Final Rating: 3.5/5
We’ve seen and heard stories of people who grew up being the metaphorical ugly duckling and blossoming into a beautiful swan. They never truly feel like they outgrew the snide comments, the sideways looks and lack of confidence, despite physically looking quite different. In A Different Man, the latest film from director Aaron Schimberg, explores that even further.
Edward (Sebastian Stan) is an actor in New York City, he booked a part in an educational video and is trying to make ends meet. He’s shy and reserved and doesn’t have any confidence whatsoever. He also suffers from neurofibromatosis, a condition where non-cancerous tumors grow in the nervous system, leading him to have a disfigured face. This means that people stare at him, offer him unsolicited advice on how he should be living his life and aren’t subtle about laughing at his appearance.
When he comes home to his dingy apartment one day he is accused of having a dog by his landlord while another tenant tells him he needs to study jiu jitsu to gain confidence. When he goes up to his unit, a new neighbour is moving in, the beautiful Ingrid (Renate Reinsve) who talks a mile a minute and doesn’t seem to be phased by Edward’s appearance.
Edward and Ingrid start to hang out as they both have an interest in the theater, with Ingrid wanting to become a playwright but is struggling to find inspiration. Edward gives her a typewriter he has that is just collecting dust in hopes that it would prompt her to write more. She seems to be the only person not to care about his condition and even shows signs of flirting with him. She is even baffled at why people might even stare at him since he’s just a regular guy.
During a routine checkup with his doctor, Edward is told about an new experimental treatment that has the potential ability to remove the tumors without causing any scarring or them to come back.
It turns out that this experimental medical procedure works like a charm and in a grotesque display of body horror, Edward’s skin literally starts peeling off. Shockingly underneath the tumor growths is a man that looks just like the very conventionally attractive Sebastian Stan! Edward can’t believe the mirror, and goes to a bar he was just at previously where he makes the same joke about whisky that the bartender made to him before. Except he has no idea who this ordinary man is, he just serves him his drink then moves on.
At the same time a rowdy group of Mets fans arrive and swarm around Edward. He ends up joining their group where one drunken man has his arm around Edward as he obnoxiously talks in his ear. Later an attractive woman in the group takes him to the facilities to perform oral sex on him. No one cared what he looked like and treated him like a normal person. A superpower has been unlocked for this strapping young buck.
When one of the doctors who performed the procedure shows up at Edward’s apartment looking for him but doesn’t recognize the man he is talking to, Edward realizes this is his chance to start a new life with no baggage from his previous one. He tells the doctor his name is Guy and that Edward killed himself. Ingrid overhears this and believes it to be true as well.
Fast forward a few years and “Guy” is now a successful real estate agent, with subway ads and cardboard cutouts showcasing his traditional beauty. He still has Edward living inside of him though, as he spent well over 30 years being ashamed of how he looks, and that lack of self confidence doesn’t just evaporate overnight, even if he is sleeping with an attractive co-worker and lives in a stunning loft.
Guy sees Ingrid going into a theater, where she has written a play about her experience with Edward, simply called “Edward”. He auditions for the play using a mask made of a scan of his tumors and gets the part, with Guy impressing Ingrid to his understanding of how this character feels. They even begin a sexual relationship, something Edward never could have imagined. Everything seems to be going swimmingly for Guy as he keeps his secret past from everyone around him.
During rehearsals one day, Oswald (Adam Pearson) shows up after hearing about the production as he himself also suffers from neurofibromatosis. He has an unmatched level of confidence regardless of his condition and immediately throws off Guy and intrigues Ingrid. Oswald is friends with everyone he meets, has attractive women reminding him they owe them dates, can play the saxophone and yes even practices jiu jitsu.
Oswald so ingrains himself in Guy’s life that he eventually convinces Ingrid to cast him as “Edward” in the play, but since he’s such a swell guy, convinces her to keep Guy in the play for the final scene where the Ingrid stand in sees him for his true beauty ala Beauty and the Beast.
This was the final straw for Guy as he loses his mind. He spent his whole life wallowing in pity and pain and in comes Oswald, with his cocksure attitude, radiant positivity and is seemingly talented at everything. Even Ingrid becomes interested in him.
From there the film goes on a downward spiral for Guy as he loses his sanity and tries to keep his secret past and new self from converging. He attacks Oswald on stage during a performance, starts doing real estate showings in his old Edward mask and generally acts insane, all while Oswald tries to be a good friend to him.
The film is absurdly funny and goes to corners of a man’s psyche we don’t often see. Sebastian Stan has lost his Marvel muscle to play a skinny shell of this man. His physical performance is astounding as he slouches when he stands, walks awkwardly and seems to always be in the way despite trying his best to melt into the walls. He’s paranoid that people are always staring and laughing at him and even when he becomes handsome he still carries that weight with him.
Stan is contrasted by Pearson, a man who people might recognize from the Jonathan Glazer film Under the Skin. Pearson acts like how we would expect someone that looks like Sebastian Stan would. His confidence is nauseating and his nonstop positive attitude is eye roll worthy. When he enters a room, your first assumption is what feat will he be unconsciously bragging about today. You hate this man purely because he lives his life to the fullest and doesn’t let anything get in his way (truly annoying behavior clearly).
The script is filled with cringe worthy humour as more and more absurd characters populate Edward/Guy’s life. The doctors are modern day mad scientists, the repair man blames him that a large hole in the ceiling has appeared due to a leak in the above apartment and Ingrid wants Guy to wear the Edward mask while they have sex.
The film goes to ridiculous lengths, especially in the last act following Guy’s breakdown. It never stops being entertaining but the quality of it certainly suffers. It feels like it wants to be a Charlie Kaufman film that is off the walls with its heightened scenarios, but doesn’t have the same emotional resonance that Kaufman’s work contains.
The makeup work is stunning and deserves to be commended. It looks so natural on Sebastian Stan, that for the first hour where he is Edward, you keep having to remind yourself that it isn’t real and swear he has the real condition that Adam Pearson has. If there was justice at the Oscars, this film would get a nomination for the Hair and Makeup and for Stan.
The premise of a man who is so filled with self loathing and lacking confidence that can’t handle seeing someone who looks like he used to be so successful in life is a fascinating concept. Whether or not the film really works is a separate conversation from if it is an entertaining one. In the end, it might be a difference without a distinction.
A Different Man was seen during the 2024 Vancouver International Film Festival.
