2 Of The Most Heartbreaking Scenes Ever Are On Netflix

Sickness. Sacrifice. Grief. Protection. Acceptance. These are a mere fraction of the themes that contribute to the most heartbreaking cinematic moments in history.

Why we cling to these on-screen spectacles that leave us in shambles, tears running down our faces, saturating the popcorn in our laps, I’ll never know. But, we do! Maybe that’s just what makes us human.

So, if you need a good cry, an excuse to let out all the strife you’ve been shoving down, here are the 2 movie moments to look back on.

Spoilers ahead!

Toni Collette wailing in agony | Hereditary (2018)

Hereditary may be a horror movie, but its dramatic undertones and portrayal of grief warrant its place on this list. Toni Collette, upon discovering her daughter has died — her head decapitated by a telephone pole, and what remains of her body left in the car — accesses a level of authentic agony rarely seen on screen.

In an Oscar-worthy, yet utterly snubbed performance, she wails, her voice cracking with disbelief, “Oh god! It hurts too much,” she yells. A mix of grief, shock, and an inability to imagine a life without her daughter surge to the surface, as she utters, “I just need to die.” It’s a jaw-dropping performance. A tearjerking moment that instantaneously supplants the film’s former eerie atmosphere with one of deafening loss. Within moments, the tone shifts seamlessly from suspense to sorrow. And it’s all thanks to a heart-wrenching Collette moment. 

“Every day I wake up, and I hope you’re dead” | Marriage Story (2019) 

“Every day I wake up, and I hope you’re dead. Dead like if I could guarantee Henry would be okay, I’d hope you get an illness and then get hit by a car, and die.” Bitter divorces bring out the worst in people. Divorces with years of baggage at the helm — unspoken grievances, festering disappointments swept under the rug, parental conflicts never resolved. That’s what’s at play in Marriage Story. 

Charlie (Adam Driver) and Nicole (Scarlett Johansson), who once had the most tender relationship, have become enemies at the fray. They’ve both hired top-notch lawyers to drown the other. It’s malicious. It’s petty. It’s vindictive. And, at this moment, Charlie has had enough, and he utters words he can never take back. At this moment, he wants to inflict the most pain imaginable on his ex-wife, and while he may not mean these words, he is seeing red and merely yearns for her undoing. He sees a route to “win” this battle they have both already irreversibly lost, and he takes it. 

This scene is less tear-jerking in its sadness and more shell-shocking. You stare at the screen frozen. Unable to process any dialogue that follows suit. Your eyes bulge at the extent of the vitriol spewed. It’s soul-shaking poignancy via Noah Baumbach’s deft dialogue and Driver’s authentic mix of depletion, anger, and sorrow.