A Different Man Sets a Disfigured Sebastian Stan Into a Surrealist Identity Drama

There are a lot of the way A Different Man may go and a lot of issues it may very well be. Aaron Schimberg’s uniquely uncomfortable, uncomfortably distinctive characteristic generally performs as a reverse-Frankenstein medical horror, a tragic life-imitates-art satire, and a spiraling relationship drama. To its formidable and distinct credit score, it makes an attempt packaging all of them into ominous-sounding concord, as if Charlie Kauffman’s surrealist Escher concoctions turned a Twilight Zone episode modeled after David Lynch’s Elephant Man or Magnificence and the Beast. It’s a darkish, hilarious, and deeply unsettling portrait of a disfigured man that’s additionally an unflinching mirror of a looks-focused trade. 

If this feels like a meta contraption about illustration and authenticity that’s too sophisticated to know, Schimberg eases you into the concept with a purposefully cliché setup for his facially disfigured protagonist. Rendered unrecognizable by the character’s neurofibromatosis (a situation during which bulging tumors develop on the face), Sebastian Stan walks by means of Manhattan’s barely off-kilter decrease east aspect with slumped shoulders and sorrowful disposition. His Edward is an aspiring actor who can generally really feel like a sideshow attraction on the subway––a feeling Schimberg illuminates with recurring photographs of passengers gawking and smiling on his commutes. In a world obsessive about id and transformation, all Edward needs is to tear off his face and grow to be the star he thinks he deserves to be. 

Edward doesn’t reside in complete squalor, however his condo is starting to disintegrate––it’s cluttered and soiled, and a black leak has begun to type within the ceiling. But it’s not a huge concern for Ingrid (Renate Reinsve), his new neighbor and playwright, who––although initially startled by Edward’s look––shortly takes an curiosity in his struggles to e book gigs that aren’t simply company coaching movies about correct methods to work together with disfigured colleagues. There’s one thing about him she finds inspiring, possibly even enticing. However Edward is satisfied nothing about himself warrants lust. He finally agrees to take part in an experimental drug trial meant to show his face into… somebody who appears like Sebastian Stan. “Perhaps the risk is worth the reward,” his physician tells him.

The sci-fi-ish process goes properly, however Schimberg doesn’t spend a lot time explaining how this facial reconstruction works. That’s for the higher, and it’s not likely the purpose. Over time, Edward begins pulling gooey, Cronenbergian threads of pores and skin off his face that quickly makes him unrecognizable. With out his previous mug, he begins seeing the outcomes: socializing at bars with celebratory Mets followers, getting intrigued appears from girls. Stan performs the whole lot like jolts of shock, shortly realizing how a lot his notion permits him to have interaction with strangers sans questions or bizarre appears. In his new id, he locations his shoulders again, his posture lengthens, and nonetheless he can’t shake the skepticism of this new actuality. In time, the newly renamed “Guy” strikes into a new place, turns into a well-liked realtor, and decides to kill any reminiscence of his previous self. 

When Man finally discovers Ingrid is casting for an off-Broadway play written about him by means of her eyes, he auditions (unrecognized by her), nails the half, they usually start a relationship. It’s right here the place A Different Man begins collapsing in on itself. After lastly reaching Hollywood appears, the irony is that Man should revert to enjoying his disfigured self, which he later makes an attempt by sporting a masks of his previous face. (Reinsve reverts to enjoying one other horrible, narcissistic individual, constructing an exploitative story about somebody she barely knew.) However midway by means of rehearsals, a equally disfigured man named Oswald (Adam Pearson, one in all Schimberg’s frequent collaborators) interrupts the manufacturing, captures Ingrid’s consideration with a sturdy impression, and finally steals Man’s function within the play––quickly, Ingrid herself. 

At A Different Man‘s premiere, Schimberg said the idea came from a simple place––mainly in wanting to manifest a Hollywood debate about representation. Effectively, he aimed to cast a star (especially one with Stan’s face) in addition to a individual with neurofibromatosis and have them “battle it out.” Schimberg equally tackled the topic along with his final film Chained for Life, which additionally featured Pearson as a disfigured man attempting to attach along with his co-star. Right here, Man can’t stand Oswald, largely as a result of he appears able to the whole lot Man wasn’t as a disfigured man. Regardless of his appears, Oswald is the life of each occasion, has a historical past with quite a few enticing girls, and sneaks his method into everybody’s affairs. As Man spirals additional out of Ingrid’s orbit, he can’t assist however really feel trapped in a recreation of his personal making. 

A Different Man is a loaded story––crammed with loads of handed detours and darkish alleys––and it might begin to really feel a bit punishing by the top, the place Schimberg struggles discovering a pure decision. However possibly that’s the purpose. This film feels itchy as a result of these are messy, undefined, unresolved matters. Who will get to inform tales? Does illustration matter if it’s not executed authentically? Schimberg invitations these questions by constructing out a fascinating, puzzling atmosphere of morbid and absurdist concepts, maybe finest characterised by a confrontation happening exterior Edward’s window early within the film. As paramedics load a just lately deceased physique into an ambulance, a dinging ice-cream truck tries to squeeze its well beyond, prompting arguing and honking. Every part looks like a sick joke. 

A Different Man premiered on the 2024 Sundance Movie Competition and will likely be launched by A24.