Lars and the Real Girl
Lars and the Real Girl
By Victor Palin
Lars and the Real Girl is comedy/drama film (dramedy?) released in the year 2007. It tells the story of Lars (Ryan Gosling), a socially inept man who lives in the garage that he and his brother Gus (Paul Schneider), inherit from their deceased father. Lars is timid around other people, but Karin (Emily Mortimer), Gus’ pregnant wife, basically forces him to have dinner with them. Once again, displaying his shyness, Lars quickly leaves Gus’ house after dinner. One day however, Lars buys a life-size doll over the internet and claims it’s his girlfriend. Gus and Karin are extremely dumbfounded. Gus especially is quick to point out that Lars might just be crazy. As time goes by, Lars begin to open up more, break away from his shyness with help from his lifelike, but lifeless doll, Bianca. Lars is convinced to take Bianca to the doctor, but in fact, it is to a psychologist to check on Lars’ mental health. Dagmar (Patricia Clarkson) tells Gus and Karin, that this whole thing is a part of Lars’ delusion that he, himself is controlling. Dagmar urges Gus and Karin to treat Bianca as if she were real in order to help Lars. The townsfolk are also aware of the situation. They want to help Lars as well so they also treat Bianca as if she were a real person; people start inviting her to places, give her a job, ask her to do volunteer work and because of all of this interaction, Lars also begin to interact more with people, slowly breaking that wall of bashfulness that he’s been hiding behind for many years. Eventually, some townsfolk begin to speak for Bianca as Lars was speaking for her. This makes Bianca the busiest inanimate object in town. Lars stars getting frustrated by Bianca’s schedule, and is also stressed by Karin’s pregnancy; Lars and Gus’ mother died from childbirth, Gus’ left as soon as he could leaving Lars alone with a depressed father. Though we can only guess what happened inside the household, this explains why Lars is so withdrawn from people and society in general. Gus, who is very critical of Lars in the beginning of the movie, has grown sympathetic for him, he apologizes for leaving the house, and leaving Lars alone with an emotionally disturbed father. Margo (Kelli Garner) has been trying to catch the attention of Lars since the beginning of the movie. Lars just pays no mind to her since he’s so timid of other people. Eventually, they develop a relationship, and even go bowling together. However Lars reminds Margo that he can’t cheat on Bianca. One day, Lars says that Bianca is unconscious. They take her to the hospital where she is diagnosed with something bad. Lars takes Bianca back home and the townsfolk learn that Bianca is ill. Dagmar tells Gus and Karin that since this whole thing is Lars’ delusion, Lars is in control of everything that is happening, Bianca’s sudden illness, her actions, her decision to reject Lars’ marriage proposal, and eventually, Bianca’s death. The townsfolk are saddened in the funeral and Gus thanks Dagmar for all her help. Lars and Margo start a conversation, and now with Bianca’s death, Lars asks Margo for a walk, representing his newfound confidence, the overcoming of his past, and finally, breaking the barrier of bashfulness Lars shielded himself with almost his entire life.
Lars and the Real Girl has a unique topic for the most part., which gets people interested in the movie. How many movies have you seen about an anti-social man who imagines the thoughts and actions of a sex doll? The soundtrack does an adequate job of capturing us in the mood of the characters, and the characters themselves are superb. Lars development is fantastic; he goes from a man living in a shell, a man who didn’t interact with anyone, who ran away from everyone to a positive, confident; secure man at the end of the movie albeit the development is kind of ruined at the end. It’s great that Lars breaks away from his shell, but he gains confidence to talk to a woman right after Bianca dies which is…insensitive. I know Bianca’s a doll, but Lars seems to have so much genuine feelings for her. I know that Dagmar says that Lars is in control of the whole thing, but it seems a little farfetched that Lars bought a sex doll, make up her action, and had her die, so he himself wouldn’t be shy anymore. It just doesn’t make sense to me. Gus’ development is also great. He goes from critical brother who thinks Lars is crazy, to caring, and understanding brother who is willing to help him with Bianca, and everything else. The development is done justice also because of the acting. Gosling, Schneider, Clarkson, and Mortimer all do an excellent job in this movie. The only small exception Emily Mortimer, who I just said did great and she did, but there was one scene that brings her down a bit. The scene where Karin and Lars argue, she starts screaming at Lars. Emily Mortimer doesn’t have a good screaming voice. Her voice cracks too much as if she’s crying, when she’s not. In a scene where she has to capture our undivided attention by shouting, turned from serious scene to a laughable one.
For the most part, this film is an enjoyable one. I love the deadpan humor, and the unique topic of the movie. The characters are great, and the plot is done well. Of course though, I thought the ending was inconclusive; they could have done a better job with that. Plus we should’ve gotten more of Karin’s pregnancy. I believe that with Lars’ fear of childbirth, plus a scene where Karin is giving birth would’ve made a great drama scene where Lars could be desperate and be panicking. Maybe led to the successful birth of Karin and Gus’ baby, making Lars lose his fear of childbirth. I will admit, some of the movie had me groaning because of how serious they took Bianca, a lifeless doll. But we have to understand the movie is made like that, and is supposed to be like that. You’re supposed to take Bianca seriously, like everyone in the town did, like Gus and Karin did when Dagmar told them to, so it could help Lars. So in retrospect, Bianca was real, because everyone made it so, because we, the audience, made it so. So this film really is appropriately titled, Lars and the Real Girl.
