Lars and the Real Girl

You know it's been a long time since your last post when you notice it was at Halloween and you've got your Christmas tree up and your shopping done. Oi. So I've finished this semester and finally got an afternoon to take in a matinee at my favourite cheap theater. I got a chance to see Lars and the Real Girl, which I had been wanting to see. I wasn't disappointed.

Directed by Craig Gillespie and written by Nancy Oliver, the film stars Ryan Gosling as Lars Lindstrom, a socially challenged young man living in the garage of his brother and sister-in-law's house. Lars spends most of his time sequestered in the garage by himself, cut off from the rest of world, when he isn't at work or at church. When he is at work or church, he still keeps to himself as much as possible, even with everybody else around him trying to bring him out of his shell.


This all changes one day when the Real Doll that he purchased online arrives at the garage. In case you didn't know, a Real Doll is a very life-like, anatomically correct sex doll that customers are able to customize to their preferences. Lars tells his brother and sister-in-law that he will be bringing a date to dinner. Delighted that he finally wants to join them for dinner and is actually socializing, his brother, Gus (Paul Schneider), and his brother's wife, Karin (Emily Mortimer), become horrified when Lars arrives with the sex doll and talks to her and about her as though she were a real person. They suggest that he take his new doll friend, Bianca, to see the town doctor, Dagmar (Patricia Clarkson), who is also a psychologist ("Up this far north, you have to be"). Dagmar suggests to Gus and Karin that they play along with Lars and his delusion that Bianca is real and that she will go away when he no longer needs her.

I really liked this movie a lot. A little slow moving at first, it slowly eases you into the characters and plot, while it establishes what a lonely life Lars leads. If there were Hollywood It Boys, like there are Hollywood It Girls, Gosling would definitely be an It Boy. He was superb as Lars, as throughout the film you got to discover the layers beneath Lars' shy, anti-social exterior. Emily Mortimer was also excellent as Karin, Lars' pregnant sister-in-law, who goes very far out of her way to try to include Lars in their daily life. Paul Schneider also gave a great performance as Lars' brother, Gus, who is very reluctant to go along with Lars' delusion and ashamed of his brother's behavior, as the whole town begins to meet Bianca.


Amusing to watch and at times, very touching, Lars and the Real Girl is very well-written. I especially like how it avoided the obligatory scenes in movies like this, where small-minded buttheads have to confront what they don't understand. Patricia Clarkson and Kelli Garner were also great as Dagmar, the therapist, and Margo, the girl at work who has a crush on Lars. I highly recommend it as a departure from the big budget fluff that usually infiltrates the theaters at this time of year. I'm torn on the quote, so I will post two. The first one from Dagmar, the therapist, when she assures Lars in one of their sessions that he isn't the only one who gets lonely. The second, from Gus, his answer to Lars when he asks what makes a man a man. Enjoy....

Dagmar: Sometimes I get so lonely I forget what day it is, and how to spell my name.

Gus: Well, it's not like you're one thing or the other, okay? There's still a kid inside but you grow up when you decide to do right, okay, and not what's right for you, what's right for everybody, even when it hurts.
Lars: Okay, like what?
Gus: Like, you know, like, you don't jerk people around, you know, and you don't cheat on your woman, and you take care of your family, you know, and you admit when you're wrong, or you try to, anyways. That's all I can think of, you know - it sounds like it's easy and for some reason it's not.

More ramblings to come......