I'm like you Ella, in everything you've said. For me also is most attractive when the strong stoic attractive man breaks down crying for old pain buried deep inside. And for crying to be as real as possible. I know this topic is about the scenes on tv ect, but if it would be real situation, I would add the factor of trust. It's a huge thing for me. I love to be seen as a person people can trust to. So, it would be best if that crying would be shown only to me. But, I'm gone to another topic.
I prefer visible signs of crying more then a sound. I like to be able to catch the "crying expression". With tears and everything. I sometimes pause the scene when the face is mostly contorted and examine the expression. But, if we talk about the sound, I like quiet  manly sobbing.

Last edited by Kleo (August 1, 2015 12:40 pm)

Caircair, can't believe you know "The Man Who Cried"!  I love Ciaran Hinds in that.  His sobbing scene at the end is just incredible.  Goes from composed to basket case in a minute.  He also has a beautiful crying scene at the end of "Jane Eyre."  
As for what I like in a crying scene, I usually want to see real tears.  That said, if the emotion is there, but not full tears, I'm good with that.  Sounds of sobbing get to me, as that isn't something you often hear from men.  
Scenes that have amazed me, with tears just flowing, are Hugh Jackman, "The Fountain", David Lyons, "ER" and "Revolution", Clive Owen, "Trust", Michael Fassbender, "The Counselor", Ewan McGregor, "I Love You Philip Morris" (and "Moulin Rouge" and "The Impossible"; he's a champ), James McAvoy, "Filth", Shawn Ashmore, "The Following."  

Colin Firth's crying scene as Bertie in The King's Speech is one of the most satisfying I've ever seen, first because it seems so inevitable in view of all that the character has been through, and second because Colin is such a "natural" actor that his crying seems natural rather than "stagey" or "acted."  In other words, there's no sense of him pausing or "gearing up" for the cry; instead, he simply dissolves into tears.  

Contributing to the inevitability effect, I think, is the fact that Colin's face is already a bit red and blotchy as the scene begins, suggesting that Bertie had been crying shortly before.  This bit of foreshadowing makes his breakdown moments later less of a surprise than it might otherwise have been.    

Last edited by White Tulip (March 6, 2016 3:05 am)

The criteria for making my heart twist and my toes curl are pretty simple:
1: has to be a man (I leave the ladies to TorNorth)
2: who I might possibly find attractive, even if I don't currently feel any particular interest in the man
3: a scream to the heavens does not count, even if the eyes are filled with tears (sorry Man of Steel)

After that it becomes a matter of preference and individual factors. For example, I strongly prefer to see the face. It's not on the 'required' list because there are often other factors. For example, if I'm already attracted to the man and I see his face crumpling, oftentimes that's enough (for example, Mulder at the very end of X-Files third episode). Especially if there are sounds. And depending on the person and the sound and my mood, I don't even need to see the face. Near the end of the episode where Scully is hospitalized and near death after her abduction, Mulder does the slide down the wall thing in his apartment crying. it's a brief, low-lit scene and iirc you can't see much beyond a wide shot of his silhouette, but for me, that little scene was powerful.

It occurs to me that I could probably write a dissertation or at least a term paper on the instances of crying in the X-Files. Also fyi to TorNorth, Scully does plenty of crying too, particularly after Mulder's abduction.