Ryan McNeil
“Don’t blow it”. Three words, three syllables. Short, sweet, and direct as can be. Ryan Gosling has said that while preparing for his role in LARS AND THE REAL GIRL, those three words was the most common direction he got from those who’d read the story. “Don’t blow it”. As in, “Don’t take this deeply touching and truly delightful story and turn it into something boring…perverse…unintentionally funny”. Certainly it’s good advice, since a film as daring as LARS AND THE REAL GIRL leaves a lot of room for error. If Gosling loses focus on the character and the story for just one scene, the whole film crumbles. The project would go from being a film about family and community, to “The Sex Doll Movie”. The audience will feel like they are watching a rehash of MANNEQUIN. This is a great part, and a wonderful movie – don’t blow it.
Lars (Ryan Gosling) is a very withdrawn bachelor. He goes to work during the week, goes to church on Sunday…and that’s about all. He doesn’t spend time with friends, and has no woman in his life. He lives in his brother Gus (Paul Schneider) and sister-in-law Karin’s (Emily Mortimer) garage, but seldom spends any time with them despite their constant attempts. He doesn’t like touching people or being touched, is tremendously polite but chronically shy…the sort of person who can barely look you in the eye when you’re talking to him. However, one day he knocks on his brother’s door and asks if he can come in for dinner – and if he can bring a friend: a woman in fact. His family is delighted, until they meet his date. Her name is Bianca, a woman Lars met online. She’s has done some missionary work, is very polite, and rather quiet herself. There’s only one problem – she is a life-sized sex doll.
Deeply worried by this development, Gus and Karin ask Lars to come with them to see the family doctor Dagmar (Patricia Clarkson). Dagmar, however, doesn’t give Gus and Karin the expected diagnosis that Lars needs psychological help. She agrees that Lars is fragile, she feels that any direct challenge could cause him to fracture. So her professional opinion? Treat Bianca as if she’s as real as Lars says she is, and advise everyone they know to do the same. As Lars continues to introduce Bianca around, the reaction by the townspeople is often the same: widened eyes, a slow nod, and a silent “Ohh-kayyy”. However, most of the community cares so much about Lars that they put the absurdity of the situation aside quickly, and accept Bianca for who Lars says she is. Pretty soon Bianca has a job in a shop, is an active church parishioner, and a hospital volunteer.
A story like this is a delicate one, and as it unfolds it’s easy to see how it could have turned farcical with a misguided performance, but instead Gosling stays very true to the part. In the moments where he is alone with Bianca, it’s very clear that he truly loves her, and that he’s not just a psychologically imbalanced young man. He talks with her…with her, not to her. Think about children who pretend that their teddy bear can talk; usually when they want to convey teddy’s thoughts to others, they repeat them (“Teddy says he doesn’t like brussel sprouts either”). Inside the child knows that their toy can’t talk, and that’s why they talk for it.
Lars never does this. When he’s talking with Bianca, he never repeats anything. When she speaks to him, he answers and goes on – certainly one of the signs that lead Dagmar to suggest not challenging his situation. The love that Lars has for Bianca is trumped only by the love the community has for Lars. He’s the sort of guy who instinctively helps women load things into their car, the sort of guy the whole town wishes would “find a nice girl”. When he does finally find one, they flex their loving muscles by embracing her without discrimination. Even Margo (Kelli Garner), the nice girl who wishes Lars would find her can’t stop loving him, even as she finds her hopes dashed by a sex doll in a wheelchair.
They didn’t blow it. Everyone involved with LARS AND THE REAL GIRL deserve a lot of kudos for taking such a farcical concept and turning it into something so daring and heartwarming. High praise to director Craig Gillespie for evoking such caring performances out of the entire cast, and likewise to screenwriter Nancy Oliver for tip-toeing the thin line between sweet and silly. The only problem with a movie like this is that it’s a bit of a tough sell. You want the audience to fall in love with a doll too, and not get wrapped up in the oddity of the whole situation.
Not all audiences will be able to invest themselves that deeply, in fact some members of the audience I watched this movie with at The Toronto International Film Festival were still giggling and laughing when the story takes a turn in the final act. The producers seem wary of this. I’ve seen two ads for this movie on TV during commercial breaks lately- one of the two makes precious little reference to Bianca, instead focusing on Lars and Margo. It’s misleading, but given how tricky this movie will be to market, it can be forgiven if the producers try to dupe some unsuspecting filmgoers into the theatre.
the over all look and feel of Lars and the Real Girl reminded me a lot of Mozart and the Whale (Josh Hartnett plays a similar character as Ryan Gosling’s), well done over all