Review of Lars and the Real Girl (2007) by Dawdlingpoet — 24 Nov 2021

This is a fairly quirky movie, which I quite enjoyed. I thought that it was quite touching at points and I was quite intrigued to see how the movie would play out. You would be mistaken for thinking that its perhaps a bit of an obvious movie, that its a tale of a shy man who keeps to himself and whos relatives come to save the day and 'thats that' sort of thing but it isn't really like that. I thought that it was quite sweet to watch how the 'townsfolk' reacted to the new 'citizen' Bianca, how the doctor dealt with Lars and his delusions, seemingly 'treating' Bianca while really trying to evaluate Lars. Lars himself is quite a curious character and I did feel quite sorry for him, I have to say I have a good bit of experience when it comes to being someone who prefers to keep to themselves, im not one for going to big parties or being out with other people other than my family, very much at all and its sad to see how people judge him, although of course it is true to say that its not particularly healthy to be that way and when Bianca comes along, yes, if I were his sister I'd be alarmed too!

There are some fairly surreal scenes, which again should be expected given the story, where 'Bianca' is shown in the neighbourhood, accompanying Lars to certain places and events, such as attending a church service with him and even getting 'her' blood pressure taken. The way the story goes with Lars at first being blissfully in love and then slowly things going downhill for poor Bianca, I almost did start to feel sorry for her, even if she is just an inanimate blow up doll! but really for me it was the reaction of the community to this doll, how they acted around Lars and Bianca that I particularly liked and found quite fascinating. I can't imagine the same being the case around here and again it added a fair degree of surrealism to the movie but I feel that there is, somehow, a positive message in there somehow, that ok here you have who must be quite a disillusioned man who chooses to let his imagination, I suppose, run a bit and has built up these delusions as the doctor calls it but as it is, it doesn't hurt anyone and in having 'Bianca' it makes him that bit more confident to attend things that he wouldn't have had he really believed he was on his own, such as attending a local party. In the movie you also have two opposing views, the general acceptance of Bianca by the local community against Lars' brother Gus, who clearly doesn't accept 'her' and to start with even suggests sectioning poor Lars. However, as hesitant and disapproving as he is at the start, I feel that towards the end things change a bit and I also thought it was quite nice to see how Gus' wife Karin reacted too, her being the one that tried to get Lars to come over and see them more.

I feel that this is in one way quite a sad and touching movie but its also somewhat uplifting and I suppose it does have somethng of a positive message, its certainly something different anyway, I thought that it was quite well thought out as far as the story goes, what happens as Lars 'relationship' with Bianca continues and what the outcome eventually is, it was quite fascinating and I thought that Ryan Gosling gave a good performance portraying this disillusioned man who seems to really see somebody in this doll.

Of course this isn't a movie for everyone but I thought that the story was interesting enough, it didn't drone on forever and the performances were again quite solid, the interaction between Lars and his brother Gus and his sister in law Karin and the community in general being quite interesting, so it kept me watching until the end and I also liked how the movie ended, I thought it was quite fitting, thats all I'll say there for fear of giving too much away.

I do think some people may find it bland, if your very outgoing then you may well not relate to Lars and so find it just a bit too weird and a bit too slow, pace-wise, also it isn't exactly laugh out loud funny, its more subtle and more of a quirky, touching movie than a comedy movie as such but it is the sort of movie that I quite enjoy from time to time, so it suited me well, for me it'd be more of a 5 star movie but I think there are people who won't really 'get it' or enjoy it that much, so I decided to go with a 4 star rating, also im not sure if it is a movie that I would watch more than once, im not sure.

Yes I would. Like I say, its not a movie everyone will enjoy, its not laugh out loud hilarious, its not full of action, its not really sexual or anything like that but its an intriguing 'human' story, if you know what I mean, that I found quite touching and fascinating too in a sense. I found the story interesting and the performances are fine too, so I would recommend it.