Lars Lindstrom is a deeply shy and socially isolated man living in the garage behind the home of his older brother Gus and sister-in-law Karin. He avoids most social interaction, struggles with physical contact, and seems content to keep the people around him at a distance.
Then Lars announces that he has met someone.
Her name is Bianca, and Lars introduces her to his family as his girlfriend. Bianca is also a life-sized sex doll he ordered online.
Lars does not treat the relationship as a joke. To him, Bianca is a real person with her own history, personality, interests, and needs. Concerned about his mental state, Gus and Karin seek help from local doctor Dagmar Berman, who recommends that they accept Bianca as real while she works with Lars to understand what is happening.
The response gradually spreads beyond the family. Church members, co-workers, neighbours, and other people in their small community begin including Bianca in everyday life. She attends parties, volunteers, goes to church, and develops a surprisingly busy social calendar.
Ryan Gosling stars as Lars alongside Emily Mortimer as Karin, Paul Schneider as Gus, Patricia Clarkson as Dagmar, and Kelli Garner as Lars’ co-worker Margo.
Directed by Craig Gillespie and written by Nancy Oliver, Lars and the Real Girl uses an unusual premise to explore loneliness, grief, family, intimacy, and the ways a community can respond when someone experiences the world differently from those around them.
Why Lars and the Real Girl Is on Love of Gothic
Lars and the Real Girl sits outside the horror and dark fantasy titles that make up much of the Love of Gothic collection, but its story has strong crossover appeal for an alternative audience.
Lars is an outsider struggling with loneliness, grief, intimacy, and expectations about how people are supposed to behave. His relationship with Bianca is unconventional, yet the film focuses heavily on how his family and community respond to someone whose needs do not fit comfortably within social norms.
Its themes of isolation, unconventional relationships, acceptance, and finding connection outside expected boundaries make it relevant to the broader collection of unusual and alternative media represented on Love of Gothic.