A Different Man, Aaron Schimberg, Adam Pearson, Berlin International Film Festival, drama, film festivals, movies, Renate Reinsve, reviews, Sebastian Stan, Sundance, Sundance Film Festival
September 28, 2024
by Carla Hay
Directed by Aaron Schimberg
Culture Representation: Taking place in New York City, the sci-fi/drama/comedy film “A Different Man” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few black people and Latin people) representing the working-class and middle-class.
Culture Clash: An aspiring actor, who has a severely disfigured face, undergoes an operation that gives him a handsome face, but he starts to psychologically unravel when a play is made about his life, and he is upstaged by a disfigured man who is cast to star in the play.
Culture Audience: “A Different Man” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of star Sebastian Stan and movies with social commentary about how physical appearances can dramatically affect people’s lives.
“A Different Man” is an interesting social satire about the superficiality of being judged by physical appearances, and how good looks aren’t necessarily synonymous with confidence. However, the film’s concept runs out of steam in the last 30 minutes. “A Different Man” had its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival and its European premiere at the 2024 Berlin International Film Festival, where Sebastian Stan won the prize for Best Acting in a Leading Role.
Written and directed by Aaron Schimberg, “A Different Man” takes place in New York City, where the movie was filmed. “A Different Man” begins with a scene of aspiring actor Edward Lemuel (played by Stan) acting in a filmed scene in a room, where he is directed to act less like he’s freaking out over having a brain aneurysm and act more like as if he’s woozy. Edward has a very disfigured face that he developed for unknown medical reasons. A scene later in the movie shows a childhood photo of Edward, who did not have a disfigured face when he was a child.
Edward is a loner who lives in a small apartment, where he has a leaky roof that he delays getting fixed. The leaky roof later becomes a symbol of how Edward handles his life before and after he has facial surgery. Based on what is shown in the movie, Edward doesn’t work much as an actor. The most recent gig he’s been able to get is doing a corporate workplace video on how to treat disfigured co-workers, but the video is very tone-deaf and condescending. Viewers can assume that Edward lives off of government disability payments since he is obviously not wealthy and he seems to be mostly unemployed.
One day, someone moves into the apartment across the hall from Edward. This new neighbor is an aspiring playwright/theater director named Ingrid Vold (played by Renate Reinsve), who seems to be friendly and is very curious about Edward. When she comes over to Edward’s apartment to borrow laundry detergent, it just happens to be right after he has accidentally cut himself with a knife while slicing some onions.
Ingrid immediately applies bandages to Edward’s wounded hand. He is visibly affected by this stranger showing him kindness when he has become accustomed to most people insulting him, staring at him rudely, or trying to avoid looking at him. Ingrid notices that Edward has an antique red typewriter where he has written: “They taunt me and beg me to show my face, only so when I do, they can turn away in horror.” Later, Eward gives the typewriter to Ingrid as a gift.
Ingrid is curious about Edward and seems to genuinely want to be his friend. But it turns out she has an ulterior motive. Meanwhile, Edward undergoes radical surgery to get a new face that isn’t disfigured. He is told that this surgery is risky, but the rewards could outweigh the risks. After the surgery, his hand wound disappears, his disfgured face painfully peels off, and his new handsome face is underneath. Edward keeps the outer skin of his old face as a mask memento.
Edward decides he wants a new identity with his new face. He tells people, including those in his apartment building, that Edward suddenly died by committing suicide. Edward pretends to be a bachelor named Guy Morantz (also played by Stan), who now lives alone in the apartment unit. The movie’s narrative then kind of sloppily fast-forwards to Guy being celebrated at his job as a hotshot real-estate agent, where the company uses him to be a spokesmodel in its advertising.
“A Different Man” never bothers to answer questions about how Edward/Guy was able to get this real-estate job and how he was able to establish this new identity so quickly without anyone (such as his landlord) finding out the truth. The movie also doesn’t explain why “Guy” has kept all of Edward’s belongings and why there are no records of Edward’s death. In other words, there are plot holes in this part of the movie.
Guy/Edward is a little overwhelmed by but enjoying his new life as a good-looking, available bachelor. The attention he gets from women when he’s out in public is obviously very different from when he had a disfigured face. Guy/Edward is still very much attracted to Ingrid, who seems to be distracted by something else.
Even so, Guy/Edward and Ingrid strike up a flirtation and eventually become lovers, as Guy/Edward keeps his secret about his fake Guy identity from her and everyone else in his life. Guy/Edward then finds out something shocking to him: Ingrid is writing an off-Broadway play based on Edward’s life. The play is holding auditions for the lead role of the disfigured man. Guy/Edward auditions for the role using his disfigured face mask, even though he is uncomfortable with Ingrid exploiting his life story for her own personal gain.
In rehearsals for the play, Guy/Edward makes criticisms about Ingrid’s choices for the play. He also isn’t a very good actor in this role. Things start to go awry for Guy/Edward when a British man named Oswald (played by Adam Pearson) auditions for the role and is clearly a better actor. Ingrid decides to cast Oswald in the role instead, especially since he is authentically disfigured.
Oswald has an outgoing personality and charms many people, including Ingrid, although he can be a little pushy in how he barges in on people’s social circles. The rest of “A Different Man” shows how Guy/Edward becomes increasingly unstable as his jealousy over Oswald takes over Guy/Edward’s life. Ingrid also shows that she has a sexual fetish for men with disfigured faces. Whatever her kink is, Ingrid ultimately only cares about exploiting Edward’s life story to make it into a play that she wants to be financial hit and for the play to be a means get accolades for herself.
Stan gives a very watchable performance about a man leading two different lives because of having two different faces. However, what Guy/Edward eventually figures out is that he’s still the same person inside with the same personality flaws. Pearson provides much of the comic relief in his performance as the effervescent and confident Oswald. “A Different Man” shows in subtle and not-so-subtle ways that having a physical appearance that society considers “better” than another can only get someone far enough if they don’t have healthy self-esteem and are constantly seeking approval from people based on physical appearances.
Although “A Different Man” has good acting and solid cinematography, the movie’s portrayal of the concept gets wobbly and weak toward the end of the film. The satirical situations that make Guy/Edward a buffoon start to wear thin and become tiresome. The movie also lets duplicitous Ingrid off the hook way too easily. However, if people want to watch a dark satire where there are no heroes or villains as main characters—just deeply insecure people who make questionable decisions—then “A Different Man” can pass the time but ultimately doesn’t have anything profound to say.
A24 released “A Different Man” in select U.S. cinemas on September 20, 2024, with the movie going into wider release on October 4, 2024.