20+ Of The Saddest Movies On Netflix For When You Need To Feel All The Feels

While heart-thumping thrillers and snuggly rom-coms are nice to watch sometimes, everyone loves a good cry once in a while. Letting the waterworks flow can be healing, and watching a movie that lets you connect to that part of yourself can feel like a warm hug. You know why? Sadness plays a big part in our emotional intelligence. “Sadness is one of our strongest emotions because it signals and pulls others towards us when it is expressed,” Dr. Chuck Schaeffer told Psychology Today, adding that the best way to get through sadness is by being sad. “All emotions pass when we respond to them by acting effectively. Sadness is no exception.”

If you’re in the mood for feeling feels — and maybe even shedding some tears — then you’ll want to watch our list of the saddest movies on Netflix.

Titanic (1997)

Leonardo DiCaprio plays a poor hustler/artist who falls in love with rich Kate Winslet and not only is their love forbidden but they’re literally on a sinking ship.

La-La Land (2016)

Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone play struggling artists in L.A. who also struggle with balancing their dreams with their relationship.

Tell Me Who I Am (2019)

Two identical twin brothers. One has his memory completely erased after an accident. The other decides to replace his twin’s memory with happier ones — even if they’re untrue.

Steel Magnolias (1989)

Small friends come together in a small Southern town and nurse each other through life’s most devastating ups and downs.

About Time (2013)

Tim can travel back in time but doing so might not be as romantic as he thinks.

A Separation (2011)

An Iranian married couple is faced with a heart-wrenching decision — to improve the life of their child by moving to another country or to stay and look after a parent who has Alzheimer’s disease.

One Day (2011)

Dexter and Emma get together on one day on their last day in college, and we follow them through their off-on relationship always set on that one day.

Room (2015)

Brie Larson stars as a woman held captive for seven years in one room a woman and does whatever she can so her son can finally experience the outside world.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008)

Bruno, the eight-year-old son of the commandant at a German concentration camp, starts a charming yet forbidden friendship with a Jewish boy on the other side of the camp fence, which is just as complicated and tragic as you might imagine.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

Did you ever wish that you could erase your ex from your mind? Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet do just that with a medical procedure to have each other erased from their memories.

Blue Jay (2016)

Two high school sweethearts meet up randomly in their small California hometown and reflect on their memories and a love lost.

Seven Pounds (2008)

Will Smith has a powerful fateful secret that motivates him to embark on a journey of redemption and forever changing the lives of the people he meets.

Atonement (2007)

A bratty Saoirse Ronan irrevocably changes the lives of several people when she accuses her older sister’s lover of a crime he did not commit.

Some Freaks (2016)

A boy with one eye and an overweight girl fall in love, but when she loses weight after going to college, their relationship goes through a series of unexpected twists and turns.

Mystic River (2003)

See a lot of grown men cry in this movie about childhood friends who must come together and face a shattering reality when one of them has a family tragedy.

Blue Valentine (2010)

Michelle Williams and Ryan Goslings endure both the hardships and highs of marriage in this very raw movie about what it means to be committed to someone.

Philadelphia (1993)

Tom Hanks plays a man with HIV who’s fired by his law firm because of his condition. He hires Denzel Washington to represent him in his wrongful dismissal suit, and, well, we are already crying.

Lion (2016)

A five-year-old Indian boy is adopted by a couple in Australia. Twenty-five years later, he sets out to find his lost family and who he is.

Schindler’s List (1993)

In this Steven Spielberg classic, industrialist Oskar Schindler does what he can to help save the Jews in German-occupied Poland during World War II.

Moonlight (2016)

The “real” Best Picture winner of 2016 is about a young African-American man who struggles with his identity and sexuality throughout the years, stemming from childhood to adulthood.

My Sister’s Keeper (2009)

IMDB: Anna Fitzgerald looks to earn medical emancipation from her parents who until now have relied on their youngest child to help their leukemia-stricken daughter Kate remain alive.

An American Tail (1986)

Break out the tissues. A young Russian mouse gets separated from his family while they’re emigrating to America, and he tries to relocate them while also trying to survive in a new country.

Dallas Buyers Club (2013)

Matthew McConaughey stars as Dallas electrician and hustler Ron Woodroof who does what he can to help AIDS patients get the medication they need after he is diagnosed with the disease.