jimmyjuice

bianca exists as a delusion for a variety of reasons- chief amongst them to fulfill lars's need for control and a social outlet for companionship within the bounds of his comfort levels during a period of his life that is bringing up all his worst memories and fears back to the surface. she's a tool and balm against his vulnerabilities. she is also, as the film emphasizes consistently: a sex doll. An actual object, also arguably, made to fulfill a need for control and (overtly sexual) desire for companionship. Questions about their theoretical sexual relationship are never entertained by Lars, and he's made visibly uncomfortable in other scenes including talk of porn or sex. And never once is it suggested seriously that Lars and Bianca have had a sexual angle to their relationship.

At every turn, Bianca (though yes a delusion) is humanized by him and the people around him. Bianca has preferences and desires that don't always align with his own, has a life and job and friends outside of Lars. There's a comfort in that- so often in stories depicting men and their artificial female companions, it is to emphasize the lead males isolation and depravity by stooping to the level of projecting his sexual or social desires onto an object- sometimes with a misogynistic or violent turn, not having to worry about the consequences of bad behavior against a feminine object without autonomy to be judged for. following a pattern of objectification and sexualization as dehumanization.

But for Lars, Bianca is a person and that person is someone he adores. Each and every moment of her by his side is characterized by joyful and loving glances, listening in to her unheard conversations and opinions. For Lars, his idealized companion isn't a doll without autonomy or personality that couldn't come into tension with his own, because that kinda goes against the entire point of Bianca? She is a construction safe for him to interact with on his own terms, yes, but still a person with a history and life to her all the same, and his direct means of connecting with his community. And the fact that that idealized companion is first and foremost a friend over anything else? One that he feels no need to perform for, or pantomime expectations of traditional social norms for? One that his community and peers also come to care for with all of her own idiosyncrasies mirroring his own? It gets to me. A lesser film would have zeroed in on the comedy of 'guy who brings his sex doll with him everywhere' point and laugh style, but this was never a movie about that, and any emotional core the film would attempt at would fall flat without treating Bianca and Lars's relationship with the respect and empathy it deserves.