Cinematographic and TV series representations of suicide can impact the suicide rate through a phenomenon of identification with on-screen characters. When this phenomenon leads to imitation of the act of suicide, the identifying projection via suicidal contagion is called the “Werther effect”; its counterpart, which acts as a potential prevention of suicidal acts, is the “Papageno effect”. Through the lenses of three scientific domains – suicidal contagion, communication studies, and film studies – this article analyzes the role of viewer identification in the emotional and cognitive appropriation of film and television suicide scenes, discussing its implication with the Werther and Papageno effects.