Lars and the Real Girl - out now
A film about a young man who takes a life-size sex doll as his girlfriend could only be construed as creepy and sordid on paper. But don’t be put off by the premise – Lars and the Real Girl, directed by Craig Gillespie, is a truly beautiful movie which explores the isolation of mental illness with touching sensitivity and gentle humour.
27-year-old Lars, played with utter conviction by Ryan Gosling, is a socially inept loner who avoids contact with people wherever he can. Other than attending the local Lutheran church each Sunday, Lars spends the majority of time in the dark of his garage apartment, wrapped in the small quilt his mother sewed for him when he was born. His brother Gus (Paul Schneider) and pregnant sister-in-law Karin (Emily Mortimer) try to bring him out of his shell, but their repeated invitations to dinner tend to be met with feeble rejections.
One day Lars shows up on their doorstep, announcing he has a new girlfriend. To the couple’s horror, he unveils ‘Bianca’, a life-like sex doll that he bought on the internet after a colleague from his office directed him to the website. Lars is totally deluded, and has constructed a history around the doll: Bianca is a wheelchair-bound half-Danish, half-Brazilian former missionary whom he met on a dating site. Since Bianca is “highly religious”, she is to sleep in Gus and Emily’s spare room to make sure her relationship with Lars remains chaste. Lars’ delusion is no pretense – he treats Bianca as a real woman both in public and in private.
Whilst Gus is keen to see Lars admitted to a mental asylum, Emily believes that by affirming Bianca as a genuine person, Lars will learn to interact with others. Local doctor and psychiatrist Dagmar (Patricia Clarkson, who brings a deeply compassionate intelligence to the role) agrees, and soon the church and the whole town follow suit in welcoming Bianca into their world. The plan seems to work – soon Lars plucks up the courage to attend family dinners and parties, all at Bianca’s “request”.
Whilst some aspects of the story are rather implausible (is it likely that no one, not even a rebellious teenager, would shout abuse at the weirdo with the doll?), the film portrays beautifully the loving efforts of the community to reach out to the odd couple in their midst with kindness and hospitality. There are plenty of opportunities for smut or cheap laughs which the film thankfully passes by. Rather, humour is generated from the quiet, unexpected moments.
A gratifying, life-affirming film that demonstrates how a whole community can heal a troubled soul.
