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Lars and the Real Girl

Review By: Andrea Tuccillo
AndreaTuccillo@TheCinemaSource.com

Admittedly the premise of Lars and the Real Girl can sound perverse and a bit creepy at first listen—a man orders a sex doll off the internet and falls in love with her—but screenwriter Nancy Oliver (Six Feet Under) weaves a surprisingly sweet tale of acceptance and the power of human relationships. While most films today shy away from depicting genuine human goodness, Lars embraces it in a very non-traditional way that restores one’s faith in humanity.

When Lars (Ryan Gosling), a damaged guy living a lonely existence in a quaint Midwestern town, creates the delusion that his life-sized doll Bianca is his real-life girlfriend his family and most members of the community go right along with him. They do it for Lars and because they care about him and their gesture of compassion and kindness is refreshing to see.

But why does this awkward, painfully unsociable guy manifest this make-believe woman, complete with her own backstory? (In case you were wondering, she’s a half-Brazilian half-Danish missionary who was raised by nuns, and has nurse’s training.) His older brother Gus (Paul Schneider) thinks he’s just plain nuts, but Gus’s pregnant wife Karin (Emily Mortimer) knows there’s something deeper going on. Karin gets Lars to go see the town doctor/psychologist under the pretense that Bianca needs a check-up. As Dr. Berman (Patricia Clarkson) discovers during their impromptu “therapy” sessions, Lars has deep-seeded issues dating back to his childhood that have affected him in a profound way. His mother died during childbirth and his father acted emotionally distant towards him ever since. Gus left home as soon as possible after that. The scars of his past have never really allowed Lars to grow up and have instilled him with a crippling fear of intimacy.

The film is his journey of overcoming that with the help of the people around him. It’s a self-healing process which begins with Bianca and ends with him finally gaining the ability to let her go. Credit goes to director Craig Gillespie for being able to balance the funny absurdity of the situations with an emotional seriousness. It’s a rare film that makes you both laugh and cry.

All of the characters are first-rate. Ryan Gosling turns in yet another transformative performance as the title character. Sporting a look that is uniquely “Lars”—out-of-date mustache, pale skin, hidden under layers of clothing—Gosling is able to make you sympathize with this character, even relate to him. He can break your heart one moment and give you hope for the human spirit the next.

Emily Mortimer sparkles as the well-meaning Karin, who acts as a motherly figure towards Lars, while Paul Schneider conversely simmers as Gus, a man who struggles to understand his brother while dealing with frustration and anger. Kelli Garner perfectly plays Margo, Lars’ quirky, upbeat co-worker who has a bit ...