First of all I recall "The Children's Hour" by Wyler, William (USA, 1961). The part played by Shirley MacLane hangs herself because she is homosexual. The religious advising committee permitted a movie about homosexuality only because of the suicide.
Two others have mentioned "Virgin Suicides" by Coppola, Sofia (USA, 1999) and "Death of a Salesman" by Schlöndorff, Volker (USA, 1985)
In any version of "Anna Karenina" that follows the novel, Anna takes her own life. The version I saw in the 1940s was probably made by Julien Duvivier (USA, 1948), but I cannot guarantee that it was not the one by Clarence Brown (USA, 1935). Apart from the recent adaptation of the musical I do not think that I have seen more than two versions.
It is rather interesting, because in many other countries there is no want of movies about suicide. Of course, there are the Japanese movies involving hara-kiri,
"Seppuku" (Harakiri) by Kobayashi, Masaki (Japan, 1962)
"Ichimei" (Hara-kiri: The Death of a Samurai) by Miike, Takashi (Japan, 2011). This is the 3-dimensional version of the preceding, though it contains more about the family life of the younger samurai.
"Chushingura" by Watanabe, Kunio (Japan, 1958). If I can trust my memory this was a doll's play from the 17th century. Sometimes people in Japan talks of 46 and sometimes of 47 samurais. The reason is as follows. There were first 47 samurais. But one had to survive as a witness. However, then there was a non-samurai who had done many services to the samurais, so he was permitted to commit hara-kiri together with the others.
Around 1950 I saw a Chinese movie – maybe the last that was produced during the Chang Kai-shek regime. Whatever the title was, I seem to recall that it had some resemblance to "Rome Città Aperta" – maybe it included "Closed Town"? The emperor's mother had the real power, and at one time ordered that the empress should throw herself into the well. And she did so. This is of course not real suicide.
In a much more recent movie the people demand that the emperor's favourite mistress must die. Finally she goes voluntarily to the hangman.
In "Viridiana" by Luis Buñuel (Spain, 1961) the old man hangs himself when Viridiana will not marry him. Instead he recognises his son born out of wedlock, and give all his inheritance as the common property of the son and Viridiana, calculating that they will sooner or later develop a relation.
"Une histoire d'amour" (A Story of Love) by Lefranc, Guy (France, 1951). A rich girl and a poor boy. Both families are against their relation. They escape. When they have hidden in (maybe a garbage house?) and see two policemen approaching, they think - quite errorneously – that the policemen are searching for them, and they take poison and die together.
"Souvenirs perdus" (Lost Souvenirs) by Christian-Jaque (France, 1950). A young man had just escaped from a mental hospital, where he had been imprisoned, not because there was anything wrong with his mind, but because then his relatives could steal all his property. He happens to encounter a young girl who is just about to throw herself in the river and die. He stops her.
"Das Leben der Anderen" (The Lives of Others) by Donnersmarck, Florian Henckel von (Germany, 2006). A skilled director is for political reasons forbidden to work as a director, and takes his own life. Some of his colleagues discuss the large number of theatre people in DDR who have committed suicide after having got Berufverbot.
"Golakani Kirkuk" (The Flowers of Kirkuk) by Kamkari, Fariborz (Italy/Switzerland, 2010) is one of the best films made in the present century. Italy and Switzerland are indicated merely because they provided the finances. It is Kurdish movie happening in Iraq, and the languages talked are Kurdish and Arabian. The Kurdish girl had just finished her medical study in Rome. Two men are in love with her, a Kurdish partisan and an officer of the dictator's police. Many other things happen, but finally the officer helps the Kurdish couple to escape. At the border he distracts the guards, knowing perfectly well that he will be caught and shot.
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