Movie Review: A Different Man

By John Corrado

If you could radically change your appearance, would you? That’s the question at the centre of writer-director Aaron Schimberg’s A Different Man, a fascinating mix of piercing character study and absurdist, Charlie Kaufman-esque tragicomedy.

Schimberg’s film is a sort of modern riff on Flowers for Algernon, the classic book in which a man with an intellectual disability was able to drastically increase his IQ, enough to realize all of the ways that he had been treated differently before.

In this case, A Different Man focuses on someone with a facial difference being given the opportunity to make it disappear. If this sounds like a potentially offensive starting point for a story about a disability being “cured,” Schimberg sidesteps these tropes with a twisting, layered screenplay that is much thornier in how it explores themes of body image and self-identity.

Sebastian Stan stars in the film as Edward, a man living with neurofibromatosis, a condition that causes non-cancerous tumours to grow on his face. Most people just see his facial disfigurement, and not the charming (if slightly awkward) actor that he desperately wants to be. When a young playwright by the name of Ingrid Vold (Renate Reinsve) moves in to the apartment next door, Edward feels a spark with his new neighbour. But it’s not clear if she views him as a romantic prospect.

Which is partially why, when Edward is offered the chance to receive an experimental new medical treatment that will “cure” him and take away his facial differences, he agrees to undergo the radical procedure and reinvents himself. It’s here that Schimberg’s film morphs into something else, as Edward starts to experience life not as someone with a visible disability, but as someone who looks like, well, Sebastian Stan. The film explores how his life changes, and how people almost instantly treat him differently.

The film shifts again when he encounters Oswald (Adam Pearson), who also has neurofibromatosis, and is seemingly a doppelgänger of his former self. As Oswald begins to intrude on almost every aspect of Edward’s life, his reality further distorts. The film is partially inspired by the real life Pearson, a British actor and outspoken advocate for acceptance of people with facial differences, who is best known for his role in Under the Skin as well as Schimberg’s previous film Chained for Life. In a real life twist of fate that mirrors the one in the story, Pearson is given every opportunity to steal the movie.

Pearson’s charismatic turn is matched by Stan, who is quite compelling in a physically challenging performance. The prosthetics and makeup that Stan wears in the first half of the film (to make him look more like Pearson) are uncanny and highly impressive. But there is a physicality to his performance as well, and the way that he carries himself is what really sells the effect. Stan is exceptional at sensitively portraying the dichotomy of Edward before and after the operation.

This is tonally and thematically tricky material. But Schimberg threads the needle thanks to the complimentary performances of Stan and Pearson, who are able to carry the film’s dramatic weight, yet are also comfortable with the surreal, blackly comic streak running through it. Again, this is material that could have felt maudlin or offensive in the wrong hands. But the film is willing to stare down and confront uncomfortable truths, including the taboo topic of how people are often, well, repulsed by differences in physical appearance, even if they are too polite to admit it.

The film explores many different things when it comes to living with a visible disability, touching on self-acceptance, and the natural desire to change parts of ourselves instead of embracing them. There is a metatextual element to the film as well about the nature of performance, and how people, regardless of how they look, present an image to the world. Reinsve’s character is interesting too, in how she almost takes ownership of Edward and his appearance. The film leaves us constantly trying to evaluate if Ingrid’s kindness is virtuous or self-serving.

It’s not instantly clear that the film entirely sticks the landing, cycling through what feels like a few possible endings. But A Different Man is still an incredibly engaging and challenging work that is bursting with ideas about identity, disability, self-acceptance and performance. Schimberg also works in some sly commentary on portrayals of disability in the media, and even the very practise of casting able-bodied actors in disabled roles. The fact that the film leaves us questioning so many themes is one of the defining aspects of it.

Something this daring and thoughtful should be applauded. It’s a fascinating chameleon of a film, that serves as a pretty striking showcase for Stan; the actor has now delivered two different but no less complex performances this year, having also portrayed a young Donald Trump in The Apprentice.

Film Rating: ★★★½ (out of 4)