rating:
(out of
4 stars)United States; 2007
Directed by Craig Gillespie; produced by Sarah Aubrey, John Cameron, Sidney Kimmel; written by Nancy Oliver
Starring Ryan Gosling, Emily Mortimer, Paul Schneider, Kelli Garner, Patricia Clarkson, Nancy Beatty
Starring a doll to be used for sex, 'Lars and the Real Girl' is a sincere film about a young man with a delusion: he thinks the doll is his girlfriend. Instead of exploiting this subject and turn it into a silly sex comedy, the film goes straight and observes not only the young man, but the community he lives in. Of course there are laughs, but they are not forced into the film. The film has empathy for this lonely man, and for the characters around him.
Lars (Ryan Gosling) lives in the garage of the house belonging to his brother Gus (Paul Schneider) and his pregnant wife Karin (Emily Mortimer). He is quiet, shy, can't bare a human's touch. At work a colleague shows some sex dolls on the internet and six weeks later Lars introduces his new girl friend to Gus and Karin. The sex doll is named Bianca, a very religious girl, Brazilian-Danish, so she does not speak English very well. Dagmar (Patricia Clarkson), both doctor and a woman with a psychology degree, thinks it is best to play along.
Here a curious thing happens. Not just Gus and Karin decide to go along, the whole community does. Bianca is taken to church, becomes a teacher, joins at parties. Slowly she is getting a life of her own. Although most people accept this, there are some moments of true comedy, especially in the beginning. As the community, the audience is still getting used to the idea of this doll as a person, which brings funny scenes in a waiting room, during a bath, during dinner, etc.
The success of this film comes from the intelligent script of Nancy Oliver, sidestepping many possibilities where it could have gone wrong. Also an important factor is Ryan Gosling, in another great role, who does not go over the top with his performances. He too could have gone wrong many times, but he never does. It is extraordinary to turn a premise like this into such a serious comedy, and I think Oliver and Rosling deserve most credit for that.
The conclusion of 'Lars and the Real Girl' is the right one. Early in the film a girl from Lars' work named Margo (Kelli Garner) is introduced. She is clearly in love with him and during the film she proves to be too sweet to be miserable. I will not say how the film solves this problem of two women - Bianca counting as one - but again it is handled with intelligence and, most of all, love for the characters.