Heartbreaking movies and TV shows

The list contains the best, new and most relevant heartbreaking movies ordered by relevance. The recommendation service has sorted out heartbreaking, touching, serious, emotional, realistic and sad films and TV shows about / with sadness, depression, mission, family relations, coming of age, mother daughter relationship, death, girl, trauma and husband wife relationship plots mostly in Drama, Romance and Biography genres shot in USA, UK, France and other countries.
heartbreaking
 1476
heartbreaking movies
TOP 10 movies tagged as heartbreaking: Never Let Me Go (2010), The Pursuit of Happyness (2006), Room (2015), The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2008), Atonement (2007), The Pianist (2002), My Sister's Keeper (2009), The Impossible (2012), Boy A (2007), Schindler's List (1993).

List of heartbreaking movies

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 7.1
 153K
Never Let Me Go (2010)
Genre: Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 103 min.
Story: As children, Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy spend their childhood at an idyllic and secluded English boarding school. As they grow into adults, they must come to terms with the complexity and strength of their love for one another while also preparing for ...
Style: sad, depressing, melancholic, heartbreaking, psychological ...
Audience: chick flick, teens, girls' night, date night, teen drama ...
Plot: boarding school, dystopia, distopia, existentialism, cloning, childhood, sadness, love triangle, alternate reality, transplant, couples, love and romance ...
Time: year 1978, 2010s, year 2010, 50s, 80s ...
Place: england, europe
Is relevant ?
The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 117 min.
Story: A struggling salesman takes custody of his son as he's poised to begin a life-changing professional career.
Style: inspirational, emotional, sentimental, uplifting, motivational ...
Audience: family outing, chick flick, teens, family friendly
Plot: homeless, life, human spirit, life philosophy, family drama, rags to riches, success, rise to the top, single father, against the odds, life is a bitch, down on your luck ...
Time: 80s, year 2006, 2010s, 20th century
Place: usa, san francisco, bay area, california, america
Is relevant ?
 8.1
 447K
Room (2015)
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Country: Ireland, Canada, UK, USA
Duration: 118 min.
Story: Jack is a young boy of 5 years old who has lived all his life in one room. He believes everything within it are the only real things in the world. But what will happen when his Ma suddenly tells him that there are other things outside of Room?
Style: sentimental, heartbreaking, suspense, psychological, sad ...
Audience: teens, chick flick, date night, adult
Plot: kidnapping, isolation, captive, kidnapped, mother son relationship, escape, rape, room, child born of rape, abduction, survival, imprisonment ...
Time: year 2015, 2010s, near future, 2000s, 21st century
Place: ireland, persia
Is relevant ?
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2008)
Genre: Drama, War
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 94 min.
Story: When his family moves from their home in Berlin to a strange new house in Poland, young Bruno befriends Shmuel, a boy who lives on the other side of the fence where everyone seems to be wearing striped pajamas. Unaware of Shmuel's fate as a ...
Style: emotional, touching, sad, heartbreaking, tear jerker ...
Audience: kids, teens, family outing, family friendly, teen drama ...
Plot: world war two, holocaust, concentration camp, war, children, childhood, nazi, friendship, nazism, gas chamber, boy, morality ...
Time: 1940s, 20th century, ancient times, year 2008
Place: germany, poland, europe, berlin germany, switzerland
Is relevant ?
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 7.8
 298K
Atonement (2007)
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Romance, War
Country: UK, France, USA
Duration: 123 min.
Story: As a 13-year-old, fledgling writer Briony Tallis irrevocably changes the course of several lives when she accuses her older sister's lover of a crime he did not commit.
Style: touching, emotional, heartbreaking, sad, period piece ...
Audience: chick flick, girls' night, teens, adult
Plot: world war two, wartime, tragic love, redemption, injustice, unfulfilled love, love story, false accusation, love and romance, forbidden love, innocence, life is a bitch ...
Time: 1940s, 1930s, year 2007, 2000s, victorian era ...
Place: england, london, britain, dunkirk, europe ...
Is relevant ?
 8.5
 904K
The Pianist (2002)
Genre: Biography, Drama, Music, War
Country: France, Poland, Germany, UK, USA
Duration: 150 min.
Story: The true story of pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman's experiences in Warsaw during the Nazi occupation. When the Jews of the city find themselves forced into a ghetto, Szpilman finds work playing in a café; and when his family is deported in 1942, he ...
Style: emotional, harsh, bleak, reflective, heartbreaking ...
Audience: adult
Plot: holocaust, world war two, survival, genocide, nazi, classical music, wartime, war, nazism, pianist, nazi occupation, hunger ...
Time: 1940s, year 2002, 20th century, year 1945, 1930s ...
Place: poland, germany, europe, eastern europe, persia ...
Is relevant ?
My Sister's Keeper (2009)
Genre: Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 109 min.
Story: Sara and Brian live an idyllic life with their young son and daughter. But their family is rocked by sudden, heartbreaking news that forces them to make a difficult and unorthodox choice in order to save their baby girl's life. The ...
Style: sad, touching, sentimental, heartbreaking, tear jerker ...
Audience: chick flick, teens, girls' night, teen drama
Plot: cancer, family drama, terminal illness, sisters, lawyer, parenthood, mother daughter relationship, sick child, life is a bitch, leukemia, family relations, family life ...
Time: year 2009, 21st century
Place: rhode island, usa, montana, los angeles
Is relevant ?
 7.5
 242K
The Impossible (2012)
Genre: Drama, History, Thriller
Country: Spain, Thailand, USA
Duration: 114 min.
Story: In December 2004, close-knit family Maria, Henry and their three sons begin their winter vacation in Thailand. But the day after Christmas, the idyllic holiday turns into an incomprehensible nightmare when a terrifying roar rises from the depths of ...
Style: emotional, suspense, heartbreaking, motivational, touching ...
Audience: teens, girls' night
Plot: disaster, natural disaster, survival, catastrophe, tsunami, ocean, courage, forces of nature, destruction, danger, vacation, family in danger ...
Time: year 2004, year 2012, 2010s, 2000s, 21st century
Place: thailand, southeast asia, asia
Is relevant ?
 7.6
 39K
Boy A (2007)
Genre: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 106 min.
Story: The story of a young ex-con Jack, newly released from serving a prison sentence for a murder he committed as a child.
Style: heartbreaking, psychological, disturbing, emotional, touching ...
Audience: teens
Plot: juvenile delinquency, childhood, redemption, going straight, haunted by the past, released from prison, rehabilitation, starting over, dysfunctional family, child abuse, murder, criminal ...
Time: year 2007, 21st century
Place: britain, united kingdom, nebraska, england, europe ...
Is relevant ?
Schindler's List (1993)
Genre: Biography, Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 195 min.
Story: The true story of how businessman Oskar Schindler saved over a thousand Jewish lives from the Nazis while they worked as slaves in his factory during World War II.
Style: touching, emotional, heartbreaking, realistic, thought provoking ...
Audience: date night, chick flick, adult
Plot: holocaust, world war two, genocide, nazi, war, wartime, storytelling, concentration camp, brutality, nazism, against humanity, survival ...
Time: 1940s, 20th century, year 1993, 90s, ancient times ...
Place: poland, germany, persia, iran, europe ...
Is relevant ?
 9.3
 854K
Chernobyl (2019)
Genre: Drama, History, Thriller
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 330 min.
TV show
Story: A dramatization of the true story of one of the worst man-made catastrophes in history, the catastrophic nuclear accident at Chernobyl. A tale of the brave men and women who sacrificed to save Europe from unimaginable disaster.
Style: dark, atmospheric, rough, realistic, thought provoking ...
Plot: radiation, nuclear holocaust, radiation poisoning, nuclear power plant, nuclear reactor, disaster, save the day, nuclear explosion, salvation, scientist, nuclear radiation, nuclear threat ...
Time: year 1986, 2010s, 80s, 20th century
Place: chernobyl, ussr, soviet union, ukraine, moscow russia ...
Is relevant ?
Manchester by the Sea (2016)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 137 min.
Story: After his older brother passes away, Lee Chandler is forced to return home to care for his 16-year-old nephew. There he is compelled to deal with a tragic past that separated him from his family and the community where he was born and raised.
Style: sad, depressing, heartbreaking, psychological, emotional ...
Audience: teens, family friendly, adult
Plot: family drama, sadness, loneliness, depression, loss, suicide attempt, death, nephew, grief, uncle nephew relationship, dysfunctional family, adoption ...
Time: 2010s, year 2016
Place: massachusetts, boston, nebraska, new england
Is relevant ?
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 8.6
 1.4M
The Green Mile (1999)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Fantasy, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 189 min.
Story: A supernatural tale set on death row in a Southern prison, where gentle giant John Coffey possesses the mysterious power to heal people's ailments. When the cellblock's head guard, Paul Edgecomb, recognizes Coffey's miraculous gift, ...
Style: touching, emotional, sentimental, heartbreaking, sad ...
Audience: girls' night, chick flick, date night, family friendly, adult
Plot: prison, death penalty, stephen king, death row, magic realism, supernatural, convict, false accusation, electric chair, life & death, life philosophy, psychic ...
Time: 1930s, 20th century, 90s, year 1999, year 1935
Place: usa, southern usa, louisiana, america, persia
Is relevant ?
 8.3
 257K
A Separation (2011)
Genre: Drama
Country: Iran, France, Australia
Duration: 123 min.
Story: A married couple are faced with a difficult decision - to improve the life of their child by moving to another country or to stay in Iran and look after a deteriorating parent who has Alzheimer's disease.
Style: emotional, realistic, heartbreaking, talky, tense ...
Audience: teens
Plot: poverty, divorce, muslim, alzheimer's disease, justice, religion, islam, marriage, parenthood, court, family drama, dysfunctional family ...
Time: year 2011, 2010s, 21st century
Place: iran, persia, middle east, maghreb, nebraska ...
Is relevant ?
 7.5
 12K
Clouds (2020)
Genre: Biography, Drama, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 121 min.
Story: Young musician Zach Sobiech discovers his cancer has spread, leaving him just a few months to live. With limited time, he follows his dream and makes an album, unaware that it will soon be a viral music phenomenon.
Style: heartbreaking, touching, compassionate, teen, tear jerker ...
Audience: teens, kids
Plot: cancer, teenager, terminal illness, star crossed lovers, dying, dealing with death, dream, follow your dream, life is a bitch, hopes, love and romance, first love ...
Time: 2020s
Place: minnesota
Is relevant ?
Hachi: A Dog's Tale (2009)
Genre: Biography, Drama, Family
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 93 min.
Story: A drama based on the true story of a college professor's bond with the abandoned dog he takes into his home.
Style: touching, emotional, sad, heartbreaking, sentimental ...
Audience: family outing, chick flick, kids, girls' night, teens ...
Plot: dog, friendship, loyalty, pets, human animal relationship, life & death, animal, loss of friend, loneliness, loss, friends, death ...
Time: year 2009, 2000s
Place: japan, rhode island, usa
Is relevant ?
 7.8
 265K
Changeling (2008)
Genre: Biography, Crime, Drama, History, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 141 min.
Story: Christine Collins is overjoyed when her kidnapped son is brought back home. But when Christine suspects that the boy returned to her isn't her child, the police captain has her committed to an asylum.
Style: psychological, heartbreaking, sentimental, tense, disturbing ...
Audience: chick flick, adult
Plot: kidnapping, serial killer, investigation, fighting the system, missing child, missing person, police corruption, uncover truth, disorder, trial, kidnapped child, corruption ...
Time: 1920s, year 2008, 2000s, 20th century, year 1935 ...
Place: los angeles, california, usa, canada, seattle
Is relevant ?
Girl, Interrupted (1999)
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA, Germany
Duration: 127 min.
Story: Set in the changing world of the late 1960s, Susanna Kaysen's prescribed "short rest" from a psychiatrist she had met only once becomes a strange, unknown journey into Alice's Wonderland, where she struggles with the thin line ...
Style: psychological, depressing, serious, crying, heartbreaking ...
Audience: girls' night, teens, chick flick, teen drama, adult
Plot: mental illness, coming of age, suicide, insanity, psychiatrist, suicide attempt, mental institution, teenage girl, borderline personality disorder, female protagonist, psychiatric ward, psychology ...
Time: 20th century, 90s, year 1999, 60s
Place: usa
Is relevant ?
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 7.4
 70K
Rust and Bone (2012)
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: France, Belgium, Singapore
Duration: 120 min.
Story: Put in charge of his young son, Ali leaves Belgium for Antibes to live with his sister and her husband as a family. Ali's bond with Stephanie, a killer whale trainer, grows deeper after Stephanie suffers a horrible accident.
Style: heartbreaking, sad, sentimental, touching, independent film ...
Audience: date night, adult
Plot: disability, love, depression, illegal fistfight, female nudity, sex with neighbor, opposites attract, disabled person, family drama, redemption, orca, amputee ...
Time: year 2012, y2k, 2010s, 21st century
Place: france, cote d'azur, french riviera, europe, riviera ...
Is relevant ?
The Broken Circle Breakdown (2012)
Genre: Drama, Music, Romance
Country: Belgium, Netherlands
Duration: 111 min.
Story: The loss of their young daughter threatens to destroy the love and faith of two married musicians.
Style: heartbreaking, sad, touching, depressing, sentimental ...
Audience: family friendly
Plot: grief, terminal illness, depression, relationships, love story, love, cancer, musician, character study, honest, mental illness, parenthood ...
Time: year 2012, 2010s, near future, 90s, 2000s ...
Place: belgium, scandinavia, europe
Is relevant ?
Revolutionary Road (2008)
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 119 min.
Story: A young couple living in a Connecticut suburb during the mid-1950s struggle to come to terms with their personal problems while trying to raise their two children. Based on a novel by Richard Yates.
Style: bad ending, depressing, heartbreaking, crying, bleak ...
Audience: girls' night, date night, chick flick
Plot: adultery, marriage, abortion, mental illness, infidelity, dysfunctional family, depression, death of wife, under the surface, family problems, cheating wife, midlife crisis ...
Time: 1950s, 50s, year 1955, year 2008, 20th century ...
Place: usa, new york, paris france, connecticut
Is relevant ?
 7.5
 143K
Still Alice (2014)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA, UK, France
Duration: 101 min.
Story: Alice Howland, happily married with three grown children, is a renowned linguistics professor who starts to forget words. When she receives a devastating diagnosis, Alice and her family find their bonds tested.
Style: sad, heartbreaking, touching, emotional, inspirational ...
Audience: teens
Plot: memory loss, alzheimer's disease, illness, supportive spouse, mother daughter relationship, columbia university, family drama, terminal illness, family bonds, mental illness, psychology, relationships ...
Time: year 2014, 2010s, year 2015, 21st century
Place: new york, usa, manhattan new york city
Is relevant ?
The English Patient (1996)
Genre: Drama, Romance, War
Country: USA, UK, Italy
Duration: 162 min.
Story: In the 1930s, Count Almásy is a Hungarian map maker employed by the Royal Geographical Society to chart the vast expanses of the Sahara Desert along with several other prominent explorers. As World War II unfolds, Almásy enters into a world of ...
Style: romantic, sentimental, emotional, touching, heartbreaking ...
Audience: chick flick, date night
Plot: world war two, adultery, love story, tragic love, betrayal, desert, life philosophy, beautiful scenery, life & death, war, wartime, power of love ...
Time: 1940s, 1930s, year 1944, year 1942, 90s ...
Place: sahara, italy, africa, ottoman empire, cairo egypt ...
Is relevant ?
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Requiem for a Dream (2000)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min.
Story: The hopes and dreams of four ambitious people are shattered when their drug addictions begin spiraling out of control. A look into addiction and how it overcomes the mind and body.
Style: psychological, disturbing, bleak, depressing, emotional ...
Audience: kids, adult
Plot: addiction, drug abuse, heroin, drug addiction, insanity, mental illness, junkie, drug, depression, dream, loneliness, drug addict ...
Time: year 2000, future, y2k, 20th century, 90s ...
Place: new york, america, britain, usa, coney island brooklyn new york city ...
Is relevant ?
 7.1
 145K
Brothers (2009)
Genre: Drama, Thriller, War
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min.
Story: When his helicopter goes down during his fourth tour of duty in Afghanistan, Marine Sam Cahill is presumed dead. Back home, brother Tommy steps in to look over Sam’s wife, Grace, and two children. Sam’s surprise homecoming triggers domestic ...
Style: touching, tense, melancholic, suspense, heartbreaking ...
Plot: family drama, war, adultery, american soldier, marital infidelity, presumed dead, marine, family problems, brothers, dysfunctional family, soldier, suspicion ...
Time: year 2009, 2000s, 21st century
Place: afghanistan, iraq, america, usa
Is relevant ?
Love Me If You Dare (2003)
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: France, Belgium
Duration: 93 min.
Story: As adults, best friends Julien and Sophie continue the odd game they started as children -- a fearless competition to outdo one another with daring and outrageous stunts. While they often act out to relieve one another's pain, their game might ...
Style: feel good, heartbreaking, romantic, surreal, emotional ...
Audience: date night, teens, chick flick, girls' night
Plot: youth, love hate relationship, game, friendship, relationships, friends, best friends in love, love story, lovers, music box, prank, childhood love ...
Time: year 2003, 21st century
Place: france, europe, belgium
Is relevant ?
Blue Is the Warmest Colour (2013)
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: France, Belgium, Spain
Duration: 180 min.
Story: Adèle's life is changed when she meets Emma, a young woman with blue hair, who will allow her to discover desire, to assert herself as a woman and as an adult. In front of others, Adele grows, seeks herself, loses herself, finds herself.
Style: erotic, sexual, emotional, heartbreaking, sexy ...
Audience: teens, chick flick, adult, teen drama
Plot: lesbian, lgbt, sexuality, lesbian love, coming of age, youth, lovers, lesbian relationship, lesbian teen, lesbianism, adolescence, gays and lesbians ...
Time: year 2013, 2010s, 90s, 21st century
Place: france, europe
Is relevant ?
 6.8
 17K
White God (2014)
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Thriller
Country: Hungary, Germany, Sweden
Duration: 121 min.
Story: Favoring pedigree dogs, a new regulation puts a severe tax on mixed breeds. Owners dump their dogs and shelters become overcrowded. 13-year-old Lili fights desperately to protect her pet Hagen, but her father eventually sets the dog free on the ...
Style: heartbreaking, suspenseful, tense, suspense, disturbing ...
Audience: girls' night, teens, teen drama
Plot: dog, human animal relationship, friendship, animal attack, teenager, children, redemption, brutality, dog attack, revenge, betrayal by friend, girl dog relationship ...
Time: year 2014
Place: hungary, eastern europe, europe, budapest, chile ...
Is relevant ?
 8.0
 31K
Nobody Knows (2004)
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 141 min.
Story: In a small Tokyo apartment, twelve-year-old Akira must care for his younger siblings after their mother leaves them and shows no sign of returning.
Style: depressing, touching, serious, atmospheric, bleak ...
Audience: kids, teens
Plot: childhood, poverty, dysfunctional family, boy, young kid, innocence lost, children, child abandonment, brother brother relationship, tragedy, coming of age, family relations ...
Time: year 2004, 2000s, 21st century
Place: japan, tokyo, east asia, asia
Is relevant ?
Finding Neverland (2004)
Genre: Biography, Drama, Family
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 106 min.
Story: Finding Neverland is an amusing drama about how the story of Peter Pan and Neverland came to be. During a writing slump play writer J.M. Barrie meets the widowed Sylvia and her three children who soon become an important part of Barrie’s life and ...
Style: touching, sentimental, heartbreaking, inspirational, clever ...
Audience: kids, family outing, family friendly, teens, date night ...
Plot: writers, single parent, peter pan, friendship, writer's life, biopic, parents and children, death, family relations, stage play, human nature, artists and showbiz ...
Time: edwardian era, 1900s, year 2004, future, 1910s ...
Place: london, england, britain, europe
Is relevant ?
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