After undergoing facial-reconstructive surgery, Edward becomes fixated on an actor in a stage production based on his former life.
‘A Different Man’ is the latest movie from director Aaron Schimberg, a filmmaker who has previously focused on stories about characters with facial disfigurements, and the reaction of others to these individuals. This movie is a psychological drama with darkly comedic elements, following a facially disfigured man who finds his life upended after he firstly, receives experimental treatment that cures him of his condition, and secondly, meets a man with the same condition who is much more confident than he was, and even is now.
It stars Sebastian Stan in the central role of Edward Lemuel, a struggling actor with a facial disfigurement known as neurofibromatosis, which is essentially a series of non-cancerous tumours that envelop the individual’s face. In the early parts of the movie we follow his struggles while at the same time he develops a friendship with his kind neighbour Ingrid Vold (Renate Reinsve, who was so good in ‘The Worst Person in the World’), an aspiring playwright. Lacking the confidence to act on his romantic feelings for Ingrid, he assumes a new identity after undergoing successful experimental treatment, and ‘kills’ off Edward to now live as ‘Guy’. This new life is disrupted when he discovers that Ingrid is developing a play about her experiences with Edward, leading ‘Guy’ to reconnect with Ingrid even as she is unaware of who he really is.
This is a really intriguing movie about identity and the importance of internal confidence vs outward appearance, with a really original take on the subject. It challenges attitudes to disability, specifically facial disfigurement, and the journey Edward/Guy goes on is really compelling, particularly once Oswald (Adam Pearson) comes on the scene as a more confident doppelganger of who Guy used to be when he was ‘Edward’. There are elements of body horror and surrealism that underpin the unsettling narrative, as if Schimberg has made a slightly more conventional variation on a David Lynch movie, and lots of thought provoking ideas that I haven’t fully comprehended since watching. The performances are great, with Stan standing out once again, and I thought ‘A Different Man’ was a super watch with plenty good ideas to get your teeth into.
Rating: 4/5
Directed By: Aaron Schimberg
Starring: Sebastian Stan, Renate Reinsve and Adam Pearson
'I have a purpose. If you think that it's some kind of blessing it's not. It means I have an obligation to see a very specific thing through.' Marty Supreme (2025) 