# suicide in film
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-in-film/178579
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [May 30, 2003, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-in-film/178579 "2003-05-30T17:28:36Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@mogiaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mogiaw)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2003, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-in-film/178579/1 "2003-05-30T17:28:36Z")
Can y’all give me names of films with representations of suicide in them? Its for a project if you’re wondering,
thanks,
mog
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### Author:  [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2003, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-in-film/178579/2 "2003-05-30T17:49:02Z")
First one that popped into my head is [Monster’s Ball](http://us.imdb.com/Details?0285742) and the second is [Magnolia](http://us.imdb.com/Details?0175880) (sort of, in the preface).
More will be along shortly, I’m sure.
DD
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2003, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-in-film/178579/3 "2003-05-30T17:54:46Z")
Off the top of my head:
**The Front**
**Les Miserables**
**Girl Interrupted**
**M_A_S\*H** (unsuccessful)
**Harold and Maude** (not successful)
**Dinner at Eight**
**On the Beach** (the mother lode of suicide in film)
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### Author:  [@Woeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Woeg)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2003, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-in-film/178579/4 "2003-05-30T18:25:46Z")
Swing Kids
Better Off Dead (black comedy)
Shawshank Redemption
Thelma and Louise
Lethal Weapon
Or you can go [here](http://us.imdb.com/List?tv=on&&keywords=suicide&&heading=19;suicide) and see a listing of over 1000 with “suicide” as a keyword. Hope this helps!
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### Author:  [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2003, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-in-film/178579/5 "2003-05-30T18:38:33Z")
Ordinary People
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### Author:  [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2003, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-in-film/178579/6 "2003-05-30T18:47:26Z")
Veree Teasdale’s leap in _Skyscraper Souls_
Joan Crawford’s drowning in _Humoresque_
Walter Huston’s throat-slashing in _Rain_
Great Garbo/Vivien Leigh’s train leap in\* Anna Karenina\*
Katharine Hepburn’s plane dive in _Christopher Strong_
Fredric March/James Mason/Kris Kristofferson in _A Star is Born_
Lowell Sherman in _What Price Hollywood?_
Richard Barthelmess in _Broken Blossoms_
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### Author:  [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2003, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-in-film/178579/7 "2003-05-30T19:25:36Z")
**Full. Metal. Jacket.**
Gets to me eveytime. Boy, what a haunting scene.
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### Author:  [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2003, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-in-film/178579/8 "2003-05-30T19:48:48Z")
Kevin Costner’s (uncredited) wrists in The Big Chill
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### Author:  [@absimia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/absimia)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2003, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-in-film/178579/9 "2003-05-30T19:54:14Z")
**Hudsucker Proxy**
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### Author:  [@mrunlucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrunlucky)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2003, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-in-film/178579/10 "2003-05-30T20:02:33Z")
Fire Within by Louis Malle. The whole film centers around a planned suicide.
Stroszek by Werner Herzog.
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### Author:  [@mrunlucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrunlucky)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2003, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-in-film/178579/11 "2003-05-30T20:13:02Z")
The Reflecting Skin by Philip Ridley. A horrific coming-of-age story set in the 50s. Dad goes a little bit crazy at an old gas station.
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### Author:  [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2003, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-in-film/178579/12 "2003-05-30T20:51:40Z")
_Sixth Sense_ has a suicide at the beginning.
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### Author:  [@Earl\_of\_Sandwhich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_of_Sandwhich)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2003, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-in-film/178579/13 "2003-05-30T21:26:24Z")
Airplane!
Lonely Guy
Crimes and Misdemeanors
The Hairdresser’s Husband
Some movies don’t have actual suicides, but do have either attempts, dream sequences, or characters with major suicidal ideation. Including:
City Lights
Hannah and her Sisters
Buffalo '66
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### Author:  [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2003, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-in-film/178579/14 "2003-05-30T21:26:48Z")
_Heathers_
_Scent of a Woman/Profumo di donna_ (attempted)
_A Clockwork Orange_ (attempted)
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### Author:  [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2003, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-in-film/178579/15 "2003-05-30T21:28:02Z")
**The Virgin Suicides**. As the title suggests, that’s virtually ALL the film is about and it has some beautiful in-depth performances. Loved the book and the film.
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### Author:  [@Alma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alma)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2003, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-in-film/178579/16 "2003-05-30T21:30:30Z")
Leaving Las Vegas
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### Author:  [@lachesis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lachesis)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2003, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-in-film/178579/17 "2003-05-30T21:39:58Z")
slightly off-beam, but the opera _Madame Butterfly_ ends with a suicide. no time to search now, but if there isn’t a literal film version of the opera, i believe a few years ago there was a movie based on the general plotline. now what was its name?
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### Author:  [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2003, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-in-film/178579/18 "2003-05-30T21:44:38Z")
A Few Good Men
Boogie Nights
28 Days
About a Boy
'night Mother
White Oleander
Sophie’s Choice
An Officer and a Gentleman
It’s a Wonderful Life
What Dreams May Come
Groundhog Day
The Hours
Saturday Night Fever
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### Author:  [@shy\_guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shy_guy)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2003, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-in-film/178579/19 "2003-05-30T21:56:23Z")
Does attempted suicide count? Luke Wilson has a pretty good scene in Royal Tennenbaums.
Aside from that, ther’es a pretty disturbing one in _The Rules of Attraction_.
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### Author:  [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2003, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-in-film/178579/20 "2003-05-30T21:59:19Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by lachesis \*
> \*\*slightly off-beam, but the opera _Madame Butterfly_ ends with a suicide. no time to search now, but if there isn’t a literal film version of the opera, i believe a few years ago there was a movie based on the general plotline. now what was its name? \*\*
[M. Butterfly](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0107468)?
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