Directed and written by: Aaron Schimberg
Starring: Sebastian Stan, Renate Reinsve, and Adam Pearson
Runtime: 112 minutes
‘A Different Man’ is an unexpected and twisty cautionary tale
Edward (Sebastian Stan) resides in New York City, the most populous city in the United States, but he feels alone. He lives by himself in a small apartment with a plumbing problem leaking from his ceiling, but most of his setbacks have nothing to do with a leaky pipe. His face is covered with benign skin tumors that leave him with a facial difference.
For decades, Edward has most likely internalized this physical issue, which has run rampant on his self-esteem. For instance, during the first act, he reveals that a woman has never touched him romantically.
Ironically, he works as an actor, and we see Edward working on-set for a corporate video that promotes sensitivity towards those who have experienced ableism. He tries to stay “invisible” in public, but occasional New Yorkers stare at his appearance. However, generally speaking, pedestrians and subway passengers ignore him.
However, one day, doctors notice Edward for a study to remove his facial tumors, and perhaps the growths would reduce or fall away altogether.
In director/writer Aaron Schimberg’s “A Different Man”, after some treatment, voila, Edward’s tumors subside, and underneath layers of lesions, he has the face of a runway model. Schimberg’s film then depicts Edward’s next choices after medical science has granted him his primary wish.
“A Different Man” is a cautionary tale about listening to one’s id after winning a rocket-ship boost to one’s ego. In Edward’s case, he unexpectedly becomes a handsome man in a society where great looks can advance one’s love life, career, and earning potential.
As Edward sees it, the world can be his oyster, but then again, beauty is only skin deep. Edward isn’t unethical, but his self-esteem has suffered for years, so the man doesn’t have an existing track record of comfortably mingling in the world.
So, the question is, how will he react to this rebirth?
It’s difficult to categorize ‘A Different Man’ into one specific genre. Schimberg’s movie is a dark comedy, a mystery, a psychological drama, and a mad scientist sci-fi flick.
The latter is especially true with an eerie score featured during the opening credits and a pair of gross body horror moments during the first act. In fact, during a September screening of the second such moment, six or seven patrons left because the movie, up until that point, felt like a David Cronenberg production from the late 1970s or early 1980s.
Yes, the film gets that dicey, but the gore then subsides, never to return.
Stan is compelling in the lead and convincing as a sad sack underneath the make-up. After Edward’s transformation, Stan carries the duality of new-found confidence but also Edward’s baggage, his insecurities from his previous life. For the audience, we know Edward, so the self-doubt is written all over his face, even if his work colleagues, acquaintances, and girlfriends don’t sense or see it.
Schimberg includes a key scene immediately after Edward’s successful medical treatment where a group of men embrace him like a new-found brother. In that moment, our hero immediately feels like he belongs, and his masculinity is recognized.
It’s also important to recognize two characters that shape Edward’s journey.
Ingrid (Renate Reinsve from “The Worst Person in the World” (2021)) is his next-door neighbor. She’s bright, beautiful, bubbly, and inquisitive. She’s a playwright who can write her own ticket just about anywhere, but for the moment, Ingrid works Off-Broadway. It’s difficult to get an exact beat on her. Ingrid seems genuine but is confident and conditioned to get whatever she wants. Edward is attracted to her, so how will his recent changes impact their relationship?
Oswald (Adam Pearson) is the second. Edward and he don’t know each other, but Oswald copes with the same condition as Edward, and they look similar. Pearson doesn’t wear make-up or prosthetics like Stan. In real life, Pearson has neurofibromatosis, which caused his facial tumors. In the movie, however, Edward and Oswald took two very different paths, where Oswald didn’t let his ailment define him, and hence, he fits within societal norms, free of self-doubt.
During a 2024 Fantastic Fest red carpet interview, Mama’s Geeky (a YouTube channel) asked Pearson about the film, and he responded, “We’ve avoided the three tropes that normally occur: victimhood, villainy, and false heroism, and to me, that’s the big thing.”
These three big players converge to form a twisty, unexpected tale about the human condition. Schimberg’s film is a thought-provoking 112 minutes in which character motivations and decisions will be questioned over long gulps of bottomless coffee at a local diner afterward.
Jeff’s ranking
3/4 stars
