Lars and the Real Girl (2007), Craig Gillespie
2/5
This is an average comedy/ drama that trivialises mental illness. And what is most strange about the film is not that a man believes a sex doll is real, but the reactions of those around him. This film is largely inaccurate in the depiction of mental illness, frustratingly so. The performances are ok, with what they have to work with. What perhaps may have seemed a quaint and interesting premise is instead absurd and more of a fad based on the more widely known shows and increase in notion of sex dolls replacing real life relationships. Overall not really funny and too overly sentimental to be truly moving or interesting.
Analysis and Depiction of Mental Illness
***SPOILERS***
The treatment/ depiction of mental illness in this film is extremely frustrating. Not only does Lars (Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson, Drive, Blue Valentine) seem less like he is suffering from a mental illness than he is socially awkward and is coddled and suffocated by his brother Gus (Paul Schneider, Parks and Recreation, Water For Elephants) and his wife Karin (Emily Mortimer, Young Adam, Hugo) as well as the rest of the odd ball small town characters. Also what is perhaps most unrealistic is that Lars's relationship with the sex doll is not sexual and that the doll lives with Lar's brother and his wife. Also the doctor who is surreptitiously treating Lars under the guise of "treating" Bianca (the sex doll), which is grossly unethical. The doctor Dagmar (Patricia Clarkson, Six Feet Under, Vick Christina Barcelona) is not described as a psychiatrist and thus not qualified to either diagnose or treat mental illnesses, and should have referred Lars to a psychiatrist. Also delusional disorder is a quite rare disorder. The early scenes in the film set up quite clumsily obvious reasons for this abrupt and absurd delusion's occurrence Frankly put, a woman after church asks Lars whether he has a girlfriend, or is he "one of the gays?" and in another scene a co-worker next to Lars is looking at "porn" a website for purchasing made-to-specification sex dolls. This seems extremely tenuous and a far fetched premise for Lars to go out and purchase a sex doll and instantaneously form an extreme delusional disorder regarding it. The fact that the doctor claims that this "disorder" is not "genetic" or related to brain chemistry is also a big warning sign in terms of scientific believability and accuracy. As any mental illness with have some genetic and chemical/ biological component and delusional disorder will be related to psychotic and schizophrenic disorders (as delusions occur in a wide range of other disorders including Schizophrenia, Schizoeffective disorder, and Bipolar Disorder) as well as to do with social and environmental factors. To suggest otherwise is ridiculous.
The doctor convinces Lars's brother and wife that they must go along with Lars's delusions which is definitely not the standard treatment practise as the psychiatric community's general opinion on delusions is to not acknowledge or foster the delusions as that just perpetuates them, and instead advises to gently rationalise and help contest the delusional beliefs. Also it is ridiculous that Lars's brother and wife convince most of their friends and towns people to also go along with his delusions. Which may seem sincere and nice, but may in actuality be more harmful than helpful to Lars. In fact perhaps the most accurate and appropriate response in the entire film is Lars's brother who reacts abruptly saying that his brother is "crazy", which may seem to be "demonising" mental illness and being prejudiced, but his opinions seem sound. Gus wants to get him medical treatment straight away and get advice, which is the appropriate response. He also defies the doctor's advice and attempts to tell Lars that "Bianca" is not real. However the way in which he did this while perhaps authentic, it was abrupt and ineffectual. Perhaps it is the town and other people that are crazy and not Lars. Lars believes something that is untrue, but the rest of the people go along knowing it is not true. Which is more crazy? They believe that by treating his "girlfriend" as if she is real that it will somehow get Lars to develop real relationship and social skills, but instead they are merely fostering his mental issues rather than confronting them. And of course the film resolves in a over-sentimental neat resolution package because of course that's exactly how it works in real life, right?
To read more about delusional disorder:
For another film about sex dolls see my review of Air Doll (2009)
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