Lars and the Real Girl

Great film. The story is ambitious but refreshingly original. Lars is a gentle, introverted guy in his late 20s living in the garage of his childhood home, now occupied by his brother Gus and sister-in-law Karen. Many in his small-town community, including his family, have a great affection for Lars but find it hard to get close to him. Sensing an underlying loneliness, those that love Lars just want to him to be happy.

When Lars tells Gus and Karen that he's met someone on the internet, they're overjoyed, until they are introduced to Bianca, a life-size sex-doll that Lars relates to as a living, breathing girlfriend.

When a friend told me about the film, I was expecting that the absurdity of the sex-doll would be flogged to death. There are some good visual gags in there - because it is a pretty bizarre scenario - but rather than repeating the same joke over and over, the doll becomes a vehicle to explore Lars's character; why is he having this delusion; how will those who love him respond.

Two-thirds of the way through the film, despite the fact that she has not uttered a word, let alone altered her facial expression, Bianca, to me, was a character in her own right, which is a real achievement on behalf of the filmmakers. It speaks a lot for subtle plot development and good acting.