I joined my friends for a late-night showing of Lars and the Real Girl armed only with the knowledge that it starred Ryan Gosling, who won me over in The Notebook
(though not as much as James Garner in the same role), and that it
involved a "love doll" who Lars introduces as his girlfriend. All I
could think was of Jude Law in A.I.;
I assumed this was some sort of crude futuristic comedy about a man's
extended relationship with what amounts to a mechanical prostitute. I
expected her to walk and talk and betray only the slightest indications
that she was not biologically based. Boy, was I in for a surprise!
We see from the film's opening scenes that Lars Lindstrom (Gosling) is
severely socially stunted. He lives in a large garage on the property of
the house where Gus (Paul Schneider), his distant older brother, lives
with his compassionate, pregnant wife Karin (Emily Mortimer),
and though she tries valiantly to coax him out of his isolation, Lars
merely smiles blandly, blinks rapidly and retreats into his own private
world from which he emerges only for church on Sundays and work during
the week. It's on the job that he learns about a company from which he
can purchase a life-size, anatomically correct doll. Ignoring the timid
advances of Margo (Kelli Garner), a sweet, broad-grinned co-worker, he
investigates further...
When an enormous package arrives at
his door six weeks later, we all have a pretty good idea what it is, but
Karin and Gus don't, so they're ecstatic when a giddy Lars rings on
their doorbell to announce that he has a visitor and, out of a sense of
propriety, he would like permission for her to stay in their guest room
rather than in the garage with him. And then they meet Bianca, whose
name does not appear on the cast list because there is nothing remotely
human about her. She is nothing but a life-size doll with a glazed
expression and an inability to stand up. Hence, she must sit in a
wheelchair, which Lars must purchase for her because, as he explains in
his first real conversation since the start of the movie, it was lost
along with the rest of her luggage on the plane from Brazil. To Lars,
Bianca is very real, and as he converses with her at the dinner table,
Gus and Karin exchange looks of alarm. Lars clearly has lost his mind.
But a small stroke of genius by Karin lands them in the office of Dagmar (Patricia Clarkson),
a doctor who, under the guise of treating Bianca for a mysterious
illness, initiates weekly psychiatric sessions with Lars in which she
patiently encourages him to reveal his buried feelings bit by bit.
Meanwhile, she advises the reluctant Karin and incredulous Gus to act as
though Bianca is real. Rather than keep up this ruse on their own, they
alert their friends, their pastor and the most prominent members of
their congregation. Soon, the whole town knows about Bianca, and the
already close-knit community grows even closer as they rally around her,
adopting her as a sort of mascot and almost forgetting themselves that
she's nothing but a hunk of plastic.
Gosling is fantastic as
Lars, whose insecurities run so deep that physical contact with another
person is literally painful for him. In the beginning, he seems to have
no concept of how to interact normally with others. He stares blankly
when people speak to him, often not acknowledging them at all. But
something happens when Bianca arrives. He begins to act like a normal
person. Yes, he spends half his time talking to a doll and inventing her
end of the conversation, which only he can hear, but he also talks to
the people around him, coming out of his shell gradually, to the point
where he is attending parties and accepting Margo's invitation to go
bowling, which never would have happened before Bianca. Although most
people initially regard him as a freak for believing that this doll is
alive, through her he is able to finally begin really living. Gosling's
transformation from almost robotically awkward, complete with a unique
collection of tics, to fully functional within the community at large is
dramatic and totally believable.
Everyone in the cast is
equally impressive. I loved Mortimer, who brought gentleness coupled
with a fierce spirit to this very concerned sister-in-law who in many
ways seems to act like the mother Lars never knew. Schneider's
expressive face enhances the comedy of the film's strangest moments. Gus
is less willing to go along with the charade than just about anyone
else in town, and as such he probably echoes the reaction of many
watching the movie. He's the voice of reason in an unreasonable series
of events, but he slowly comes to discover that if you care enough about
a person, you're willing to put aside your dignity for his well-being.
There is a definite Pinocchio-ish strain through this movie as everyone
around Lars hopes that his love for Bianca will eventually be replaced
with love for a "real girl". The girl in question is Margo, and Garner
is absolutely winning as this understanding young woman who is so fond
of Lars despite, or perhaps because of, all his oddities. Once she
recovers from her initial shock, she treats Bianca warmly and is careful
to make only overtures of friendship to Lars, lest it appear she is
trying to sabotage his relationship. The blue fairy would be the
magnanimous Dagmar, and Clarkson wonderfully conveys her professionalism
and quiet willingness to listen and not to judge. She allows Lars to
call all the shots in his courtship with Bianca and in his decisions to
share the secrets he has long kept submerged.
Each of Lars'
neighbors has something to contribute to his development, from the
kindly secretary at work to the feisty elderly woman at church who is
especially attentive to him. The movie was filmed in Ontario, and Adam
Kimmel's cinematography offers lots of sparse, snowy landscapes, which
look at once forbidding and inviting. David Tom's simple guitar-based
score complements the landscape perfectly. As far as I noticed, the name
of the town was never mentioned, nor the location. I assumed it to be
somewhere in the northern reaches of Wisconsin or Minnesota, but perhaps
it's meant to take place in Canada. I guess it doesn't really matter;
the ambiguity lends the film more universality.
Every element
of this movie, which was filmed in a month and looks like it didn't cost
very much, is perfectly in place, from the excellent cast to Craig
Gillespie's direction. They take Nancy Oliver's unconventional but
beautiful screenplay and make it seem perfectly plausible. Sure, the
community is idealized; it's one thing to accept Lars' fantasy with a
wink and a nod, quite another to rush Bianca off by ambulance and admit
her into the emergency room. Then again, in such a small town, the
hospital probably doesn't have a lot of patients to deal with at any
given time and can afford to play along for the sake of a townsperson
who, by the end of the film, can have no doubt as to how much he is
loved. If everyone grows to care about Bianca, who takes on a fabled
philanthropic life of her own like Captain Tuttle, the officer Hawkeye
invents in one of my favorite episodes of M*A*S*H, it's because
they are willing to go to such great lengths to sustain the happiness of
their delusional friend and help him to become an active part of the
community.
I wasn't sure what to expect out of Lars and the Real Girl,
but I certainly wasn't prepared for something this tender and touching,
a movie that made me feel good about being a person and hopeful for our
ability to work together for the good of others, even if our first
inclination is to scoff and scorn. As I sat in the theater with a sparse
sprinkling of other viewers, I don't think the smile ever left my face.
Who knew that a movie about a plastic doll would have so much to say
about humanity?
I swear you changed my life with this movie...if nothing else, I realize the importance of community, empathy, and a good casserole in times of trouble!
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