Silicone Soul is a 2018 documentary about the use of anatomically correct dolls as real life companions for people.
When I heard the concept of Silicone Soul, I have to admit, I was a little uncomfortable with the whole thing. Not with anyone using these dolls for sexual pleasure; I don’t care what you do in the privacy of your own home. I just had issues with accepting these sex dolls as real companions. Watching them explain the reasons why they prefer them to any real life interactions had me agreeing with Rooney Mara’s character in Spike Jonze’s Her, though then again there was the bonus of having Scarlett Johansson’s sultry voice to in that movie, something the men in this film don’t get.
One of the men who uses these dolls says he bought it because his wife cheated on him, which had me thinking she may have had a good reason for doing so in the first place. Again, I’m not judging these because they like using sex dolls as a way of sexual pleasure; if I could throw around that kind of money, I would get one and store it in my closet, too. It’s that that they treat them like they are real people where I veer away.
We meet friends and families of these men, and even a psychologists who tells her students that what these people are doing is not crazy, though I want a second opinion on that. It’s one thing to pretend that these dolls are your girlfriend in the privacy of your home. It’s another thing to go out in public and expect others to acknowledge that it is a real person. Sure, when A.I. technology gets better, there will be a whole other debate associated with that, though I just don’t know what I would say to a friend right now who wanted a doll to be his real-life girlfriend.
We do learn that these real dolls are used in other ways, or rather for different reasons. One couple uses a doll to help a husband while his wife is going through cancer treatment. At first it’s an outlet for sexual satisfaction, but later it became a valuable source of comfort after the wife has a severe attack and is in the hospital for several days. And it’s not just adult dolls. There is also the use of silicone babies to help patients with Alzheimer’s that is extremely uplifting, making these sections the best parts of this documentary, showing that there are benefits to having these dolls for many kinds of people.
You’re probably thinking of 2007’s Lars and the Real Girl, where Ryan Gosling plays a guy who after years of being alone and depressed, brings home one of these dolls and acts like it’s his girlfriend. Everyone in town plays along with it and near the end Gosling‘s character is able to love himself and not need the doll as much. Watching Silicone Soul, I feel like Paul Schneider‘s character early in the movie, waiting for him to have that breakthrough. For the people in this movie, I hope they achieve it as well.
Director Melody Gilbert doesn’t choose sides, letting the audience make their own decisions. However, for a documentary on such a controversial subject, I think it would have been more beneficial if she had more footage from psychologists and psychiatrists who offered different viewpoints to better inform. If you want me to understand more of your subjects and what they feel or believe in, I need to learn more, yet this film only has one side.
Silicone Soul is one of many features playing at the 37th Minneapolis/ St. Paul International Film Festival. Learn more about the festival and the MSP Film Society here.