7. Veronika Decides To Die (2009)
Based on the best selling book by Brazilian writer Paul Coehlo, the titular Veronika is played by Sarah Michelle Gellar, an actress I personally detest but I am forced into admitting she did a good job here. Veronika is in her mid twenties - she is stunning looking, with a great career and a beautiful life ahead of her. But... she is depressed - suicidally depressed. She thinks her life has no meaning, she is empty and deeply pessimistic. So, she decides to take her life with an overdose of tablets. Veronika is saved in time but the tablets have done irreparable damage to her heart and she only has two weeks to live. She learns to find the beauty of little things and becomes close to several people who change her attitude and view of the world. Most importantly, she learns how to love. The music in Veronika Decides to Die is enchanting, the dialogue sophisticated, engaging and intelligent. The film comes to the conclusion that life is worth living. It is so sad that Veronika is given such a short time in which to finally appreciate life and it must be agonising knowing that the bubble is going to burst again due to your own actions which have condemned you to death. But thankfully this isn't a big Hollywood schmaltz fest. It has feeling and depth and nearly even produced a tear from my granite eye.