Top 10 Saddest Movie Kisses

“The Time Traveler's Wife” follows in a long tradition of tragic love stories, but this time there’s a twist. The star crossed lovers can never be fully happy because Henry can time travel, but doesn’t have full control over where he goes or when it happens. Henry and Clare eventually have a daughter together, who is also a time traveler and warns her father that he will die when she’s five years old. When the time finally comes, Henry was already aware of it but saying goodbye to Clare was never going to be easy. The kiss they share when Clare finds out her time with Henry is limited is devastating to watch.

Whether you read Stephen Chbosky’s “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” when it came out in the ‘90s or were only introduced to it when the movie was released, you’ll know that Charlie’s story is a poignant one. In this scene, he and Sam share a moment together after he has been harboring feelings for her. However, she’s upset because she has just broken up with her boyfriend after discovering that he wasn’t faithful to her. But when the two start kissing, Charlie experiences flashbacks because of the trauma he suffered from being sexually abused.

Most romantic movies end with happily ever after, but 2016’s “Me Before You” doesn’t follow that formula. Lou meets Will when she’s hired to work as a companion for him after he becomes paralyzed following an accident. Their relationship doesn’t get off to a good start, but the two eventually fall in love. Despite the joy this brings him, Will chooses to end his life because of the depression that being in a wheelchair brings him. At first, Lou refuses to be complicit in his decision, but in the end she goes to spend his final moments with him and the two share a loving kiss despite the dark circumstances.

#7: Rick Blaine & Ilsa Lund “Casablanca” (1942)

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“Casablanca” is considered by many people to be the greatest movie of all time, and for good reason. Its final scenes may be the most iconic, featuring memorable lines that have become some of cinema’s most quoted. But this flashback scene where we see Rick and Ilsa preparing to leave Paris together during the Battle of France is equally emotionally charged, as Ilsa asks Rick to kiss her like it’s the last time. It’s clear that she knows something he doesn’t, and of course they don’t end up meeting at the train station that day as they had planned.

Who would have thought that a kids’ movie about a friendly ghost could elicit such strong emotions? Much of the 1995 movie “Casper” is lighthearted, but there’s a truly tragic story at its heart about a boy who died at a young age and became a ghost so that his father wouldn’t be alone. Casper finds himself falling for Kat, the girl now living in his house, and by the end of the film he manages to temporarily gain a human form. When the two kiss, we know their romance can’t last, and Casper saying “can I keep you?” brings a tear to our eye no matter how many times we’ve watched this scene.

“La La Land” opens with a bang, and the audience is made to believe they’re in for a sunny romp through a candy-colored Los Angeles that seems to exist outside of time. But as the film progresses, it takes on a more serious tone, and by the end our two main characters have realized that their relationship can’t work. The final scenes of the film are heartwrenching as we watch a dream sequence take place where Sebastian and Mia actually stayed together. Seeing the happy ending that they never got to have is incredibly moving.

#4: Sam Wheat & Molly Jensen “Ghost” (1990)

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Top 10 Movie Goodbye Kisses

We know, we know, this movie is best known for its iconic pottery scene. But the ending of “Ghost” is just as touching. In his spiritual form, Sam has managed to protect Molly even after his death, and when he realizes she’s going to be okay, he knows it’s time to truly move on to the afterlife. It’s obviously that this is going to be their last chance to interact and they share a passionate kiss as an instrumental version of "Unchained Melody" plays in the background. Couldn’t he have just stuck around as a ghost??

As far as modern romance movies go, is there anything more beloved than “The Notebook”? Noah and Allie’s love story is one for the ages, and what makes it so unique is the narrative style in which it is told where we see them as an aging couple and as young lovers. Allie is suffering from dementia and most of the time doesn’t even recognize Noah as her husband. But in this scene, she has a moment of clarity and comes back to him. They embrace and share a loving moment together before it all fades away in one of the most devastating movie scenes ever.

#2: Jack Dawson & Rose DeWitt Bukater “Titanic” (1997)

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We were already bawling our eyes out at the end of “Titanic” after the ship sank and Jack died in the frigid waters of the Atlantic. But in the final scene of the movie, we see the much older Rose go to sleep on the Keldysh after dropping her necklace into the ocean and have a vision of a joyful reunion with Jack. In many ways this is a happy scene: they’re surrounded by the passengers of the ship applauding them as they kiss. But the audience knows it isn’t real and that their romance was brought to an abrupt halt just days after it began. Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions. Francesca Johnson & Robert Kincaid “The Bridges of Madison County” (1995) Jack & Miss Acacia “Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart” (2013) Will Turner & Elizabeth Swann “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End” (2007) Chuck Noland & Kelly Frears “Cast Away” (2000)

#1: Romeo Montague & Juliet Capulet “Romeo + Juliet” (1996)

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Baz Luhrmann’s interpretation of William Shakespeare’s classic work “Romeo and Juliet” brings elements of fun and modernity to the tale, but he can’t get away from the story’s well known tragic ending. In the 1996 film, the deaths of our two protagonists seem even more terrible than they were in the Bard’s original version. Juliet actually awakens from her drugged slumber in time for Romeo to see her and for the two to share a kiss before he dies from the poison he has ingested. Of course, not wanting to go on without him, she chooses not to live for another moment.