My previous article was about Inside Llewyn Davis, one of my favorite winter movies. So now this present article just had to be about yet another one of my favorites, in order to keep it in season I guess, not just in terms of setting and cinematography, but perhaps in theme as well. Because I kinda see both films going hand in hand, probably because I just happened to discover, or rediscover, them at more or less the same time, but then again, there could be some other reason to it. So very briefly, what is Lars and the Real Girl all about? Well, when I initially discovered it I sort of avoided it for a bit. The basic premise made me expect a very cheap and crass comedy, and so I overlooked it. Still, and perhaps because that type of comedy is at times a guilty pleasure for me, I bit the bullet and watched the film. And though I didn't exactly love it right away, I felt it called for a rewatch, and upon doing so, I noticed how the film was finely crafted, so smart, so sweet, and more importantly, it was funny.
I also happened to pick a funny title for this article. I probably shouldn't have, I should have definitely picked something catchy instead of something so bizarre, but hey, what the heck... So what really is an AT Field? If you don't know you'd do well to find out, and you could do so by watching the greatest anime of all time, Neon Genesis Evangelion. I won't go into too much detail here but, suffice it to say that, in that anime, though this AT Field thing is initially presented as a mere force field used in combat between giant monsters, it is later on revealed to be something much more complex. As I recall, the idea is that we all have a soul, our unique and immaterial essence. But if we were all immaterial we couldn't act in the world, nor could we touch each other. So we developed AT Fields to give shape to our soul. In a sense, the superficial AT field would thus be our body but it goes a bit further than that, it goes more into the psychological realm. For instance, some people are more open and extroverted, they hug and kiss everyone, they wear their hearts on their sleeves. In that sense, they have a weak AT Field. Other people are more closed-off and introverted, they avoid physical contact and hide their emotions. In that sense, they have a strong AT Field. But the former being weak and the latter being strong isn't such a simple distinction, because while the weak AT Fields presuppose a much greater risk of experiencing pain, they also presuppose a greater risk of experiencing love. On the flip side, stronger AT Fields offer much greater protection, but at times at the great cost of missing out on life.
With that in mind, we begin our film. The first thing we see is our protagonist, Lars Lindstrom, staring out the window and covering his mouth with a scarf. Already we have two instances of Lars closing himself off, coiling into himself and not getting closer to the world, which is a cold, winter landscape, but it won't be forever... And remember, AT Fields manifest themselves in all sorts of ways, body language being only one of them. Then we see Karin, Lars's sister-in-law, who's pregnant by the way, as she walks out of the adjacent house to call Lars for breakfast, and that is because while she leaves in the proper house, Lars lives in the garage... Lars' initial reaction, as you'd expect from a man with such a powerful AT Field, is to hide away, to pretend he's not there so as to completely avoid Karin. But he actually goes to the window and opens the door upon realizing she's waiting out in the cold. So while Lars is closed-off and very strange, he's definitely not careless. In fact, he has great empathy, as we'll see throughout the film.
Then, because it's sunday mourning, Lars goes to church. He sits in the back and appears not so much distracted as he is sad, while the pastor summarizes christianity in a few words – Love one another. That, my friends, is the one true law. Love is God in action... Meanwhile, Lars is more or less bored, sitting in the back and awkwardly trying to replace a child's fallen toy, but failing and feeling socially anxious about it, even if he went unnoticed by everyone... except Margo.
After the service, Lars helps Mrs. Gruner carry a bouquet of flowers back to her car as she does the typical nosy aunt thing of pressuring Lars to get a girlfriend. She removes one flower from the bouquet and tells him to give it to someone special. But in that precise moment, Margo says hi to Lars and he immediately freaks out and throws the flower as far as he can... It becomes increasingly clear that mild-mannered Margo is not all that extroverted but she still makes an effort to talk to Lars, whereas all he wants to do is ignore her or even outright run.
Monday morning, Lars goes about his daily routine, working in an easygoing office. It's then that his co-worker tells him of hyper realistic sex dolls, something to which Lars appears initially uninterested in, and he has a similar reaction to Margo's constant cute attempts at getting to know him. Then, when Lars arrives back home, Karin runs in front of the driveway so as to intercept him. Lars would have avoided her, but instead he gets of the car, having been startled by being led to believe there was something seriously wrong. Once again, Lars' empathy kicks in pretty hard. But there was nothing wrong, what happened was just Karin once again insisting to have Lars over for a meal, and in doing so, she more or less assaults him.
The three of them have a very awkward dinner during which Gus makes a faint attempt to check in on Lars, but nothing gets solved. The story then skips ahead six weeks, obviously making the subsequent time lapse believable but also implying nothing of note happened. Everyone is just stuck, which serves to explain why Lars made his decision. And one day that decision fully developed when a big box was delivered to his home. When Lars arrives he just stares at it for a little while, then he brushes his teeth, changes his sweater twice and combs his hair, all in preparation for a big date... Then he asks Gus and Karin if he can come over for dinner and if he can bring a girl along, a bit of news that, upon hearing, makes them very happy, especially Karin. But then the movie's awkward style of comedy shifts into full gear as we're introduced to Bianca.
The actual immediate reaction is missing from the film, and with good reason. Instead we get a hard cut to Gus and Karin looking absolutely gobsmacked as Lars sits on the couch next to a sex doll dressed up like a prostitute. And as he tells us of Bianca's backstory, it seems he's in many ways describing his ideal woman – she's kind, religious, not vain about material possessions, and of course, she's half brazilian, half danish... And because of her piety, she ends up staying in the house's pink room, the room Lars' mother stayed at when she was sick, just before passing away.
Gus and Karin have no clue what to do, so they make a doctor's appointment, and it's then that we are introduced to the doctor Dagmar, who more or less serves as the conduit for the more serious psychological considerations of the film. She's immediately aware of Bianca's nature, not sensing any deeper psychiatric issues in Lars, so instead she knows she has to treat Lars through Bianca, seeing her as a mere extension of him, one strictly psychological since Lars seemed to have totally misunderstood the ads about the doll, seeing the euphemisms for sex as real claims of companionship. And that's the essence of my weird AT Field argument. Lars wants to be part of the community, he wants to be normal and accepted, but he just can't get close to people. So he decided to create a substitute, someone through which people can reach him and share his pain. Indeed, Gus goes on to say that if they do go along with Lars' delusion, everyone in town will laugh at him, to which doctor Dagmar quips with – And you... The point is then that this is a challenge they will have to overcome against everyone and everything. Or will they?
This screenshot doesn't really fit here, I just thought it was pretty
Afterwards, we have three scenes making up a sequence in which Gus and Karin approach the townspeople with the issue – Karin talks to her girlfriends at the mall, who actually take the news more or less in stride, right away making jokes and accepting Bianca as one of the girls, Gus tells his friends at work who make a bunch of light-hearted jokes, and lastly, the couple together address the churchgoers who initially feel defensive, but reluctantly change their minds after Mrs. Gruner speaks up in Lars' defense. And actually this is the major strong suit of the film. For such a premise you expect it to be a crass comedy, something the movie already subverted by being smartly written and going for oddball humor, but when you realize the tone is more serious, you expect a scene in which Lars will be hated and outcast, perhaps even mocked or beaten as some random teenage thugs destroy the doll. But no, the movie gives us none of that, it instead surprises us by having everyone in this small northern town embracing Bianca, constantly finding places for her within the community, not because they fell into a collective delusion, but because this is the only way they can breach Lars' AT Field.
Over time, Karin softens up a bit, removing Bianca's default makeup to give her a more natural look, and even bathing her for fun, or perhaps as a kind of training for her eagerly awaited baby. Gus's AT Field is stronger but he begins to read up on psychology and even teaches his friends a bit about it. In the meantime, Lars keeps bonding with Bianca while still seeing doctor Dagmar, being more or less tricked into talk therapy due to Bianca's mysterious illness and treatment. It is then that he makes a big reveal – though he loves people, he despises physical contact, in fact, he feels pain with it, which obviously means that when I said Karin assaulted him, there was some odd truth to it. Thus, Lars' AT Field is so strong he can't even bear to have people coming anyway near him. For the most part though, he manages to get away with it since the snowy town he lives in forces inhabitants to wear a lot of clothing, thus, Lars mentions a literal outer shell of protection against others. You still think my AT Field talk is weird?
Lars then attends a very casual party, a sort of homecoming hosted by the receptionist at his office, but while everyone is dressed in sweaters and everyday clothes, Lars shows up in a full suit and tie, mingling as best he can and dancing without a partner. In many ways it's a brave scene, it shows Lars beginning to overcome his intense social anxiety and actually putting himself out there. It sounds like an easy thing to do but it sure ain't... And for the most part, Lars has a lot of fun, but then he notices Margo being very chatty with some guy, sparking a feeling of jealousy which marks the first crack in Lars' bond with Bianca.
During the next therapy session with doctor Dagmar, Lars makes yet another breakthrough – he reveals that Bianca's mother was also ill and died during childbirth. And as they discuss the dangers of childbirth in general, specifying Karin's pregnancy, Lars has a panic attack. That's one half of the source of Lars' issue, namely the guilt he feels for knowing his birth caused his mother's illness and subsequent death. And perhaps because of that he never wanted to get close to anyone else, not just for fear of being hurt, but also for fear of hurting them... In the meantime, while everyone is getting closer to Bianca, welcoming her into their tight-knit community, even Gus, who is now owning up to his guilt about having left his kid brother with an emotionally distant father, Lars is becoming angry, and considering how repressed he is, it might actually be a good thing... After Mrs. Gruner takes Bianca out, he gets into an argument with Karin who, after being told by Lars that nobody cares about him, lashes out, releasing all the pent-up frustration at having to take care of a literal sex doll, all because she cares about Lars. But interestingly enough, she never speaks of Bianca as a doll, she really refers to her as a living person, because she sort of is, she's an extension of Lars, she's his outer shell that everyone has to take care of in order to reach him. And though it's frustrating and difficult and embarrassing and maybe even a little bit pointless, it's working.
One of the clear details that reveals such improvement is when Lars is at work and he's introduced to Margo's new boyfriend, whose hand he then shakes, a gesture that the boyfriend claims to be quite a grip. Remember, Lars hates such contact, it's physically painful to him, and yet now he takes the initiative and presses on it. And as Margo's relationship with that man apparently blooms, Lars' relationship with Bianca dwindles. They argue more and more, which seems to more or less symbolize Lars outgrowing his need for her, that plastic substitute, that outer shell that prevents him from truly experiencing life. That much is exemplified when Lars confronts Gus about what it means to be a man. Gus initially hopes to evade the conversation, being almost as emotionally repressed as his brother, but when Lars insists, Gus comes up with something along the lines of being responsible, of being honest and of taking care of the community, even at the cost of one's own selfish desires.
Maybe that lesson paid off because afterwards Margo and Lars' co-worker have a spat about each other's desk toys, and we learn the co-worker has hanged Margo's teddy bear with a USB cord. It seems like a silly joke but the visual of it actually hurts Margo, who then runs to the break room and cries. Lars quietly approaches her and allows her to vent, just talking about how she feels sad sometimes, how she broke up with her boyfriend for no good reason, and how she feels lonely. Then, in a charming moment, Lars removes the noose, checks for vitals, and begins to perform CPR on the bear, something which immediately makes Margo laugh.
Ryan Gosling improvising and making Kelli Garner laugh
Later that night, the pair decide to go bowling, having a very lukewarm but sweet evening that is then more or less interrupted when Gus' co-workers join them on the lane. But once again, the movie doesn't add any typical lame drama, it resists all vain, boring and unpleasant twists. Instead of all that, the gang have a great evening of casual fun, engaging in a friendly but competitive game full of light banter, a game during which Lars seems oddly distant though, perhaps wondering what it'd be like to let go of his inhibitions and, for once in his life, just be normal. It is at that time that Lars realizes he loves Margo, but he still has Bianca, on whom he'd never cheat. Margo says so as much, favoring loyalty above everything else, but then, at the end of the evening, after a brief but not so meaningless discussion about the weather, Lars shakes Margo's hand, as the thaw around them symbolizes the dawn of spring, and the breakdown of Lars' AT Field.
At this point, Bianca gets sicker and sicker. In other words, Lars is no longer having any need for her, he no longer wants to be distant from people, so she gradually fades from his life. But maybe Lars is ready for that as he attentively listens to the pastor reading 1 Corinthians 13:11, a famous passage commonly associated with maturity. And one night, Bianca falls ill to the point of having to be hospitalized and, much to the dismay of everyone in the town, who react as if they're losing a real person, it appears she won't quite recover. But the townspeople are always there for Lars, having delivered a bouquet of flowers and cards to his doorstep, as spring draws ever nearer around him, thawing the ice.
Lars sits for a bit with the older ladies who teach him how, when tragedy strikes, people just show up at each other's houses, they bring food and they simply sit. Because when all else fails, when people can't do anything but wait, they can at least wait together. And then Mrs. Peterson and Mrs. Gruner impart on Lars a bit of plain folk wisdom that often comes to me in remembrance – That's how life is, Lars. Everything at once.
Then later that day, during a walk to the river, Lars kisses Bianca one last time and says goodbye to her, oddly dipping her in the freezing river, perhaps so that he can actually feel something under his pink pajamas which, if I'm not pushing here, might serve to symbolize themes of innocence into maturity, especially since his pajamas are pink, a color associated with his mother's illness.
The film once again skips the big dramatic reveal and cuts to the funeral right away. The people in this town are actually having a legit funeral for a sex doll, but it's not meant in any kind of strange, psychotic way... The priest begins by explaining that Lars, who is now sat at the very front of the congregation, has asked everyone not to wear black precisely for that reason, because it's not a traditional funeral, it isn't meant as the mourning of a person's loss of life, it's meant to be the celebration of a new life. Lars has finally outgrown his need for a substitute and he's now ready to venture out in the world, forever risking getting hurt in the process. It's a scary thing, as leaving home always is, but at the end of each risk lies a great reward.
The film then ends with Lars and Margo having some time to themselves amidst the sad occasion, standing at Bianca's grave in solemn mourning. Lars talks about how he shouldn't be sad, for Bianca's sake, but he just can't help it. Margo commiserates with him as best as she can, knowing Lars isn't one for overly emotional displays of affection or touching. But then, when Lars unexpectedly asks her to ditch everyone and go for a walk with him, she is caught by surprise and breathlessly answers yes, the categorical affirmation, saying yes to life, saying yes to taking a chance. For in the midst of death, we are in life...
So that's about it, that's the whole movie. I get how it can be a little odd in the sense it may take some liberties with mental illness. I mean, if a person really believes a doll to be alive, I'm not sure the best thing to do is to go along with it, but I dunno. I just think that, though the movie is smart about it, actual psychiatric evaluations aren't its goal. The goal is simply love, and love isn't always a simple one-two trade-off. Most times it has to be chased, sometimes the people who refuse it most vehemently are the ones who need it the most. And though Lars so strongly refused even to be touched, no one in the town gave up on him. Instead they all dwindled his AT Field until his heart opened up to them, which made him realize it's better to have loved and lost, that it's always better to say yes to life. So in many ways, Lars and Margo are so similar, but also so different. They are both shy, mild-mannered and lonely, but Lars closed himself off to the point of despair and delusion, whereas Margo would constantly fight back against her shyness and, at the cost of looking like an idiot, she'd actually win. Lars has a very strong AT Field, Margo has a very weak one, but who is better off? I suppose strength in that specific sense isn't always that strong because never getting hurt is a sign one might be actually quite frail, as Lars is.
But the movie then ends abruptly, leaving us with only the beginning of the rest of Lars' life which, for good or for bad, will no longer be avoided – it will be lived.
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