Why do we love watching people get heartbroken on screen?

*spoilers ahead*

Heartbreak is a wonderful thing.

In my first year, a wise friend told me that watching Bridget Jones’ Diary was the best medicine. I had been dumped for the first time and was absolutely gutted – I had simply never felt like this before. I hadn’t experienced heartbreak but I’d dipped my toe in the water and my friend was right Bridget Jones— really did help.

Celine Dion’s “All By Myself” will always remind me of the famous opening scene featuring Bridget, played brilliantly by Renée Zellweger, downing a large glass of wine alone in her apartment. Watching the film first when I was 14, I laughed at her. But, a few years later I was laughing with her.

Another infamous moment from the film features her triumph over Daniel Cleaver, played by none other than heartbreaker Hugh Grant. She walks out of his office to Aretha Franklin’s “R-E-S-P-E-C-T”, declaring that “if staying here means working within ten yards of you frankly, I’d rather have a job wiping Saddam Hussein’s ass”. It is a vast improvement.

Gwyneth Paltrow’s performance in Sliding Doors presents a similar character arch. Sliding Doors alternates between two contrasting storylines depending on whether Helen manages to catch her tube home or not. In one plotline, she discovers her boyfriend cheating on her, dumps him and starts a new career, whilst pursuing a new partner. In the other, she remains ignorant of her unfaithful boyfriend and has no such luck. Arguably, the most heartbreaking thing about the film is the “sliding doors” moment itself – the importance of choices and opportunities in shaping our lives: how opportunities missed or lost may completely alter our future. Although these arcs and plot lines are cliché and make no mistake they definitely are, they are still brilliant sources of comfort.

In its portrayal of heartbreak, the romantic-comedy genre is always going to be limited in its emotional scope – a good drama is necessary for raw and real heartbreak on screen. The final scene of Call Me By Your Name featuring Timothée Chalamet’s sobbing Elio staring into the fireplace while the credits roll is devastating. It is subtle and quiet. His sobbing is softly accompanied by the crackling of the fire and Sufjan Stevens’ bewitching 'Visions of Gideon'- yet the scene is deafening and utterly crushing for the audience and Elio. Elio’s father urges his son a few scenes beforehand to accept the fate he has been given and to feel said pain: “You’re too smart not to know how rare, how special, what you two had was… Right now there’s sorrow, pain. Don’t kill it. And with it, is the joy you felt.” Chalamet’s performance is extraordinary to watch, you sometimes forget he is acting, and his portrayal of heartbreak is almost more powerful than a melodramatic grand gesture frequently shown in other films depicting a break-up.

The final moment of Damien Chazelle’s La La Land incorporates the two main characters, Sebastian, played by Ryan Gosling, and Mia, portrayed by Emma Stone, meeting in Seb’s club years after their romance has ended. They share a brief glance and Seb gives Mia a respectful nod as a quiet but powerful recognition of their past relationship. The ending is more bittersweet than heart-breaking but the moment still carries tremendous weight.

Heartbreak onscreen is simply so engaging because it is something that is so human, vulnerable and powerful. I love seeing the different stages of heartbreak: denial, anger, maybe some break-up sex, revenge and then healing either with someone new, who was actually right all along, or simply moving on. The pain that characters go through is cathartic and their eventual triumph, or lack of it, is always memorable and so engaging to watch. Heartbreak has the ability to transform people on screen and tap into the deepest depths of emotions and that is why you cannot take your eyes away from it.