Movie Review-vie: Lars and the Real Girl.

Craig Gillespie's Lars and the Real Girl (2007) is a film that I yearn to tell people about, but know they will stare at me blank-faced when I explain the plot. A beautifully uplifting fantasy with dark but incredibly relevant undercurrents, Lars and the Real Girl follows the story of Lars, an introverted twenty-seven-year-old man whose emotional struggles keep him from embracing life and connecting with people in his community. After years of solitude, Lars receives a life-size vinyl love doll, Bianca, at his doorstep, and develops a (non-sexual) relationship with her, involving her in the community, taking her to dinners, parties, and to weekly doctor's appointments. To Lars, Bianca is as real as anyone in his life. The story follows Lars' journey of self-discovery through Bianca and the guidance of his community.

I was never a big Ryan Gosling fan, but he does an amazing job in this film, acting as a timid, socially awkward, but incredibly loving man who avoids contact with people. I immediately thought of Leonardo Di Caprio and the role he played in What's Eating Gilbert Grape when I saw this film. I'm always sceptical of films that touch on mental illness, but Gosling's portrayal of Lars Lindstrom grows out of judgement-free revelation. Moreover, Gosling lets us in on the warm, safe place that Lars feels from his supposedly inanimate lover, Bianca, and this makes the story so much richer.

What intrigued me most when watching the film was that you do not feel the urge to laugh at Lars' relationship with Bianca - she becomes as much a character as any of the actors in the film, and you as a viewer feel affected by the development of Lars and Bianca's relationship with one another and with their community. As we watch their relationship progress, we glimpse Lars' inner world, one of hurt but also hidden hope, and see his development towards overcoming a life affected by an emotionally abusive and depressed father. A tale that very much echoes the saying 'it takes a village to raise a child', Lars and the Real Girl is a beautiful depiction of human connection, and what it means to love and be kind.

- Nicole

View the trailer here: 

*Mosaik does not take credit for these photos or videos