There are movies that make me cry and movies that simply leave me emotionally devastated afterwards.
Terms of Endearment: Of course, I saw this film way before I had children and identified with it more from a daughter's point of view. Now, when I watch it, I see it from the Mother's point of view, and BOY do I ever identify with Aurora. I think simply that I just don't get Daughter and it's frustrating beyond belief!
Of course, then when her Daughter gets cancer and knowing what it is like to hear that heartbreaking news, myself. I chuckle now when I see the scene when Aurora is in a panic because the nursing staff has not given the prescribed pain medication on it's scheduled time, "Give my daughter THE SHOOOOOOOOOOOOT!". It's like seeing how I was during the time when daughter was in for the first of her many hospitalizations. I was frightened, overwhelmed, and DEMANDING. And, when daughter needed something, I wanted her to have it NOW. When there seemed to be confusion about whether, or not, daughter would walk in the hallways (daugher REFUSED to wear a face mask and some days her blood counts were so low that she couldn't walk in the hospital hallways for fear she would catch something) I got very nasty and told the nurses on duty that, "Perhaps you guys need to have a staff meeting to get on the same page on whether, or not, my child can walk in the hallways".
What the problem was that not understanding the "leukemia lingo", and nobody taking the time to explain to me what all the numbers meant, nothing made sense to me. Once I got the lingo down, I apologized.
Steel Magnolias: I go to a hair salon that is a lot like Truvy's. The scene I always notice is when Sally Field goes to the hospital the first time after Shelby's collapse. Walking in the hallway. Her hurried determination and purpose. Also knowing exactly where to go because she's been there so many times before.
Like Donna, I completely lose it when Ceily sees her kids for the first time getting out of the car with their ropes flowing in the wind in The Color Purple.
Schlindler's List. I saw it when they ran the movie on TV. I don't think I could have handled it on the big screen. I was beyond crying, I was completely shattered by it and it took a few days for me to comprehend and digest it.
Sophie's Choice: Devastating for me. Beyond crying.
I'm not into romantic movies and lovers parting type stuff.