Tear Jerker / Madeline

"Oh, Genevieve, where can you be? Genevieve, please come back to me."

You bet your ass this show was really damn sad if this page had so many sad moments. If people find more sad moments, we might have to split this page up!

Animated Series

• The page image is from the CINAR special Madeline's Rescue, where the girls first adopt Genevieve, but Lord Cucuface has her taken away and abandoned in the woods because he doesn't allow pets in school.
  • From the above special is the song "Have You Seen Our Dog?" The girls look for her, but can't find her anywhere. For anyone who has a beloved pet, and especially anyone who's ever lost a pet, it hits hard. Even the cab driver is crying during the girls' sad ride home.
  • Then when the girls arrive home for their bread, they start out as their usual prayer but sound more choked up
    Girls: We love our bread. We love our butter. But most of all, we love GENEVIEVE! (all sobbing)
  • Then as all the girls head to bed, Madeline can't sleep. She can only cry. She then gazes at the window.
    Madeline: Have you seen our dog? Have you seen our dog?
    Oh, Genevieve, where can you be?
    Genevieve, come back to me...
    Come back to me...
• Another CINAR song, "Home, Home, I Want to Go Home" from Madeline and the Gypsies, especially the soundtrack version on the "Madeline's Favorite Songs" CD. Even the animals listening nearby are crying.
• Yet another song, "You Can Never Run Out Of Love" from the Around the World with Madeline singalong.
• The song "Without You" in Madeline and the Science Project. It's absolutely heart-wrenching to hear Madeline sing about how she misses Genevieve while flashbacks are shown.
  • The context makes it even worse: unlike in Madeline's Rescue or Madeline and the Singing Dog, Genevieve isn't just missing this time, but trapped in a runaway hot air balloon, with no chance of surviving long if Madeline and friends fail to find her and rescue her. Fortunately, they do in the end.
• Lost in Paris is probably the darkest, tear-inducing of all.
  • Madeline reminiscing on her parents with the other girls, only to reveal that they're long gone. Everybody else is so saddened by her story that they all cry in unison.
  • It gets even worse if we take all the animated stories as part of the same canon, including the CINAR specials. In the first special, based on the first book, her hospital room is filled with gifts from her dad, and both her mom and dad appear alive and well in Madeline's Christmas. Since the girls don't look any older in Lost In Paris, her parents' deaths must have been fairly recent.
  • Madeline's final farewell with her friends and Miss Clavel, as it culminates with her and the girls crying. And the saddest part comes when Pepito comes with his present for Madeline, only for Miss Clavel and the other girls to tell him with heavy hearts that she's already left. Granted, his present may have been a fake shrunken head, but he's certainly devastated that he's seemingly lost his chance to say goodbye and potentially tell her how he really feels about her.
  • The song, "Where is the Hope that I once Knew?".
  • Also, the fate of the other girls working at the lace shop. Not long ago, they were orphaned without families or close relatives to turn to. The Big Bad of the movie promised that they would be well-cared for. Instead, they're abused and essentially enslaved by their bitter guardian. It's like the flipside of Madeline and her life with Miss Clavel.
• The very first book and special, where Madeline wakes up crying in agonizing pain because of her appendix. It's every bit as upsetting as it is frightening to see a small child brought to tears as she is being rushed to the hospital. All her friends cry too as the doctor takes her away.
  • The special makes it worse, because before getting appendicitis, she feels tired and sits dolefully on the bench instead of skating. She even loses her appetite, one of the more realistic symptoms of appendicitis. Also, when she's in hospital, the other girls go through a Heroic BSoD to the point where they can barely do anything.
• In the episode Madeline and the Dog Show, the song "The Perfect Dog" actually caused the judges to break down and revert their decision to not let Genevieve participate in said show because she was a mutt.
• Madeline at the Ballet:
  • The ballet teacher rejecting Madeline and no one else from his production of The Happy Swan because she's too short and can't pull off the leap correctly. Thankfully, prima ballerina Tatiana gives her a helping hand.
  • Madeline hiding and crying uncontrollably after her failed attempt to dance in toe shoes causes a chain of accidents that ruin the dress rehearsal. Thankfully, once again Tatiana comes in to give her another helping hand.
• The girls crying in bed when they're too sick to go home for the holidays in "Madeline's Christmas". Thankfully, they get cured with magic(?) porridge and their families end up coming to spend Christmas at the school with them, but still, they're sad when they think the holiday is ruined.
• In "Madeline and the White Lie", when Madeline breaks into Inelegant Blubbering upon being asked for her name.
  Artist: "Who are you?"
  Madeline: "I am...a liar!" (bursts out crying)
• In Madeline and the Toy Factory, Madeline is accidentally packaged in a doll's box and sent to a toy store, where she's bought as a present for a crippled, sickly Lonely Rich Kid named Giselle. For fun she pretends to be a remarkable doll who can walk and dance, and Giselle adores her, but a few hours later Miss Clavel arrives and the truth is revealed. It's a sad sight as Giselle cries when her precious new "toy," which she had started to view as her only friend, is taken away. The next morning she's too depressed to eat breakfast, as is Madeline in her guilt for having tricked her.
• The girls crying in Madeline and the Singing Dog when they think Genevieve is happy as a singing star and better off without them, and Genevieve herself crying and whimpering because she misses the girls after her fans all leave. Really, any time the girls are separated from Genevieve is a Tear Jerker. Then again, ANY TIME the girls are crying qualifies.

1998 Live-Action Film

• The opening monologue at one point states sometimes the girls were very sad as they walk by, clearly hanging their heads.
• Although it's par for the course if you've read the books, Madeline coming down with appendicitis can be very distressing, especially if you are responsible for a child's safety and well-being.
• The off-screen demise of Lady Covington with the implication that she expired just moments after Madeline spoke to her. Madeline manages to put on a brave face about it after Miss Clavel informs her of the tragedy but still...
• Miss Clavel is evidently on the verge of tears as Lord Covington's announcement that he intends to close the school down sinks in. She sends the girls to bed without supper just so that she has some space to cry.
  • Later on in the movie, Madeline, who is bedridden after falling into the river, eavesdrops on Lord Covington while he is showing potential buyers around the school and reveals the truth to the girls. Cue the girls wondering what is going to happen to them and especially to Madeline, who is the only orphan in the school, all night.
• Miss Clavel's Big "NO!" when Madeline falls into the River Seine. Doubles as Nightmare Fuel if you freeze the movie at the right moment. No one knew so well how to frighten Miss Clavel indeed.
• Madeline saying goodbye to Aggie as she intends to run away with the circus.
• The girls fearing for Madeline's safety after they believe her to have run away. Vicky, who has been nothing but a bully to Madeline all through the movie, is crying her eyes out and declaring how much she misses Madeline. To make matters worse, they don't know Madeline has been abducted along with Pepito and they are being held for ransom.

---