The Experiment (2001)

Not even you can watch every movie, spiderwort, though manfromplanetx seems to come close. He is probably selecting his next watch from a shortlist of Nepalese classics even as I write.

Your post returns to my opening comments. I feared watching something that would drag me down emotionally when I already felt low, but I came away uplifted, as I always do after watching any movie I rate 7 or above. Although the main point of the film (and of the real-life experiment upon which it was loosely based) is an ominous one, the movie IMHO  successfully balances entertainment and "message". I think what I call the "black French farce" (by analogy with "black comedy") ending may have helped.

There is a one-word answer to the poster who asked why we willingly watch "depressing" films. Catharsis. But only if they are good films. If they are poor one gets even more depressed because mishandling a serious subject for commercial gain leaves a dirty taste in the mouth. I suspect that might be the case with the American remake.

The Experiment is less "serious" than "Downfall" and in a different style. Oliver Hirschbiegel is an odd director. After making his masterpiece he has done a few minor hack jobs, returning to his TV roots to do four episodes of the middlebrow Borgia series, a biopic of Princess Diana that saw talented Naomi Watts nominated for a Razzie, and a well-meant plea for reconciliation in Northern Ireland starring Liam Neeson that passed unnoticed.