...und fanden keinen Ausweg mehr

This movie has been repackaged and is now on video with the title of "Tragedy". Over the top melodrama with excellent performances by Marcia and Ellen. Scene after scene of very heavy material. James Horner's score is about 8 bars long but used repetitively throughout the film to the point of being distracting.

Excellant heartwrenching tearjerker about two teenagers in love. When they discover they cannot be together they do something that will affect their families for life. the two families must come together and help each other deal with their problems faced by what their children have done. Excellent acting, direction and a moving score. Recommended highly. Saw it a long time ago on tv. wish it was on video.

Movies about suicide are certainly not going to be pleasant from the outset (and I know several people who refused to watch "Surviving" simply because of its theme), but I think viewers will find something special here. Ellen Burstyn plays a doctor's wife and mother of three who clouds her life with activity so that she can't see what's really going on; Marsha Mason is her friend in the neighborhood, a working mom who got fed-up a long time ago and can't muster the strength to care anymore. Their two eldest children (Zach Galligan and Molly Ringwald) are embarrassed by their parents, are convinced they are in love and wish to escape. The opening montage of family photos and the sad, wistful score is highly evocative (and all the shots of Ringwald are fascinating; she manages to convey depth of character even in still photographs). Mason has a more complex role than Burstyn, but Ellen (after coming out of her fog) has several strong scenes, particularly when berating her youngest son (River Phoenix) for taking sleeping pills ("How COULD you...how COULD you, Phillip?"). When Mason breaks down on her front lawn, it's tough not to cry right with her. "Surviving" doesn't tug at your heartstrings for effect (it's not "Love Story"); it earns your tears. The film was notoriously snubbed at Emmy time and got surprisingly low ratings; it's worth rediscovering. ***1/2 from ****

I saw this movie 16 years ago when i was 16. I had tried to commit suicide the year before and what I saw in the movie was real, so Real I couldn't keep from crying about it over and over. I am now trying to find a copy for my two oldest teenage children to show them the desperation, depression, and aftermath of decisions made. I honestly think it should be made compulsory viewing in high schools. The acting was a little bit over the top from everyone but it was the subject matter and emotions portrayed that told the story more than anything. If anyone knows where i can get a copy of this movie i would really be appreciative. i would pay well.

I first viewed "Surviving" when it aired on the ABC Television Network in the winter of 1985. The network was so confident with the film's final version and the importance of its subject matter (teen suicide) that it aired in a 3-hour time slot, which was rather unusual for an original TV movie not based on a novel.

"Surviving" (which is a better, simpler title than when it re-aired as "Surviving: A Family in Crisis", when there were 2 families in crisis -- and when it was released on VHS as "Tragedy", which sounds very cheap, exploitive and hopeless and doesn't give an indication of the after-effects of suicide on families and friends) occasionally lingers into soap opera hysterics and contrived plot devices. But the strong ensemble cast gave such fine performances and the well-edited, pivotal sequence when the parents of one of the teens tries to save them, made the movie a heartbreaking experience.

"Surviving" becomes a stronger drama when the families try to make sense of losing their loved ones. That is what makes "Surviving" a very good (not great) family drama.