Lars and the Real Girl (2007)
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A socially awkward man forms a deep bond with a lifelike doll that he treats as a real person.
The story
Lars Lindstrom is a socially awkward man living in a small town with his brother Gus and Gus's pregnant wife, Karin. Due to a fear of death and a resulting haphephobia, Lars lives a secluded life. His isolation is challenged when he introduces a new companion to his family: Bianca, a lifelike doll he treats as a living human being. While his family and the local community react with sympathy to the situation, they attempt to manage his dependency on the doll by involving her in various community activities. Meanwhile, Lars navigates his personal feelings and interactions with a local colleague, Margo.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Lars Lindstrom, a man with haphephobia, lives a secluded life in a small town with his brother Gus and Gus's pregnant wife, Karin. Lars treats a lifelike doll named Bianca as a real person, leading his family to seek help from a doctor, Dagmar Berman. While Berman treats the 'patient' (the doll) to analyze Lars, the community begins to treat Bianca as a real person to help Lars integrate. However, when Lars believes Bianca is dying, he takes her to the hospital and later to a lake. Following a funeral for the doll, Lars and his colleague Margo share a moment of connection, and he eventually asks her to go for a walk.
- First release year
- 2007
- Runtime (minutes)
- 106
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Craig Gillespie
- Writers
- Nancy Oliver · writer
- Cast and characters
- Ryan Gosling · Lars; Emily Mortimer · Karin; Paul Schneider · Gus; Kelli Garner · Margo; Patricia Clarkson · Dagmar Berman
- Genres
- comedy-drama
- Themes
- isolation; grief; mental health; community
- Tone and mood
- gentle; offbeat; sincere
- Premise and plot tags
- mannequins; mental disorders; brothers
- Source material / true-story basis
- photographer Elena Dorfman's work Still Lovers
- Reception
- The film was positively received by critics, especially for Ryan Gosling's performance, and was described as a gentle, sincere comedy.
- Reported review scores
- Metacritic · score: 70 · scale: 100 · review count: 32
- Awards and nominations
- Academy Award · Best Original Screenplay · nomination; Golden Globe Award · Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy · nomination; Screen Actors Guild Award · Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role · nomination
- Production trivia
- The script was the third-ranked screenplay in The Black List in 2005.; The script was written in 2002.; The film was inspired by the website RealDoll.com.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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