It is true that when grieving, you might not want a distraction but rather something that understands your feelings. Grief films are not sad films; they provide understanding, clarity, and—sometimes—a weird type of comfort. If you want to shed tears, find someone to identify with, or understand your complicated feelings, then these 10 movies take the grief route and are very honest and empathetic. These are our picks of the strongest grief stories that are available to watch online, and they run the gamut from distressing dramas to charming animated films.
10. Coco
Pixar’s Coco is more than tunes and skeletons, darling—it’s about how we keep our loved ones alive. The film takes Miguel into the Land of the Dead, where he discovers memory, legacy, and the deep emotional bonds between generations. It’s especially resonant for families moving through loss, and its message—remember me—is one you’ll be thinking about long after the credits are done rolling.
9. Marley & Me
Anyone who’s ever been in love with a pet knows the anguish at the end of that book. Marley & Me navigates the messy, glorious life of a family and their sweet dog, and the quiet grief of letting go. It’s not a book about a dog—it’s about love, madness, loyalty, and the kind of grief that ambushes you when you lose something that felt like home.
8. Bridge to Terabithia
Childhood grief is not the same, and Bridge to Terabithia has no trouble confronting that fact. The film explores the relationship between Jesse and Leslie with sensitivity and the heartbreak that follows. With justifications of fantasy and invention, it confronts directly how children try to make sense of the world—and how they come to learn to endure grief, even when it’s too much to endure.
7. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Following the loss of his father in the 9/11 attacks, teenage Oskar embarks on a journey across New York City seeking answers. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close compresses disorientation, anger, and wistfulness that ensue from sudden loss—especially among children. Through Oskar’s perceptions, we observe the way loss warps time and logic, and the way curiosity is survival at times.
6. Collateral Beauty
When Will Smith’s character is overcome by grief, he writes letters to Time, Love, and Death—and lo and behold, they write back. Collateral Beauty is whimsical and poetic, but beneath its flights of fancy is an actual exploration of how humans wrestle to impose meaning on tragedy. It’s about finding grace in the most unlikely spots and learning to live with pain but not be consumed by it.
5. P.S. I Love You
Loss of a partner leaves an emptiness of sorts—and P.S. I Love You does it beautifully. Holly is grieving, stuck in her grief, until a series of letters from her late husband prompts her to begin again. It’s a reminder that loss is not the end of love and that healing can begin with permission to live again.
4. Rabbit Hole
Few films capture the death of a child with such harsh realism as Rabbit Hole. Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart give heart-rending performances as a pair, each attempting to come to terms with their common grief in a divergent fashion. It’s unpleasant to sit through, but it’s honestly raw—and it shows the unobtrusive truth that grief doesn’t go away, but life might still evolve alongside it.
3. Ghost
Yes, there is romance and a little bit of spooky suspense, but above all, Ghost is about how hard it is to let go. Patrick Swayze’s character stays behind when he passes away due to love and unfinished business. The movie uses the hurt of wanting one more instant with someone who has died—and the bittersweet hurt of finally letting go.
2. The Lovely Bones
In The Lovely Bones, Susie Salmon watches from the other side as her loved ones grieve over her death. It’s a richly emotional investigation of bereavement from all sides: victim, relatives, and even murderer. Lovely and hauntingly shot, the film spares nothing in terms of anguish—but proves healing, though halting, is an option.
1. This Is Where I Leave You
Grief is not always tears—sometimes it appears as mangled silences, reused arguments, and private jokes. This Is Where I Leave You details four siblings forced together by the death of their father, ordered to sit with one another (literally) for a week. What happens is muddled, real, and uncomfortably comforting. It’s proof that family bereavement is messy, but it’s also something that can be the thing that unites people with each other.
These films don’t try to “fix” grief—they reflect it, hold space for it, and sometimes even laugh through it. Whether you’re deeply immersed in it or want to gain a better understanding of the emotional terrain, these stories demonstrate that grief is messy, unpredictable, and profoundly human. And most of all—they remind us that we’re never alone in it.