Lars (Ryan Gosling) has been acting strangely. Although he is going to work and taking care of himself and his apartment in his brother’s garage, he is removed and despondent. His brother Gus (Paul Schneider) thinks he’s fine, but his sister-in-law Karin (Emily Mortimer) is worried. She has to tackle him to even get him to come to dinner.

Six weeks later, Lars comes to his brother’s house with a surprise. He has a visitor. A lady visitor. Her name is Bianca. She doesn’t speak much English, and she’s in a wheelchair. She’s also very religious, so Lars asks if she can sleep at their house. Delighted that he has found a friend, Karin and Gus agree to put Bianca in what was Gus’ mother’s room before she died and invite them over for dinner.

Cut to Gus and Karin staring like codfish at a life-size, anatomically correct, silicon sex doll: Bianca. Lars casually explains that Bianca is a half Brazilian, half Dutch missionary and then proceeds to have a “conversation” with her. And you thought your family dinners were awkward.

The family physician, Dagmar (Patricia Clarkson), who, conveniently, is also a psychologist, tells Karin and Gus that Lars is having a delusion and the best thing to do is to play along. There is obviously an underlying reason why Lars created Bianca. The delusion will go away when he doesn’t need her anymore.

Karin and Gus: mostly Karin: convince the town to treat Bianca like a real person. They invite her to volunteer at the hospital (she has medical training), she gets a job at a department store and is awarded a position on the school board (seriously).

“Lars and the Real Girl” is kind of like a sick joke. Part of you thinks, “C’mon, it’s funny!” and this other part says, “… really!?” That the whole town is treating a sex doll like real person is just brilliant. But the fact that it is not a just a game for Lars makes the film less funny.

Ironically, he never has sex with his sex doll. Bianca is everything he needs: a companion, “human” contact without actual human contact and, best of all, she’s not real so she will never die. She is his girlfriend, but more than that, she represents his mother, who died giving birth to him. In a somewhat twisted, John Lennon-esque move, Lars transfers all the love for her and as their “relationship” starts to deteriorate, his anger toward his mother onto Bianca (yes, I just compared Yoko Ono to a sex doll).

If done badly, this oddball indie movie could have gone so, so wrong. But Ryan Gosling is a pro at oddball indie movies. Even though I know has as much talent as Meryl Streep, he always surprises me. He has remarkably portrayed a Jewish neo-Nazi (“The Believer”), a cocaine addicted middle school teacher (“Half Nelson”) and now added a reserved, flawlessly executed, very believable Lars to his résumé.

Gosling’s Oscar-worthy performance and the creative, clever script written by Nancy Oliver carry the film, but the other actors do a decent job. Schneider spends the majority of the film with a look of complete disbelief on his face. His character’s inability to accept his little brother’s delusion and guilt about perpetuating it result in a cool performance, which was probably intentional.

Mortimer’s performance is like a hug. It’s warm, it draws you in, but it’s safe.

“Lars and the Real Girl” is a poignant look at the absurd. Or perhaps an absurd look at the poignant. I can’t decide which. It’s funny, heartbreaking and heartwarming. A must-see.