In ex-pat director Craig Gillespie’s ‘Lars and the Real Girl’, the main character, Lars (Ryan Gosling), is definitely a bit of a ‘problem child’. His brother Gus (Paul Schneider) and Gus’s wife, Karin (Emily Mortimer) are worried about him. He’s a thirties something guy who never goes out. Karin is always inviting him over for dinner but he is always knocking them back. Karin depairs of Lars ever finding anyone.
Then one evening there is a knock on Karin and Gus’s door. It is Lars. He tells them excitedly that he has met a new woman and asks if he can bring her over. Lars tells them that they are just getting to know each other, and he asks if he can bring Bianca over to stay the night with them in the spare room. Karin and Gus of-course say yes. They are more than a little suprised when the woman Lars brings over is a life size doll. What’s more Lars is relating to Bianca as if she is a real flesh and blood woman.
The couple’s excitement suddenly turns to dismay! Karin and Gus manage to convince Lars to go to the Doctor with them the following day. When Lars is outside in the waiting room Dr Dagmar (Patricia Clarkson) tells them that Lars is suffering from a mental illness in the form of delusions and the best approach for them to take is to go along with the delusion in the hope that Lars will get better, and can then move forward in his life. Its kind of a big ask…..
I love films that are provactive…that shock….that take us out of our comfort zone and try to tweak our perspective more than just a tad! Craig Gillespie’s film from a screenplay by Nancy Oliver is just such a film.
The bottom line about this film is that Lars’s family, friends and his local community do basically the exact opposite of what people and communities usually do. The film depicts Lars as suffering from a severe mental illness….the standard thing to happen to people like Lars is for people to reject and spurn them.
What happens in ‘Lars and The Real Girl’ is that Lars’s friends and the local community get behind him and accept him. Their compassion gives Lars the chance to heal.
Yes, ‘Lars and the Real Girl ‘ is, in its way, an idealistic and romanticised view of the world, yet it is done so delicately and with so much heart, that it works a treat. Sometime it does totter a bit over the edge into sentimentality, but that’s forgivable, because its so good!
Gillespie’s direction has just the right touch. The performances are exemplary. Ryan Gosling is wonderful as the nebbish Lars. Emily Mortimer as Lars’s sister in law gives an warm, sensitive, warm performance. Paul Schneider as her husband was spot on and gave a finely detailed performance.
Patricia Clarkson as Lars’s psychiatrist was great. Kelli Garner was sweet as Lars’s real, real girl, Margo, a colleague in his office. As Bianca the doll was in fine form!