Every once in a while I run across a book, a poem, or a movie that especially inspires me. Recently a friend put me on to a real jewel of a movie entitled "Lars and the Real Girl." I just can't pass up the temptation to give it review.  This movie is funny, touching, intellectually stimulating, and deeply spiritual all at the same time.

The story is set in a small town in an American northern state during the winter.  Lars is a very socially awkward young man who suffers from extreme shyness, social anxiety, and the inability to experience human touch without pain.  He cuts a pretty pathetic figure.  Needless to say he has no romance in his life.  One day a package is delivered.  In the package is a life sized, anatomically correct sex doll that Lars names Bianca.  Lars also provides a back story for Bianca. Bianca is from Brazil and is of Danish and Brazilian parentage.  She is also deeply religious. Lars and Bianca are not sexual.  So if this story is not about sex, what is it about?  That's what makes this movie so great.

In the early 20th century the two great psychoanalysts of the time, Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, split over their different interpretations of the dynamics of mental illness. Freud thought the root of mental illness was the result of a disruption in a patient’s psycho-sexual history.  A cure came into effect when the disruption was revealed in therapy, at which point the patient was better able to endure a sad, hard existence. Jung, on the other hand, thought that most mental illnesses were messages from the unconscious mind.  These messages, if listened to, could bring wholeness, health, healing and joy.  The movie explicitly takes this point of view when Dagmar, the town physician states that Lars' symptoms are a "message" and that her prescription is for the whole town to go along with Lars. 

I don't want to spoil the movie – I think I can safely reveal that the town follows the good doctor's advice.  The townsfolk embrace Lars and Bianca.  Bianca is even elected to the hospital board. Almost immediately Lars’ shyness and social anxiety begin to wane.  Somehow Bianca's presence is healing for Lars. This is as much as I can say about the plot of the movie without being a spoiler.

I can, however, say a bit about the movie's spirituality.  One of the best known dynamics of religion is the use of symbols to act as vehicles to bring health-giving but unconscious material into the conscious psyche.  Perhaps history's best example is the widespread eruption of Mariology in Medieval times.  Mary was truly a great light in some very dark times.  Today we see this dynamic in such symbols as God, Jesus, the Buddha, Allah, the Force, the Great Tao, the Jungian Self, Gaia…etc.

Bianca is Lars' wholeness symbol embodied in silicon.  Jungian fans have already recognized her as the Anima.  The Anima is the feminine dimension of every man. Every man needs to bring the Anima into consciousness to be whole and happy.  A man who has lost touch with his Anima cannot relate to women.  I should mention here that Lars' mother died in childbirth, so he had no female in his life to mirror him or to model the feminine. Interestingly, Lars' symptoms became acute when his brother and pregnant sister-in-law moved back to his small town.  

So, how about us?  What can we learn from this beautiful, artful, movie?  I think we can learn to pay very close attention to our inner lives. As we observe ourselves from the inside out, we quickly become aware of our flaws and shortcomings.  We may even find some troublesome symptoms.  It has been my experience that honest attention to our less beautiful parts will bring forth our wholeness symbols (perhaps some that are uniquely personal).  These symbols are the prize on which we need to keep our spiritual eyes. They are the royal road to peace, wholeness, and joy. 

Have a great December and holiday season.

Jim