of baggage that makes the process more complicated than they initially realized. In addition to getting a whole host of Oscar nominations, it also features an Oscar-winning performance by the great Laura Dern as Nicole’s lawyer Nora. It is a delicate film that still isn’t afraid to uncover the flaws of its central characters, revealing a portrait of a family that is as honest as it is painfully profound. — Chase Hutchinson

Tell Me Who I Am (2019)

Director: Ed Perkins

Cast: Alex Lewis, Marcus Lewis

Documentaries can be sad, too. Tell Me Who I Am is the story of identical twins—Alex and Marcus—and the devastating accident that caused Alex to lose his memory at age 18. After waking from a coma, Alex has to re-learn everything about who he is, and who he was. Tasked with filling in the blanks is the only person he knows: his brother, Marcus. But after years of being fed stories and memories, Alex learns that Marcus may not have been as honest in the idyllic picture he painted. The doc unfolds almost like a thriller, as information is revealed to the viewer little by little. The more we learn, the more crushing the real story becomes. And seeing the hurt in the eyes of the now 54-year-old brothers as they individually speak directly into the camera—shot in close-up—is a contagious experience. It will move you to tears, but not without hope. — Brendan Michael

Beasts of No Nation (2015)

Director/Writer: Cary Joji Fukunaga

Cast: Idris Elba, Abraham Attah, Emmanuel Nii Adom Quaye, Kurt Egyiawan

Cary Joji Fukunaga’s follow-up to the first season of True Detective was a masterstroke of filmmaking. Filmed in Ghana, the movie tells the story of a young boy named Agu in a war torn nondescript African country. After escaping from violent government forces ransacking his village, Agu is discovered wandering the jungles by a rebel faction called Native Defense Forces, led by Idris Elba’s anonymous character known simply as Commandant. Agu is adopted as one of their own, and molded into something inhuman. The film is a devastating display of one boy’s loss of innocence in the most frightening fashion conceivable. Agu is violated early on, numbing him to the horrors of his world, and then made into a remorseless, monstrous slayer of women and children. Featuring a diabolical turn from Elba in one of his two or three best performances, the film is an indelibly shocking and tragic viewing experience. And it poses the question: Are some people irredeemable? — Brendan Michael

Cargo

Directors: Ben Howling, Yolanda Ramke

Writer: Yolanda Ramke

Cast: Martin Freeman, Simone Landers, Susie Porter, Kris McQuade, Anthony Hayes, Caren Pistorius, David Gulpilil

Based on their 7-minute short film of the same name, Cargo, from Ben Howling and Yolanda Ramke, is a different kind of zombie apocalypse movie. The rules of these undead Australian wilds are simple: if you’re bitten, you’ve got approximately 48 hours before you turn. Andy (Martin Freeman) loses his wife to the “sickness,” but not before she bites him. Now he’s got two days to get their little daughter Rosie to safety before she begins to look like a meal to him. Freeman is joined along the way by a young girl named Thoomi, whose own father has been lost. She may be Andy’s only hope. Cargo is a ticking clock adventure/thriller about a man’s love for his daughter—his willingness to do anything to ensure her safety. It’s also about saying goodbye, which is what makes it the lump-in-your-throat kind of experience that it is. If you’ve got children, this one will make you want to go scoop them up and hug them a little tighter. — Brendan Michael

Blue Jay (2016)

Director: Alex Lehmann

Writer: Mark Duplass

Cast: Mark Duplass, Sarah Paulson

Blue Jay is a breezy, 80-minute, black and white drama with a cast of two. Mark Duplass and Sarah Paulson play Jim and Amanda, respectively. Deeply in love during high school, they’ve since gone their separate ways, but a chance encounter back in their small California hometown brings back all sorts of emotions. They spend the day together—at Jim’s parents’ house, where he’s now solely living. As they reminisce about the past and what could have been, the film escalates toward the truth of what happened all those years ago. It’s a reflective piece about regret, consequences, and forgiveness. It also might feature the best performances Duplass and Paulson have ever delivered, most of which they improvised over the course of the 7-day shoot. If this movie doesn’t wreck you by its finale, it hasn’t done its job. — Brendan Michael

Mindhorn (2016)

Director: Sean Foley

Writers: Julian Barratt & Simon Farnaby

Cast: Julian Barratt, Simon Farnaby, Steve Coogan, Essie Davis, Andrea Riseborough

The award for funniest sad movie goes to Mindhorn, a hysterical story about a former television star recruited by the police force of the Isle of Man to quell the threats of a crazed killer who believes the actor is actually the fictitious Detective Mindhorn he used to play, and desires his help. Julian Barratt (The Mighty Boosh) is Richard Thorncroft (aka Mindhorn), and his life hasn’t exactly gone as planned since his show left the air in the 1980s. Hubris has led him to a place of despair in life, but this opportunity to reprise his Mindhorn role could be a golden one, he believes. It’s easy to laugh with Barratt’s character as he cluelessly navigates the case, taking it into his own hands, soon uncovering the fact that this thing goes deeper than just one lunatic’s exploits. But it’s remarkably tragic as well. Thorncroft is among the most sympathetic comedy roles put on film over the past decade, and the precise nuances with which Barratt portrays him are superb. — Brendan Michael

Abducted in Plain Sight (2017)

Director: Skye Borgman

Cast: Jan Broberg, Bob Broberg, Mary Ann Broberg

If you’re looking for a documentary that will make your jaw drop and your head spin, Abducted in Plain Sight might be your best bet. In a story that’s as maddening as it is tragic, we meet the ultra-naive Broberg family and the complete manipulation one man had over all of them, leading to the kidnapping and brainwashing of their daughter Jan not once, but twice! Neighbor Robert Berchtold’s deception—which was anything but clever—would lead to years of sexual and emotional/psychological abuse over Jan and her Mormon parents. This loss of innocence tale gets stranger and stranger as it goes. In the end, you’ll be hard-pressed not to feel some mix of fury and pity toward the now octogenarian Broberg couple who, in a show of passiveness, allowed their child to endure the perverted crimes of a very twisted individual. — Brendan Michael

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (2019)

Director/Writer: Chiwetel Ejiofor

Cast: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Maxwell Simba, Lily Banda, Aïssa Maïga

The title alone tells you where this one is going. Sometimes knowing the ending doesn’t spoil the rest of the experience, which is the case here. And knowing its finale softens the blow that this film hits you with again and again as it drifts along from one devastating moment to the next. In his directorial debut, Chiwetel Ejiofor tells a story set and filmed in the impoverished African nation of Malawi. When protagonist William’s (Maxwell Simba) village is stricken with a historic drought, suffering follows. His farmer father, played by Ejiofor, resorts to baleful rage birthed from his failure to care for and protect his family. Watching him lose hope as his faith in God wavers, elicits an audience response like Ejiofor can do better than most actors. But it’s young William’s innovative mind that begins to make a long-lasting, far-reaching change. Among other things, the family-friendly film—though heavy at times—is a father-son story about pride and humility, trust and sacrifice. And it hits you in all the right places. — Brendan Michael

Kodachrome (2017)

Director: Mark Raso

Writer: Jonathan Tropper

Cast: Ed Harris, Jason Sudeikis, Elizabeth Olson

A predictable, yet still effective road drama, Kodachrome features Ben, a dying photographer played by Ed Harris, intent on getting to Kansas to develop one final role of film at Kodak’s last Kodachrome lab, which is set to close forever in just a few days. Joining Ben on the journey, or rather, driving him, is his son Matt, played by Jason Sudeikis. Ben’s reaching out for assistance on this odyssey has come as a surprise to Matt, who is—at first—vehemently opposed to doing his father any favors. The two have had a rocky relationship for many years and Matt is content to let him pass away without even a goodbye. But what follows is a slowly developing bonding experience for the two, who are joined by Ben’s nurse Zoey, played by Elizabeth Olsen. The trio’s mission goes exactly where you think it will, relationally, emotionally, and geographically. This one doesn’t exactly reinvent the wheel, but it doesn’t need to in order to connect with the audience. And anyone who’s ever had a strained relationship with a parent will be moved by the film’s bittersweet conclusion. — Brendan Michael

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