10 Harrowing Scenes Of Suicide In Film

8. In Bruges (2008)

In Bruges is a fish-out-of-water buddy comedy starring Colin Farrell (in his best cinematic outing) that takes a drastic turn into darkness as the secret behind central character Ray's exile to the Belgian city is gradually peeled away - the accidental killing of a child. Ray's composure is gradually ebbed away throughout the film as the tragedy plays on his mind, flooding him with inconsolable guilt. His despair reaches boiling point towards the end of the film as Ray takes his handgun to a quiet park with the intention of shooting himself. We see hitman colleague Ken (Brendan Gleeson) discover Ray's concise note - a crucial, heartbreaking moment involved in the fallout of many a suicide and played with suitably silent alarm by Gleeson - who then rushes to the park to stop Ray from going through with it. Again, Ray survives - but only through complete blind luck. He is barely a second from pulling the trigger when Ken finds him and bellows for him to stop. This is not a botched attempt or (as in a similar scene from Lethal Weapon) a personal change of heart - Ray has the full intention of blowing his brains out and it is only the absurdly good timing of Ken's intervention that stops him. It's still a harrowing scene - from the apologetic note to Farrell's desperate, tear-clenched facial expression as he holds the gun to his head - this is a man who has let the highest order of guilt get the better of him, and he can not live with himself a second longer. In Bruges has some semblance of a happy ending - for although Ray is fatally wounded in a climactic gunfight, he has by then found a glimmer of hope in his world via new girlfriend Chloe and his final, internally-spoken words are "I really really hoped I wouldn't die." Whether or not Ray survives the gunshot, there is something of a triumph in that he no longer wants to end it all. As happy an ending as a film as dark as In Bruges may be permitted, but happy nonetheless.