"Guess who’s coming to dinner?"

Title: Lars and the Real Girl

Year: 2007
Genre: Comedy, Drama

Director: Craig Gillespie

Writer: Nancy Oliver

Runtime: 106min

Cast: Ryan Goslin, Emily Mortimer, Paul Scheinder, Patricia Clarkson

Produc.: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, Lars Productions

Budget: $12 million approx.

Lars and the Real Girl is the story of Lars (Ryan Goslin), a shy and solitary boy who gives no indication that he will find his soul mate. Until one day, however, says to his brother Gus (Paul Schneider) that there´s a girl who he would like to introduce to him. Except that this girl is a real size doll, ordered by email.

This film touches a really interesting concept. It asks and then answers, what we would do if one day we were confronted with a situation so absurd, so out of the ordinary that we ended up wondering why we had to go through it at all. Why me and not the neighbor.

Here it is not less absurd if our youngest brother suddenly began to interact with a doll, which in his psychological disorder, as well as answers him back. As a first reaction to this so abnormal picture Gus is powerless, distraught, while his wife Karin (Emily Mortimer) is the one who finds it easier to stay calm. From this moment the most immediate thing is to carry Lars to a psychologist and see from there how to deal with such a disorder.

The interesting thing about the film passes through the kind of reception Lars gets from his relatives, friends and neighbors. Some are opposed to the idea of joining with such a "lunatic" and others, however understand that it is best to take the other way around and treat Lars like a human being, with respect, and help his family in everything possible. It is here where the film does its best work, showing that all people are different and that rejection is useless. It also emphasizes that there is nothing wrong with having fear, as long as we have someone to turn for help. One also has to take into account that the teaching of this film is in many ways quite obvious, but sometimes we need to repeat the message more than once and in more ways than one.

Another beautifully presented aspect refers to the personality of Lars. He is described to us, not only as an introverted type, but as someone who does not appear to have intentions to expand its range of human relationships. Someone who, after receiving a flower with the message "Give it to someone nice" just gets rid of it as soon as he can, and just in front of Margo (Kelli Garner), a pleasant and attractive girl, who has made his intentions very clear.

Despite this, we will later realize that Lars doesn´t let others see precisely what he feels, when he comes up with a girl who was first seen by him on the web, and met only face to face after opening a box. What the film shows us brilliantly is the enigmatic psyche of an individual who has brought his doll because it's his only way to express some feelings that he´s got very attached and cannot exteriorize, and that he won’t let Bianca (the doll) leave until he hadn´t seen this matters resolved.

Also, Lars and the Real Girl uses some very witty symbolism, really appropriate for telling the story. One is when Lars begins to read to Bianca, and if one pays close attention, the book in his hands is "Don Quixote", whose main character also suffers from problems of understanding. The other symbolism is seen from the moment Bianca appears and comes to us through her own figure. If we are aware of her face we can see that her expression continuous to change as they are also changing the circumstances that Lars is facing, so through his, let’s say “therapeutic” doll, we can better understand how he is feeling.

To round off it should not be left out something as vital as that the people who surround Lars are totally ready to help him, to the point of treating Bianca as if a human being of flesh and bone in question. Karin, for example, goes as far as to put her to bathe or dress Bianca also to sleep. This brings us to the climax of the story, where people even paramedics are willing to be part of the great illusion. Everything for support Lars dealing with his conflict.

My rating: 9/10

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