# What movies make you sigh after each viewing? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 10, 2005, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-make-you-sigh-after-each-viewing/289373 "2005-02-10T09:08:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Vision\_of\_Love](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Vision\_of\_Love](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vision_of_Love)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2005, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-make-you-sigh-after-each-viewing/289373/1 "2005-02-10T09:08:44Z")
When I say sigh, I mean the good kind–usually made after a movie has overwhelmed you, or when you can’t believe that a movie has ended. The number-one movie that gets such a reaction from me is **Spirited Away**. I remember when I first watched it, I thought it was a decent film, but not as good as I had hoped, as my expectations were set really high. It was a rental, and a _long_ time after that first viewing, I actually began to appreciate the movie. I don’t know how this happened after only one viewing several months back. I finally bought the DVD because I really wanted to see it again, and that time it really clicked with me. I cried for Chihiro and I felt her fear of being without her parents. I loved the way her character matured by the end of the story. The whole time the movie plays, I feel as if I _am_ Chihiro. At the end, I make that aforementioned sigh when [slightly spoilerish territory here…] Chihiro finds her parents back to normal and with no recollection of what happened the past few days. It’s like waking up from an epic dream, except this time it was all real, and she can’t tell anyone. It’s her own secret. Argh, this wasn’t meant to turn into a **Spirited Away** thread. I just felt like posting about it and didn’t want to resurrect an old thread. ---
**Author:** ![Arwin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/51bf81/32.png) [@Arwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arwin)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2005, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-make-you-sigh-after-each-viewing/289373/2 "2005-02-10T10:25:26Z")
I shed a few tears yesterday after the movie ‘Hero’. Does that count? I thought it was very impressive. Especially Broken Sword’s sacrifice of himself to his lover’s sword. That was intense! ---
**Author:** ![BabaBooey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dfb087/32.png) [@BabaBooey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BabaBooey)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2005, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-make-you-sigh-after-each-viewing/289373/3 "2005-02-10T10:58:40Z")
**Chinatown** ’s ending definitely overwhelmed me. I made a greater connection to the characters in the movie than those of pretty much any other film, so I actually felt like Nicholson’s character must have. **Seven Samurai** also left a similar impression. ---
**Author:** ![Arwin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/51bf81/32.png) [@Arwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arwin)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2005, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-make-you-sigh-after-each-viewing/289373/4 "2005-02-10T12:54:29Z")
(actually, not after, but during of course) ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2005, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-make-you-sigh-after-each-viewing/289373/5 "2005-02-10T13:56:12Z")
Princess bride. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2005, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-make-you-sigh-after-each-viewing/289373/6 "2005-02-10T14:07:09Z")
**Amadeus** and **The Elephant Man** ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2005, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-make-you-sigh-after-each-viewing/289373/7 "2005-02-10T18:09:04Z")
Disney’s _The Little Mermaid_. The ending music is so perfectly match to the scene that it just takes my breath away. ---
**Author:** ![Not\_A\_Tame\_Lion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e36b37/32.png) [@Not\_A\_Tame\_Lion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_A_Tame_Lion)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2005, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-make-you-sigh-after-each-viewing/289373/8 "2005-02-10T19:43:34Z")
_Amélie_ and _Moulin Rouge!_ immediately spring to mind. Which I guess goes to show, both happy and sad endings can elicit that sigh. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_chao_goes_mu/32/3191_2.png) [@The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Chao_Goes_Mu)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2005, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-make-you-sigh-after-each-viewing/289373/9 "2005-02-10T20:04:43Z")
I just had a “sigh” moment after seeing **“Big Fish”** for the first time yesterday. It’s one of the best movies I’ve seen in a while ---
**Author:** ![Vision\_of\_Love](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Vision\_of\_Love](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vision_of_Love)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2005, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-make-you-sigh-after-each-viewing/289373/10 "2005-02-10T21:56:52Z")
> [@Arwin](#): > > I shed a few tears yesterday after the movie ‘Hero’. Does that count? I thought it was very impressive. > > Especially Broken Sword’s sacrifice of himself to his lover’s sword. That was intense! I gasped in shock at that too. Yes, there were tears. I saw it last week on rental. I also sigh at the end of **Finding Nemo**. I wouldn’t if it weren’t for the way it ends. I may be alone on this one though. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2005, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-make-you-sigh-after-each-viewing/289373/11 "2005-02-10T22:01:51Z")
_Mrs. Dalloway_. _Orlando_. I’m beginning to think movies based on Virginia Woolf novels just do this to me. I have yet to see _The Hours_, but we’re watching it for my Brit Lit II course this semester, so we’ll see. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2005, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-make-you-sigh-after-each-viewing/289373/12 "2005-02-10T22:03:35Z")
The Wizard of Aaahs. OK, bad pun aside, I really do sigh in pleasure when “The Wizard of Oz” reaches its end, and that final chord plays. I’ve been sighing over this movie for more than fifty years, so part of the sigh is for my lost youth. But most of it is for the finest fantasy ever filmed. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2005, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-make-you-sigh-after-each-viewing/289373/13 "2005-02-10T22:04:04Z")
_Casablanca_. I’m not a huge sucker for romantic movies, but c’mon. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2005, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-make-you-sigh-after-each-viewing/289373/14 "2005-02-10T23:57:51Z")
_Proof of Life_. He’s the honorable soldier. Her marriage was on the rocks, but she still loved her husband. How else could it end? But still . . . _wistful sigh_ Plus, the nice long helicopter shot is very pretty. ---
**Author:** ![kung\_fu\_lola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f4b2a3/32.png) [@kung\_fu\_lola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kung_fu_lola)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2005, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-make-you-sigh-after-each-viewing/289373/15 "2005-02-11T00:10:52Z")
_Eternal Sunshine_. _When Harry Met Sally_. Also, _Love, actually_, which has such a beautiful epilogue. ---
**Author:** ![Uvula\_Donor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e19adc/32.png) [@Uvula\_Donor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uvula_Donor)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2005, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-make-you-sigh-after-each-viewing/289373/16 "2005-02-11T00:13:38Z")
I had that reaction to _Grave of the Fireflies_. It was so moving, and sad, and the story touched my heart. Many Studio Ghibli’s films touch me in that “sighing” way. I think it has something to do with the unique and wonderful world that Miyazaki and his animators create for their films. It’s modern, and yet slower, and more magical, and with comfortable touches of nostalgia blended in. I remember at the end of _Kiki’s Delivery Service_ how much I would have loved to live in the coastal city Kiki settled in. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2005, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-make-you-sigh-after-each-viewing/289373/17 "2005-02-11T00:23:56Z")
Normally I am the “shallow” movie watcher among my circle of friends, I like action more than drama/serious flicks. I’m glad to be able to answer this question with: _Seven Samurai_. When they & the audience realize at the end that no one is the winner but the farmers. The samurai are still \*ronin \* and will forever more be so, and they have no home to rest their head and no one but other \*ronin \* to mourn them when they did. Upon reflection, I automatically put that in a spoiler box. And the movie is older than me. So I guess my view on spoiler boxes is: every plot point, anytime. Strange. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2005, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-make-you-sigh-after-each-viewing/289373/18 "2005-02-11T00:25:15Z")
Sigh. In that spoiler box: “did” should be “die”, obviously. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2005, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-make-you-sigh-after-each-viewing/289373/19 "2005-02-11T00:27:59Z")
I don’t know of any but I keep sighing every time I read this thread. It’s as bad as yawning. ---
**Author:** ![kung\_fu\_lola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f4b2a3/32.png) [@kung\_fu\_lola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kung_fu_lola)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2005, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-make-you-sigh-after-each-viewing/289373/20 "2005-02-11T00:34:06Z")
**Anaamika** : I think it made it pretty, as if you were likening **dying** to “having a home to rest their head”; in a way, the movie was saying that was the _only_ kind of “homecoming” they could have; into the land of the dead. See? You got it! 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-make-you-sigh-after-each-viewing/289373.md?page=2)