This review is based on a screening at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. A Different Man will be released by A24 sometime this year.
A Different Man doesn’t fit neatly into one genre. You could call it a psychological thriller, or maybe a drama/satire, but what I prefer to call it is a twisted little joke of a film – and I do mean that as a compliment. Both Charlie Kaufman and Franz Kafka-esque, writer/director Aaron Schimberg eventually leads us into a biting, darkly funny, and unforgiving examination of our obsession with physical beauty, the line between representation and exploitation, and the madness that envy can lead to, all anchored by powerhouse performances by Sebastian Stan and Adam Pearson.
The biggest issue with A Different Man, however, is how long it takes for it to get to that examination. It’s a slow start as we’re introduced to Stan’s character Edward, an aspiring actor with facial deformities who lives a lonely life in a sad apartment, a long-ignored hole in the ceiling an unsubtle metaphor for Edward’s own lack of TLC. Even when it’s a bit of a slog, though, Stan is fascinating. He’s unrecognizable not just for the detailed prosthetics that obscure his face, but his entire demeanor as Edward slumps about life, constantly hunched over as he carries the weight of his condition on his shoulders.
Stan isn’t in prosthetics the entire film, however, as an experimental trial turns successful and rids him of the bulging tumors on his face. The practical effects are both phenomenal and gruesome as Edward quite literally sheds his skin, finally granting him the handsome appearance of, well, Sebastian Stan. But it’s when Edward embarks on a new life entirely that A Different Man gets to the meat of what it’s trying to say, ushered in by the first appearance of Adam Pearson’s Oswald.
Oswald has neurofibromatosis and the same kind of facial deformities that Edward used to have – but he also has the charm, confidence, and an endless string of talents that Edward could only dream of, which sparks an envious obsession laced with cruel irony. Pearson, best known previously for his role in 2013’s Under the Skin, is absolutely perfect as Oswald, getting some of the biggest laughs in the film as he floats through the world seemingly wholly unbothered by his condition, Edward’s occasional rudeness, or anything at all really.
Oswald, too, is endlessly likable, wrapping everyone in his orbit around his finger – but there’s something a little deeper in his performance too. He’s so perfect, so apparently oblivious to the way Edward seethes at him that there’s almost a bit of smarminess to him, even if we’re only seeing it through Edward’s perspective. Stan and Pearson play off one another wonderfully as their one-sided rivalry grows darker and darker, catalyzed by a play based on Edward’s old life written by one of its few bright spots, a woman named Ingrid (Renate Reinsve).
Reinsve, too, gets a few of the most bleakly funny lines as her character introduces some of the movie’s most complicated moral complications surrounding art, fetishism, and exploitation. Schimberg’s endlessly unpredictable script leads to an at times unbelievable but utterly engrossing final act, one that doesn’t necessarily answer the many questions it raises – and that’s part of its charm.
A Different Man has no interest in wrapping a neat bow on anything or telling us how to feel about the bizarre events that eventually play out. Thanks to a smart script and Stan’s brooding performance, you’ll have no idea whether to pity or fear Edward by the end, whether he ever had a chance of becoming “a different man” or not – and that’s entirely the point.
