Movie recommendation: “Lars and the Real Girl”
One of my mentors (at last count, I have at least three…it’s good to learn from lots of different people!) introduced me to the film, “Lars and the Real Girl,” and a group of us watched it yesterday. You should rent it.
She told me that the film didn’t do well at the box office because people misunderstood the premise. They thought (from the trailers) that it was just an oddball movie about a guy who buys a sex doll and pretends the doll is real. It’s much more than that. It’s a sweet and insightful exploration of mental illness, grief, family, and community. Everyone in the film encounters Lars and his “girlfriend” and has to figure out how to respond to Lars’s delusional behavior. By the end, the responses of many of the characters are deeply moving. (And I went to school on the fantastic approach taken by Dagmar, the psychologist!)
Recommended!
