Ryan Gosling is deservedly a man on all the “one to watch” lists.
After an excellent lead performance in Half Nelson, he turns his talent to portraying Lars, a lonely private young man whose friends and family find his self imposed isolation disturbing until the day he takes matters into his own hands, finding the perfect companion.
Bianca is a stunning, half-Brazilian, half-Danish religious missionary – however, Bianca isn’t a real girl, but a lifelike doll that Lars has come to believe is talking to him and is his soul mate.
Encouraged by a local psychologist and driven by worry his brother, sister-in-law and friends gradually embrace the unusual situation and support Lars to ease himself into a life more ordinary.
Whilst this is a meditation on loss, family ties, and loneliness it is also heart-warming and laced with humour. Nominated for the best original screenplay Oscar, this film is delightful and original in equal measure.
