I don’t know what it is with soppy movies and women, but that connection is very much there with me. I may have different moods to watch different movies but I am always ready to watch a tearjerker! It is strange that I find them to be very healing and therapeutic. Sometimes, the story of the movie is such that even I can relate some incidents of my life to it. Here are my all-time favourite movies that make you cry:
1. P.S I love You
I literally have to sit with a bucket and tons of tissue when I watch this movie. This is a great story about how a young wife (played by Hilary Swank) learns how to lead her life after her husband’s death (played by Gerard Butler). The husband leaves a series of clues through their common friends for the wife to read from time to time. These letters help her cope with his death. That was so touching; I spent quite a few weepy moments in my partner’s arms after I saw this movie.
2. The Passion of Christ
How can anyone not cry after seeing this movie? Everyone knows the story of Christ so there no need for me to tell you that. But it’s the way James Caveizel and Maria Morgenstern have been portrayed as Christ and Mary, and the obstacles that they faced. In fact, I think it’s low to call this historic-religious film a tearjerker. It’s a painful classic in its own right.
3. The Truman Show
I was shattered emotionally and mentally when I saw this film. Do you know why? Imagine if your world was completely fake and that all the relationships in your life were mediated and choreographed by a master figure sitting in his ivory tower. That too, for filming your life secretly as a TV show! This shook the reality of my life for a second and I cried and cried till I could cry no more. Although many people treat this movie as a fantasy, I see a deeper level in it. I think it’s a tearjerker for sure.
4. Stepmom
Didn’t Susan Sarandon just wrench your heart out in this movie? This movie might be a romantic comedy for some folks, but hey, just try being in the shoes of Susan Sarandon’s character and you’ll feel the agony. This story is about how Susan is abandoned by her husband for a much younger professionally successful woman (played by the lovely Julia Roberts). Roberts also gets the custody to Susan’s kids, much to the latter’s scorn. You know what the twist in the tale is? Susan is diagnosed with cancer. Okay, now I won’t spill the beans, but I strongly recommend that you watch this soulful story.
5. Memoirs of a Geisha
Don’t you just find the world of Japanese Geisha exotic and amazing? If you haven’t seen this movie, I suggest you must. It is an emotional movie, showing us the life of a Japanese prostitute from when she is a young girl. This is the world of sophisticated Japanese escorts who accompany rich businessmen of the society. It’s not going to bring you to tears by showing you the excruciating painful stories of a poor prostitute. I think it’s a lovely, emotional saga of a geisha who enters a society of wealth, privilege and political intrigue, in the backdrop of World War II.
6. The Notebook
I don’t even need to tell you about this movie because I’m pretty sure that just about everyone would have watched it. Poor man falling in love with a rich aristocrat girl and then social differences separate them - we’re on our way to a sure shot tearjerker! Did you know that ‘The Notebook’ is one of the biggest hits of 2004 and most widely watched movies of all time? For romantic fanatics like you and me, this movie brings a reiteration of what true love is all about. In the scenes when old Allie suffers from chronic Alzheimer’s and her husband recaps their own life to help her heal, brings a tear to my eye even as I think about it right now.
7. Shawshank Redemption
If you want to know the meaning of the word ‘freedom’, there are two words for it – Shawshank Redemption. A thrilling yet heart wrenching tale about a wrongly imprisoned man (played by Tim Robbins) and his friendship with an unusual convict in prison (Morgan Freeman) is like a lesson we must all learn in life. The lesson is that life is unfair. The journey that we undertake with Tim Robbins to his escape from the prison in Shawshank is amazing. It is a tale that you will never be able to forget.
On a rainy day, sometimes, I am in the mood to curl up with a great tearjerker movie. I wonder what is so alluring about these movies. Take a bowl of pop-corn, some soda, a cozy couch and any of my 7 all-time favourite emotional movies and go on a crazy emotional rollercoaster ride!
