NOW this looks like a difficult pitch – a film about a man’s relationship with a plastic doll. But anyone expecting a soft-corn porn romp, or a knockabout comedy in the American Pie tradition had best think again.

Rather, this is an emotionally involving, funny but extremely poignant offering that actually earned its writer, Six Feet Under scribe Nancy Oliver, an Oscar nomination for best original screenplay, and its star, Ryan Gosling (not the plastic doll!), a Golden Globe nomination for best actor.

Lars & The Real Girl is a sweet, slightly off-centre comedy following timid Lars Lindstrom (Gosling), a lovable introvert living in a garage apartment next to his older brother, Gus (Paul Schneider), and sister-in-law Karen (Emily Mortimer).

Lars is sleep-walking through life until a new friend comes to visit. Bianca is a stunning, half-Brazilian, half-Danish religious missionary. The trouble is that Bianca isn’t a real girl at all, but an inanimate replacement, a lifeless replica of a woman ordered online from a company called Real Girl.

Everyone knows why a man orders a doll like Bianca, but to Lars, who actually believes she is a living human being, she becomes a source of emotional support.

Taking the advice of the local psychologist (Patricia Clarkson), his family reluctantly agrees to play along with Lars’ delusion, as he begins to deal with his personal problems.

As curious as the premise sounds, Lars & The Real Girl is actually one of the finest movies you’re likely to see this year. It’s a gem waiting to be discovered.

But even during filming, there were devices adopted by cast and crew to keep things authentic. For instance, Gosling was helped to stay in character by cast and crew members by treating the real doll as an actual person, as is done by the characters in the movie.

Hence, she was dressed privately in her own trailer and was only present for scenes that she was in.

It’s a neat trick that paid dividends with critics in America, who warmly embraced the film that ensued.

US reaction

The Hollywood Reporter, for instance, wrote that “Lars might at first sound like a movie you wouldn’t want your kids to see, but it has a heart of gold”.

While Roger Ebert, of The Chicago Sun-Times noted: “Only after the movie is over do you realize what a balancing act it was, what risks it took, what rewards it contains.”

The Los Angeles Times, meanwhile, stated: “This is a film whose daring and delicate blend of apparent irreconcilables will sweep you off your feet if you’re not careful.”

And Variety wrote: “Tenderly depicting his characters’ human foibles with low-key visual humor, [director, Craig] Gillespie never condescends or goes for an easy joke.”

The Globe And Mail, meanwhile, described it as “a sweet little fable about how a delusional man-child is helped by the loving ministrations of his family and community, the kind of throwback flick where human nature is seen as inherently good – a notion so quaint that it feels damn near buoyant”.

Lars And the Real Girl is released in UK cinemas on March 21, 2008. Watch the trailer

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