Edward is not a confident guy. He’s got a severe facial disfigurement and everywhere he goes, people look at him differently or treat him as less than. So even though he’s a working actor, he never feels that great about himself. That changes when, through a miracle medical procedure, his disfigurement goes away. But what happens next, well, not even Edward could’ve predicted.
That’s the setup of A Different Man, a new film by writer-director Aaron Schimberg. Sebastian Stan stars as Edward, first with the disfigurement and later without it. And at this point, you are probably thinking “Oh, I know exactly where this goes. Once he looks like Sebastian Stan everything gets easier for him and the movie is about the hypocrisy in that.” Which, yes, is certainly part of it, but Schimberg has much, much more to say about perception, personality, and a whole lot more.
Much of it happens because of Edward’s new neighbor Ingrid, an aspiring playwright played by Renate Reinsve (The World Person In the World). Ingrid quickly befriends Edward and though he’s clearly in love with her, she wants to keep things platonic. Edward never tells Ingrid about the potential miracle drugs he’s taking though, and once the transformation occurs, Edward makes a shocking decision. One that, if I’m being honest here, is kind of a spoiler but also impossible to discuss the rest of the movie without mentioning. So, I’m gonna drop this spoiler warning here—and if you leave this post now, just know that A Different Man is great and you should see it.
Okay, so once Edward’s disfigurement goes away, he lies about everything. With a new face, everyone assumes he’s a different person, so he buys into that, saying that Edward committed suicide. Then, the movie jumps ahead a few years, and we see that New Edward, who calls himself Guy, has made a pretty successful life for himself as a real estate agent. However, when Guy sees that Ingrid has written a play about her “deceased” neighbor, he finds himself back in her life and finally with the relationship he always dreamed of.
And that’s when Oswald comes in. Oswald, played by Adam Pearson, has a facial disfigurement similar to Edward’s, but Oswald is the exact opposite of Edward. He doesn’t let anything get in his way. Oswald is uber-confident, the life of the party, the talk of the town, and seeing that a person with a facial disfigurement can be like without changing their look really, really gets to Guy/Edward. This is when A Different Man really kicks in.
Up until that point, which is probably over half the movie, A Different Man is good. Stan is solid, Reinsve is charming, and Pearson is electric, but it all unfolds about how you’d expect. It’s when Guy starts to envy Oswald and Oswald goes on his own journey that Schimberg starts messing with your head. Are looks not important? What is normal, anyway? And as Guy goes deeper down his rabbit hole of despair, seemingly desperate to get his old look back, things continue to escalate, eventually to a near-comical place. The movie adds layer upon layer to give the audience all of these actions and emotions to consider when thinking about the relationship between Guy, Oswald, and Ingrid. And, eventually, it does come down pretty strongly with an important, universal message, delivered in an off-kilter, but effective way.
A Different Man is sad, funny, awkward, dark, and fascinating. The actors each give incredible performances but Stan in particular dazzles, first as Edward, then as Guy, then as Guy who wishes he was Edward again. It’s a wild trajectory for a very original movie that you won’t soon forget.
A Different Man recently played at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, and is now open in limited release. It’ll expand in the coming weeks.
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