The 16 Saddest Movies on Netflix That Will Have You Bawling Like a Baby

When two teens with cystic fibrosis fall for each other, they must grapple with the sad truth of their shared diagnosis: that it’s unsafe for them to be within six feet of each other, let alone touch, kiss, or have a shared life together.

This drama stars Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson as a New York City theatre director and his wife, a former teen actress turned stage performer. Charlie and Nicole’s already rocky marriage comes apart after Nicole accepts a starring role in a TV pilot and moves to Los Angeles with their son, and the movie follows the subsequent unravelling of their lives together. If you need a good ugly-cry, this one is for you.

Set in the early 1970s in Mexico City, Roma is a semibiographical take on the life of Oscar-winning director Alfonso Cuarón (who also produced, coedited, and shot the film), following a formative year in the life of a middle-class family and their live-in housekeeper. It’s not only a gorgeous film – it’s also a total heartbreaker.

When a young woman, Abbie, is diagnosed with terminal cancer, she decides to make it her mission to find a new lover for her best friend since childhood and fiancé, Sam. The cast is insanely good, including the beautiful Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Michiel Huisman, and their onscreen chemistry is just as beautiful as it is devastating.

This French-language romance takes place in Dakar, Senegal, where 17-year-old Ada falls in love with a young construction worker named Souleiman, who’s forced to leave her behind when his team relocates (and subsequently gets lost at sea). Little does she know that Souleiman will later return – and of course, it’s on the same day she’s supposed to marry someone else.

Based on Jennifer Niven’s YA novel of the same name, this drama romance stars Elle Fanning and Justice Smith as two small-town teenagers, Violet and Finch, who are brought together by fate after Finch talks Violet off the ledge of a bridge before she takes her life. Finch then helps Violet move past her sister’s death, and spoiler alert: the ending feels like a punch to the gut.

In this incredibly dark flick, Abbi Jacobson stars as a burdened big sister who spends a night driving around LA with her heroin-addicted brother (played by Dave Franco) and his 2-year-old daughter. Oh, yeah, and she’s also trying to make it back in time for her boyfriend’s surprise birthday party, where her friends and family are anxiously awaiting her arrival.

Based on the book of the same name by Robert Kolker, this drama tells the true story of a mother who relentlessly pushed law enforcement agents to search for her missing daughter. In the process, she also uncovered a series of unsolved murders, where the victims were all young female sex workers on Long Island.

Lily Collins stars in To the Bone as Ellen, a 20-year-old struggling to cope with anorexia, despite years spent in recovery programs. This one definitely isn’t easy to watch, but that’s exactly what makes it so powerful.

Based on the true story of William Kamkwamba and his book written with Bryan Mealer, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope, this film follows a 13-year-old boy who discovered a way to save his Malawi village from famine. It is the directorial debut for 12 Years a Slave actor Chiwetel Ejiofor, as well as the first starring role for newcomer Maxwell Simba, who plays William, and it’s a total tearjerker.

Based on the 2008 historical novel by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows by the same name, a London author (played by Lily James) bonds with the residents of Guernsey Island in the aftermath of World War II and begins to exchange letters with them. Through her correspondence, she learns what life was like during the German occupation, which changes her perspective on everything.

Starring Everybody Loves Raymond‘s Ray Romano and The League‘s Mark Duplass (who also served as writer and director), this Sundance drama follows two neighbours who form an unlikely bond after Duplass’s character is diagnosed with terminal cancer. It’s a slow burn, but it definitely pays off in a big way.

High-school sweethearts reunite after 20 years and take a trip down memory lane to their shared past.

Based on the novel by Alice Sebold, the audience sees through the eyes of a murdered 14-year-old girl as her family struggles to cope with her sudden disappearance.

A woman learns to live with the grief of a miscarriage as the loss takes a toll on her relationships and her life.

Will Smith plays a man willing to give his vital organs to those in need of a donor. After falling in love with a woman at risk of dying from a heart condition, it becomes apparent there is something else driving his mission to give.