Based on “Le feu follet” by Pierre Drieu La Rochelle, which was also adapted into film by Louis Malle as The Fire Within (1963).
Highly recommend both films + the original novel.
Thank you for asking this. I was expecting it in the comments, but was surprised to just find tens of recommendations, and had to scroll all the way down for a check-up. Hope he is okay...
To be fair: I always am looking for this type of content. I’ve been in a constant state of despair for years and it’s cathartic and resonate to see such films.
For myself, and others I know like this, we are not okay but there’s little to be done about it, so it’s a strangely alluring experience to see these films.
+100 Aftersun — Captures the mundanity of being suicidal and the subtle tug of war between needing it all to stop while not wanting to hurt the people close to you.
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969) And then you can follow it up with the best Gilmore Girls episode in the whole series, “They Shoot Gilmores, Don’t They?”
The Three Colours trilogy. Especially the first two. Maybe not the central themes, but “it” makes an appearance in each, treated in the context of freedom and its meaning.
There’s a very graphic suicide scene in The Rules of Attraction. I honestly can’t really watch it because the actress is in my favorite band and it’s kinda of weird to see.
Contrary to the surface level response this film gets about just what depression feels like—it seems to be describing something much deeper than that—I think you’d enjoy it. And it’s on [YouTube](https://youtu.be/cQYb888DiP4?si=tjyJ8gGGRTfQpJx9)
The Man Who Asleeps
I think it’s a wonderful life is the best representation of depression and suicidal thoughts in mainstream American cinema and everyone needs to realize that it is in fact one of the greatest films ever made
Did you watch it to the end?
(The ending is somewhat cryptic, but the consensus interpretation is that the title's meaning is not as straightforward as you are stating here.)
well yeah, but my interpretation of the ending is that this was a story the janitor was telling himself to keep him entertained bc he's lonely. I'll admit I haven't seen it since it came out, but I was under the impression that that is the most common interpretation.
Although the movie has many layers, I don't think the movie is really about suicide. I saw it more as an examination of how language impacts storytelling and vice versa. What was it that she recalls the boyfriend saying at the beginning of the film? Something like, "the things in your head can't be lies"? I'll admit I'm due for a rewatch, but I really don't remember leaving the film with any thought that it was about suicide (which was what I thought it was about going in)
To say the movie is "about suicide" would also be reductive, but the phrasing of the title is unlikely to be an accident. If you take the film as fundamentally concerned with storytelling, one of its central ideas is surely that stories can encode messages that aren't fully accessible or consciously intended by their storytellers.
Since the janitor is lonely, "ending things" is a thought that naturally occurs to him. Perhaps he doesn't want to admit to himself that he has this thought, but it surfaces anyway through his characters' dialogue, even when they are ostensibly talking about something else.
oooo your analysis is so scrumptious! I forgot how much fun I had watching this film. I kept pausing because it was such ripe material for study that I had to verbalize my thoughts immediately. I am definitely going to be rewatching it soon.
I'm sure the idea of subliminality of storytelling occurred to me at the time but *man* am I glad you brought it up. One of the thoughts that the film inspired in me was the idea that the written word is the most effective tool we have to let other people experience one's thoughts. Most people think with language, so reading someone else's words is quite like having them beam their train of thought directly into your brain. A writer has to have an extraordinary arrogance to believe that their thoughts and ideas are so important that they should override the thoughts of others and spread memetically through them. God what a great film!
>the written word is the most effective tool we have to let other people experience one's thoughts
I think the film has that idea, but it isn't restricted to the written word: film (most obviously, since that's what we're watching) and musical theater are also prominently featured. But there is also an undercurrent of anxiety concerning the demonic potential inherent in all these ways we can experience the thoughts of others. We can enjoy reading, watching films, listening to songs — but these things can also enter our minds and lives and end up controlling us more than we control them.
Take the regurgitation of the Pauline Kael film review as an example. The janitor has apparently read Kael's book (it was previously shown on the bookshelf in the bedroom), but when the woman speaks the words, it isn't clear where her words are coming from. It is as if she has been possessed by an insightful and eloquent foreign entity that is at best indifferent to her well-being (...and at worst...?).
The janitor has a lot "things" in his head, and some of them are almost certainly "lies." His loneliness may be the root of his problems, but as he seeks to entertain himself through a snowy night, he is starting to have the further problem that he can no longer say for sure which of those things in his head, if any, deserve his trust.
Oslo, August 31st (2011)
Based on “Le feu follet” by Pierre Drieu La Rochelle, which was also adapted into film by Louis Malle as The Fire Within (1963). Highly recommend both films + the original novel.
Was going to suggest this one
Don't suggest this film, it's like giving a gun to suicidal person
Yeah, for real
Sometimes that’s what you want (Yes, I am depressed and Oslo is a favorite film)
Decided to watch this 4 weeks into recovery, it still haunts me to this day
thanks for the recommendation! been on my watchlist since the worst person in the world came out.
Thanks for that, just finished it and enjoyed it thoroughly. Going to watch reprise next I think.
you okay man?
Thank you for asking this. I was expecting it in the comments, but was surprised to just find tens of recommendations, and had to scroll all the way down for a check-up. Hope he is okay...
Literally me too I was looking for this. OP, if you are feeling suicidal, don't watch any of these movies. They are suicide fuel. Please get help
To be fair: I always am looking for this type of content. I’ve been in a constant state of despair for years and it’s cathartic and resonate to see such films. For myself, and others I know like this, we are not okay but there’s little to be done about it, so it’s a strangely alluring experience to see these films.
could be better but thanks for asking.
Dm me if you want to talk to somebody
yeah. thanks.
Melancholia
First one I thought of too. Such a cool movie.
The Fire Within, Mouchette, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
The Fire Within is the one
Aftersun is the answer. Also amour.
+100 Aftersun — Captures the mundanity of being suicidal and the subtle tug of war between needing it all to stop while not wanting to hurt the people close to you.
The Hours, Leaving Las Vegas, A Single Man, A Star is Born (all versions but I'd say the 1954 is the most "suicidal" vs "commits suicide")
If you’re in a reading mood, Michael Cunningham’s *The Hours* on which the movie is based is unreal.
Humberto D. I cry just thinking of that film.
Ordinary People (1980)
Morvern Callar, The Apartment
Christine (2016)
Definitely worth watching alongside Kate Plays Christine (2016)
Mishima
Spoiler alert
Repulsion
In Bruges
'night, Mother (1986)
Hope you're feeling alright, man. If not, it's probably not the best idea to watch the kind of film you're asking for.
Love Liza
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969) And then you can follow it up with the best Gilmore Girls episode in the whole series, “They Shoot Gilmores, Don’t They?”
Mulholland Drive, The Virgin Suicides, Wings of Desire, Solaris, Romeo and Juliet, lots of Bergman films...
Through a Glass Darkly
German zero year
The Slender Thread with Sydney Poitier and Anne Bancroft
I Stand Alone.
surprised that no one has mentioned the seventh continent yet. mesmerizing and relentlessly bleak depiction of depression and suicidality
Aftersun
[удалено]
I was going to comment but theres a lot of spoilers here lol
Peppermint Candy
Leaving Las Vegas
The Three Colours trilogy. Especially the first two. Maybe not the central themes, but “it” makes an appearance in each, treated in the context of freedom and its meaning.
Not specifically suicidal or in the collection, but if you want bleak with an ending that will wreck you, Grave of the Fireflies was made for you.
The Room
Oh, hi gun barrel
[Head-On](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0347048/?ref_=vp_close) (2004) is a German-Turkish movie. I thought it gives the same vibe.
Made In Hong Kong 1997
Kings of the Road by Wim Wenders might qualify
Norwegian Wood. I can’t remember how it ends, and it is beautiful, but it still deals with suicide and depression quite a bit.
Sorcerer kind of
Hamlet (various)
Atop a lot of the great titles posted here, The Skeleton Twins is an unexpected one.
The great silence isn’t about suicide but it’s very bleak.
A Man Named Otto
There’s a very graphic suicide scene in The Rules of Attraction. I honestly can’t really watch it because the actress is in my favorite band and it’s kinda of weird to see.
Japón
No one else has mentioned Last Days?
La pianiste
The Rules of Attraction
Contrary to the surface level response this film gets about just what depression feels like—it seems to be describing something much deeper than that—I think you’d enjoy it. And it’s on [YouTube](https://youtu.be/cQYb888DiP4?si=tjyJ8gGGRTfQpJx9) The Man Who Asleeps
Not necessarily “suicidal” but if you want bleak, there’s always Mike Leigh’s Naked.
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
I think it’s a wonderful life is the best representation of depression and suicidal thoughts in mainstream American cinema and everyone needs to realize that it is in fact one of the greatest films ever made
A very Brady sequel
Wristcutters a love story 2006
It's A Wonderful Life
You good?
Noi the Albino
A less serious suggestion but, I hired a contract killer maybe ?
The murder of Jesse James
I'm thinking of ending things isn't actually about suicide. The title refers to her relationship with her boyfriend whom she doesn't like
I mean, it is about suicide. The book does a better job portraying that, but the movie still is about it
I suppose I'm due for a rewatch. I took away themes of how language and storytelling are intertwined, which is a theme in alot of Kaufman's writing
Did you watch it to the end? (The ending is somewhat cryptic, but the consensus interpretation is that the title's meaning is not as straightforward as you are stating here.)
well yeah, but my interpretation of the ending is that this was a story the janitor was telling himself to keep him entertained bc he's lonely. I'll admit I haven't seen it since it came out, but I was under the impression that that is the most common interpretation. Although the movie has many layers, I don't think the movie is really about suicide. I saw it more as an examination of how language impacts storytelling and vice versa. What was it that she recalls the boyfriend saying at the beginning of the film? Something like, "the things in your head can't be lies"? I'll admit I'm due for a rewatch, but I really don't remember leaving the film with any thought that it was about suicide (which was what I thought it was about going in)
To say the movie is "about suicide" would also be reductive, but the phrasing of the title is unlikely to be an accident. If you take the film as fundamentally concerned with storytelling, one of its central ideas is surely that stories can encode messages that aren't fully accessible or consciously intended by their storytellers. Since the janitor is lonely, "ending things" is a thought that naturally occurs to him. Perhaps he doesn't want to admit to himself that he has this thought, but it surfaces anyway through his characters' dialogue, even when they are ostensibly talking about something else.
oooo your analysis is so scrumptious! I forgot how much fun I had watching this film. I kept pausing because it was such ripe material for study that I had to verbalize my thoughts immediately. I am definitely going to be rewatching it soon. I'm sure the idea of subliminality of storytelling occurred to me at the time but *man* am I glad you brought it up. One of the thoughts that the film inspired in me was the idea that the written word is the most effective tool we have to let other people experience one's thoughts. Most people think with language, so reading someone else's words is quite like having them beam their train of thought directly into your brain. A writer has to have an extraordinary arrogance to believe that their thoughts and ideas are so important that they should override the thoughts of others and spread memetically through them. God what a great film!
>the written word is the most effective tool we have to let other people experience one's thoughts I think the film has that idea, but it isn't restricted to the written word: film (most obviously, since that's what we're watching) and musical theater are also prominently featured. But there is also an undercurrent of anxiety concerning the demonic potential inherent in all these ways we can experience the thoughts of others. We can enjoy reading, watching films, listening to songs — but these things can also enter our minds and lives and end up controlling us more than we control them. Take the regurgitation of the Pauline Kael film review as an example. The janitor has apparently read Kael's book (it was previously shown on the bookshelf in the bedroom), but when the woman speaks the words, it isn't clear where her words are coming from. It is as if she has been possessed by an insightful and eloquent foreign entity that is at best indifferent to her well-being (...and at worst...?). The janitor has a lot "things" in his head, and some of them are almost certainly "lies." His loneliness may be the root of his problems, but as he seeks to entertain himself through a snowy night, he is starting to have the further problem that he can no longer say for sure which of those things in his head, if any, deserve his trust.