History TearJerker / Anastasia

** The song ends with Anya dressed in her famous yellow ballgown dancing with Czar Nicholas and he kisses her forehead. It gets harder when you remember that our first introduction to Anastasia is her as a cheeky and enthusiastic 8 year old girl playfully dancing with her father during the anniversary ball at the beginning of the film and shouting "Oh, Papa!" when he picks her up and twirls her around. Just before the song starts, Anastasia blows some dust off of a plate...and sees the memory of her being twirled by her father. It fades away and she brushes it off, putting the plate back down.

* When Dimitri brings Anastasia to meet Marie at the ballet, the door doesn't close all the way. This leads to Anastasia overhearing the horrible truth about Dimitri; that he's a conman and has been on the search for an Anastasia lookalike in order to get the reward. She looks like a kicked puppy and is waiting with vitriolic words when he's thrown out of Marie's private box, not even caring to listen to Dimitri's insistences of who she really is.
--->'''Anastasia''': That was all a lie, wasn't it?\\

'''Anastasia''': You ''used'' me?! I was just part of your con to get her money?!\\

'''Anastasia''': Stop it! From the very beginning ''you lied!'' And I not only believed you, I actually...(''groans in disgust'')\\

'''Anastasia''': (''yanks hand away'') NO! I don't want to hear about anything that I said I remembered! You just leave me alone! (''as Dimitri grabs her arm, she gives him a vicious slap across the face, which makes him let go and storms off'')\\

** During the interaction, she's confronted by Marie, who wants to know who Anya is and what she wants. Anya tearfully tells her "I just want to know who I am. Whether or not I belong to a family. Your family." Marie's response is a dismissive "You're a very good actress. Best yet, in fact. But...I've heard enough." As she turns to leave, Anya catches a whiff of Marie's peppermint oil, which triggers a memory...

** Just before Marie enters, Anya is seen packing, no doubt intending to strike out on her own and try to find her family. As she packs, she finds the rose given to her during "Paris Holds The Key To Your Heart". She looks at it, wistful, before chucking it into a nearby wastepaper basket and continues packing, saying in response to the knock "Go away, Dimitri..."

'''Dimitri''': No! No, no, no...look, it may have started out that way because you really ''are'' Anastasia! You are...\\

** Another moment is when her sisters come out of the painting and exchange gestures of affection, with one even putting beads around her neck. Anastasia later recalls how Olga teased her for a drawing the former made, but in these few moments her sisters, either as ghosts or as memories, are giving her their blessing for surviving.

** Blink and you'll miss it but Vlad is there as well, in the background when her dress changes, looking as jolly as ever and probably a little drunk. He's the only character from this entire sequence who isn't either dead or traumatised and it's oddly heartbreaking that he goes along with the con and doesn't recognise Anastasia.

** And just to add more salt into the wound, Marie had to deal with a bunch of impostors claiming they were her granddaughter and con artists wanting to get their hands on the reward money she was offering. By the time Anya arrives in Paris, Marie bitterly says that her heart can't take it anymore and has all but given up on any hope of being reunited with her only surviving grandchild.

** "Oh Anastasia...my Anastasia!"

** It becomes even more heartwrenching when you stop and realize how pointless their deaths were in the context of the film. Anya's family was murdered and stolen from her by an evil asshole who literally sold his soul to the devil because he felt slighted by Nicholas.

* The reunion between Anastasia and her grandmother Marie, namely when Marie examines the locket, realizes it's the one she gave Anastasia, and provides the music box. Her voice gains hope, slowly, as she sings the lullaby with her grown-up granddaughter. Also doubles as a SugarWiki/{{Heartwarming Moment|s}}.
** In the same scene, when Marie first sees Anya’s necklace, she says, in a choked voice, “it was our secret” then quickly states “Anastasia’s and mine”, making it seem as though she is accepting Anya really is her granddaughter at this point, but she cannot quite allow herself to believe it yet after having been disappointed so many times before.

* The film itself could be this for anyone familiar with what actually happened to Anastasia. To put it simply, Animated Anastasia lived happily ever after with Dimitri while her RealLife counterpart (along with most of the Russian Royal Family) was executed at the age of 17. Even her other real-life inspiration, Anna Anderson, was ultimately proven to be an impostor and spent a large amount of her life institutionalized over her mental health before dying of pneumonia.

** And just to add more salt into the wound, Marie had to deal with a bunch of impostors and con artists claiming they were Anastasia to get their hands on the reward money she was offering. By the time Anya arrives in Paris, Marie bitterly says that her heart can't take it anymore and has all but given up on any hope of being reunited with her only surviving grandchild.
* Marie and Anastasia trying to get on the train to escape the country. There are tears in Anastasia's eyes when she tries to catch up with the train and Marie grabs onto her granddaughter's hand, saying, "[[TakeMyHand Take my hand! Hold onto my hand!"]] and Anastasia cries, "Don't let go!" However, they both lose their grip and Anastasia falls to the platform, hitting her head and getting knocked out cold, all while Marie desperately shouts her granddaughter's name and all the passengers are holding her back from jumping off the train to get to her.

* Anastasia's dance with the Czar, her father, during her DisneyAcidSequence dance. No matter what opinion you have about Czar Nicholas II, the flashbacks and visions involving the family, Alexandra (the mother), the older sisters (Tatiana, Olga, and Maria), and the little brother (Alexei), strikes as heartwrenching considering what happened to the family in reality.

** Blink and you'll miss it but Vlad is there as well, in the background when her dress changes, looking as jolly as ever and probably a little drunk. He's the only character from this entire sequence who isn't either dead or traumatised and it's oddly heartbreaking that he STILL goes along with the con and doesn't recognise Anastasia.
* The nightmare is a long, drawn-out KickTheDog moment, though perhaps Rasputin thought that he would be giving Anastasia a DyingDream by hypnotizing her into jumping into the freezing ocean. First Alexei approaches Anastasia with a large smile, and encourages her to follow him to where her sisters and father are jumping into a swimming pool. Alexei shows off his CheerfulChild side by jumping in and losing his hat. It shows what life might have been like for Anastasia if her family had managed to go into hiding and survive, so that she could have grown up with her sisters and her IllBoy of a brother. This makes the transition of [[JumpScare her father turning into a demon]] much harder to take.

* Later scenes add to this: Him being forced to bow to her, refusing the money, and his expression when he sees Pooka holding her crown. No one's telling Dimitri he's not good enough for Anya - he just knows he is. The instinctive values here can't be emphasized enough. He was a servant at the beginning who admired the Princess but was never noticed. He obviously spent years trying to move past that, and now, because of a difference in title, Anya is unreachable again. They're still the same people, she's still the same girl he's insulted and saved and comforted, but suddenly that's it, he's just as inferior to her as when they were children. And he can't do anything about it.
** Then there's Dimitri's part in "Paris holds the Key"

* The film itself could be this for anyone familiar to what actually happened to Anastasia. To put it simply, animated!Anastasia lived happily ever after with Dimitri while her Real Life counterpart (along with most of the Russian Royal Family) was executed at the age of 17. Even her other real life inspiration, Anna Anderson, was deemed an impostor and spent a large amount of her life institutionalized over her mental health before dying of pneumonia.
* Any scene with the Dowager Empress Marie. Take out the whole revolution and royalty thing and all you have is an old woman who watched her son and grandchildren die.

** After seeing a rather cheerful grandmother indulging her granddaughter, it's rather sad to see her bereft about losing her child and grandchildren. Then add those impostors that keep coming and claiming they're Anastasia, as she said, her heart can't take it any longer. She pretty much gave up there.
* The scene where Marie and Anastasia trying to get on the train at the beginning. There are tears in Anastasia's eyes during when she tries to catch up with the train and Marie grabs onto her granddaughter's hand, saying, "[[TakeMyHand Take my hand! Hold onto my hand!"]] and Anastasia cries, "Don't let go!" However, they both lose their grip and Anastasia falls to the platform, hitting her head and getting knocked out cold, all while Marie desperately shouts her granddaughter's name and all the passengers are holding her back from jumping off the train to get to her.
* The mere fact that, even though Anastasia found her grandmother, her parents and siblings are all dead. She wanted to remember them so badly, but when she finally did, it was only to realize that most of her family was brutally killed.
* As mentioned below in the folder for the stage version, the real Dowager Empress Marie died in 1928, only a year after the events of the film. If this holds true for the fictionalized Marie too, then the film's ending becomes all the more bittersweet: even though Anya's letter at the end promises that she and her grandmother will still keep in touch and see each other again soon, it won't be long before Marie's death parts them.

--->'''Dimitri:''' Paris holds the key to her past/yes Princess, I've found you at last/No more pretend/you'll be gone/that's the end

--->'''Dimitri:'''Paris holds the key to her past/yes Princess, I've found you at last/No more pretend/you'll be gone/that's the end

--> '''Vlad:''' That means Anya has found her family! And you--
--> '''Dimitri:''' Will walk out of her life forever.
--> '''Vlad:''' But--
--> '''Dimitri:''' Princesses don't marry kitchen boys.

-->'''Dimitri:'''Paris holds the key to her past/yes Princess, I've found you at last/No more pretend/you'll be gone/that's the end

--> '''Dimitry:''' She only wants what's rightfully hers! Your recognition and your loving embrace! Try to imagine her life since her parents, sisters, little brother were murdered!
--> '''Dowager Empress:''' I do not need reminding of what happened to my family. I lost everything I loved that day!
--> '''Dimitry:''' So did she.

--> ''In my heart, I know''
--> ''You're a lie that I've waited for''
--> ''Tell them all to go''
--> ''Tell them all "No more!"''
--> ''Tell them I close the door''

--> '''Dowager Empress:''' ''All'' of them?

* The scene where they're trying to get on the train at the beginning. There are tears in Anastasia's eyes during when she tries to catch up with the train and Marie grabs onto her granddaughter's hand, saying, "[[TakeMyHand Take my hand! Hold onto my hand!"]] and Anastasia cries, "Don't let go!" However, they both lose their grip and Anastasia falls to the platform, hitting her head and getting knocked out cold, all while Marie desperately shouts her granddaughter's name and all the passengers are holding her back from jumping off the train to get to her.
* The mere fact that, even though Anastasia found her grandmother, her parents and siblings are all dead. She wanted to remember them so badly, but when she finally did, it was only to realise that most of her family was brutally killed.

* The scene where they're trying to get on the train at the beginning. You can see there are tears in Anastasia's eyes during the part where she tries to catch up with the train and Marie grabs onto her granddaughter's hand, saying, "[[TakeMyHand Take my hand! Hold onto my hand!"]] and Anastasia cries, "Don't let go!" However, they both lose their grip on each other's hand and Anastasia falls to the platform, hitting her head and getting knocked out cold, all while Marie desperately shouts her granddaughter's name and all the passengers are holding her back from jumping off the train to get to her.

* The film itself could be this for anyone familiar to what actually happened to Anastasia. To put it simply, [[spoiler: animated!Anastasia lived happily ever after with Dimitri while her Real Life counterpart (along with most of the Russian Royal Family) was executed at the age of 17. Even her other real life inspiration Anna Anderson, was deemed an impostor and spent a large amount of her life institutionalised over her mental health before dying of pneumonia.]]

[[folder: The film]]

* The reunion between Anastasia and her grandmother Marie, namely when Marie examines the locket, realizes it's the one she gave Anastasia, and provides the music box. Her voice gains hope, slowly, as she sings the lullaby with her grown-up granddaughter. Also doubles as a CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming.

* The film itself could be this for anyone familiar to what actually happened to Anastasia. To put it simply, [[spoiler: animated!Anastasia lived happily ever after with Dimitri while her Real Life counterpart (along with most of the Russian Royal Family) was brutally shot and stabbed to death at the age of 17. Even her other real life inspiration Anna Anderson, was deemed an impostor and spent a large amount of her life institutionalised over her mental health before dying of pneumonia.]]