20 fantastic films with bittersweet endings

Like any good fairy tale, The Little Mermaid has a happy ending that sees Princess Ariel find her happy ever after with Prince Eric. While the viewer is encouraged to see this as a good thing, it is also bittersweet because it means Ariel will no longer be a part of her father’s kingdom. As King Triton says, the problem he will face is how much he will miss his daughter, who is clearly his favorite. It’s an ending that shows even the happiest endings often come with a dollop of sorrow.

Logan is arguably one of the best of the many X-Men films. It indeed features one of Hugh Jackman’s most heartbreaking performances, and the ending is sure to break everyone’s heart. In the end, Logan sacrifices himself so that the young Laura can survive. It is, perhaps, a fitting end for this iconic character — at least until a different version of him appears in  Deadpool & Wolverine — and a reminder of his essential goodness.

The Last Unicorn, based on the novel of the same name by Peter S. Beagle, follows the titular unicorn as she attempts to find out what happened to the rest of her kind. Along the way, she meets several characters who shape her destiny, and, after time as a human, she comes to understand love and regret. The film's ending is particularly poignant, for it’s clear to the unicorn that she will never again be like the rest of her kind. There is great joy and sorrow in that realization, and this is precisely what makes this film so perennially beloved.

Don Bluth excelled at creating films that were the epitome of bittersweet. Few of his films are as wrenching as The Land Before Time, which focuses on the Apatosaurus Littlefoot, his friends, and their effort to reach the paradise known as the Great Valley. They do eventually reach their destination, but only after enduring tremendous heartache. These beloved characters have found their way to peace and happiness, but it’s clear that they will always remember what they went through to get to this place.

Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy might be stuffed to the gills with extraneous plots, but it does have some genuinely touching emotional beats. This is particularly true of the ending, which sees Bilbo Baggins return at last to his home in the Shire, only to find that he has changed while it has not. What’s more, it’s clear that he still mourns the death of Thorin. The fact that he isn’t even recognized by his fellow hobbits for the true hero that he is only makes the ending even more bittersweet. 

Return of the Jedi is, in some ways, the epitome of epic storytelling. By the film's end, the Empire has been defeated, and the Galaxy celebrates. For those who have survived, however, particularly Luke, there’s still some sadness. There is victory, yes, and he is poised to rejuvenate the Jedi, but he has also lost his parents, his adopted father Obi-Wan Kenobi, his real father, Darth Vader, who sacrificed himself and restored balance to the Force. As so often in epic storytelling, there is always a hefty dose of sadness mixed in with the joy.

Saoirse Ronan is nothing short of brilliant in Lady Bird, in which she plays the title character, a rebellious young woman with a particularly vexed relationship with her mother (played by Laurie Metcalf). The mother/daughter drama is the heart of the story, leading to the finale, in which Metcalf’s Marion narrowly misses seeing her daughter depart for college. The ending is bittersweet, for though mother and daughter will never really understand or get along — and may not even like each other — they at least can take comfort from knowing that they love one another. 

Avengers: Endgame successfully brought Phase III of the MCU to an end and took viewers on an emotional rollercoaster. Though the genocidal Thanos has finally been vanquished, the effort to do so has exacted a terrible cost, taking the lives of Vision, Tony Stark, and Black Widow. More than almost any other film of the 2010s, Avengers: Endgame brought home the reality that it sometimes requires a great deal of sacrifice in order to ensure that evil is finally vanquished.

Gladiator is arguably one of director Ridley Scott’s best films, and it helped to bring the swords and sandals film back to Hollywood. It's a story about the gladiator Maximus (played by Russell Crowe) and his effort to avenge his wife and child, and his emperor is the sort of rousing story that stirs big emotions. The ending packs a punch, for while Maximus dies bringing down corrupt Emperor Commodus, he is nevertheless reunited with his family in the afterlife. Like so many other epic heroes, he has saved the world but, in the process, given up his right to live in it.

Barbara Stanwyck is at her very best in the film Stella Dallas, which follows the title character as she first marries a man who is her social better and then has a daughter, before her marriage falls apart. Ultimately, as is typical in maternal melodramas, she gives her daughter up so she can have a better life, and the final image sees her bearing witness to her daughter’s marriage, smiling through her tears. It’s the kind of scene designed to break the viewer’s heart, and it is in some ways the very definition of bittersweet. 

If Beale Street Could Talk, directed by Barry Jenkins and based on the novel by James Baldwin, focuses on Fonny, who is wrongfully imprisoned thanks to a false accusation, and the efforts of his beloved, Tish, and Tish’s mother to exonerate him. Ultimately, they aren’t able to do so, and the film ends with him still in jail. Still, the final frame shows Tish and Fonny and their child together, and while he’s still in prison at least, despite everything, they still have one another.

Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain  marked a true watershed in terms of LGBTQ representation in the cinema. It's a story of two cowboys who find love in the 1960s, only to be torn apart by society, and it is designed to devastate. The ending is particularly wrenching. Heath Ledger gives a soul performance as the tortured Ennis Del Mar, and the film’s final image sees him clutching his beloved Jack’s jacket, mourning the life they could have had together. It’s a moment in which he mourns for a future that never was, and the viewer can’t help but mourn with him.

Few endings are quite as devastating as Atonement, which focuses on the doomed love of Robbie and Cecilia, who are torn apart thanks to the wrongful testimony of Cecilia’s younger sister, Briony. For a time, it seems as if they are reunited, only for much of the film to be revealed as a novel written by a dying Briony, yearning to redeem herself for her part. The last shot is of Robbie and Cecilia together again, but since the viewer knows they have both died, it’s a reunion that can only ever exist in fiction.

Every version of A Star is Born  is uniquely heartbreaking, but the most recent, starring Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga, is especially devastating. In the finale, Gaga’s Ally sings a soaring ballad in honor of her husband, who has taken his life so as not to destroy her career. It’s a hauntingly beautiful moment. In the end, Ally has the musical career she always desired. It’s clear that her heart will heal eventually, but nothing will ever be the same for her. 

Bette Davis gives one of her most acclaimed performances in Now, Voyager, in which she plays spinster Charlotte Vale, who finds love once she goes through a makeover. The hitch, of course, is that the man she loves is married and has a daughter. The two have a love of sorts, but the ending is bittersweet, since they will be forever friends rather than lovers. Bette Davis is truly heartbreaking in the role of Charlotte, and it’s easy to see why the film remains a tearjerker to this day.

Steel Magnolias is, in many ways, the very definition of a tear-jerker, with its story of a group of Southern women and their lives and trials. Particularly devastating is the death of Julia Roberts’ Shelby, since she leaves behind a young child. The ending is filled with joy, to be sure, but there is also the persistent awareness that nothing will ever quite be the same again. Though the women go on, their lives will forever be changed by the loss of such a vibrant young life.

Some films loom large in the American imagination, and Casablanca is one of these. Its story of love unfolding amid the Second World War retains its power to be moving, and its ending remains as heartbreaking as it was when the film was released in 1942. Even though Humphrey Bogart’s Rick and Ingrid Bergman’s Ilsa must part so that the war can be won, the viewer is left in no doubt as to the fact that they still love one another. Sometimes, it seems, the greatest love stories end in a parting.

La La Land  marks the moment when director Damien Chazelle really hit it big, and it’s easy to see why. The film’s love story between Ryan Gosling’s Seb and Emma Stone’s Mia is the stuff of Hollywood dreams. In the end, their lives take them on separate paths, but the bittersweet ending makes it clear that what they shared will never be forgotten by either of them. This is the kind of ending that plucks at the heartstrings, and it’s easy to see why the film remains so beloved.

Based on the novel of the same name by André Aciman, Call Me By Your Name  features stunning performances from both Timothée Chalamet and Armie Hammer. Chalamet’s Elio is the heart and soul of the film, and his brief love affair with Hammer’s Oliver is poignant and heartbreaking. In the end, Oliver goes back to the States and marries a woman, but as Elio stares into the fire, a tear upon his cheek, it’s clear that the relationship has changed him for the better. The bittersweet ending resonates with anyone who has encountered a brief but powerful love.

The Return of the King is arguably Peter Jackson’s crowning cinematic achievement, and it marks the conclusion of his adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s  The Lord of the Rings. It has arguably one of the most bittersweet endings in Hollywood history, since it sees the hero, Frodo, departing across the sea. There is simply no place for him in Middle-earth any longer, and the film eloquently points out that it is often the case that a hero must give up his own life so that the world can be saved.