"A Different Man" Film Review

A Different Man

Rating: 4.5/5

By: Nathaniel Simpson

    Many people believe that just because you change something about yourself on the outside, it will reflect that change on the inside as well. That is perhaps Sebastian Stan's Edward's headspace throughout the first half of Aaron Schimberg's A Different Man. Schimberg successfully tells this hauntingly dark, yet sometimes very funny story that could easily be considered taboo, with a message that could easily be relayed to people of all shapes and sizes. 

    Edward has neurofibromatosis, one that affects his facial features to an extreme measure. Because of this, he is constantly on guard, worried what people are going to say to him or act like around him. He especially starts to feel the pressure of having this difference when he meets his new, next-door neighbor Ingrid (Renate Reinsve), who is a playwright that he starts to develop feelings for. Unbeknownst to anyone else, Edward starts to undergo a facial transformation procedure to change how he looks, which works miraculously. Edward then decides to adopt the persona of Guy Moratz, and tries to start a new life for himself. 

    However, after some time later, Guy realizes that Ingrid has made a play about his life when he was Edward, and tries to slowly incorporate his life with hers. However, when Oswald (Adam Pearson, who has the facial condition in real life), starts to come around, it makes Edward realize what he has done, and is desperately trying to get back what he has lost. 

    Without a doubt, the best thing about this film is Stan's performance. Stan has achieved great fame throughout his time in the MCU, as well as other side projects throughout the years. But, I think this is the first time we really see Stan play such a powerful performance. He has to really get into this role of Edward, which is such a dark and depressing role. Edward's mindset is in a very dark place, which could possibly be represented by the whole in his ceiling throughout the first half of the movie. Therefore, Stan was able to pull off this damaged character that is shy and afraid of what others will say about him before having to play such a different version of this character.  

    When he is Guy, he is still damaged and broken mentally, with the multiple years of anxiety and abuse that he has gone through still weighing on him, even though he now looks how he has been wanting his whole life. But, it is the arrival of Oswald that really sets Edward's downward spiral into motion. He starts to notice how this man is radically different from how he was before the procedure, and forces him to start to think and dwell on how he acted and what he had lost when he went through the procedure. This is such a masterclass performance from Stan on multiple levels, and while I'm sure he was great in his Oscar-nominated performance as Donald Trump in The Apprentice (which I have not seen yet), it makes me wonder why he wasn't nominated here. 

    Schimberg does such a wonderful job directing this film on the screenplay he had written, really emphasizing on the emotional turmoil Edward goes through and the mindset he is in throughout the movie. Like I mentioned before, I feel like it is sort of a taboo subject to touch on, but I'm glad he was able to represent these characters and conflicts they may go through in their lives. Plus, his inclusion of actors who have facial conditions just goes to show how he is trying to normalize people with these conditions so the audience isn't like many people of the world that Schimberg creates here. I do think some of the pacing of the story is off and it feels like he ends the film right when it gets starts to take off in the second act, but it doesn't diminish the originality and beauty of this story. 

    While Stan arguably gives the best performance here, it is also Pearson who really steals the show in some scenes he is in. This is my first exposure to Pearson and his acting abilities, but he really wins the audience over by giving such a real and down-to-earth performance. I just wish we had gotten a little bit more of him throughout the movie. At the same time, Reinsve gives a very good performance as the main love interest here, and she does a great job of pulling off some of the very weird and odd things her character does throughout this film. 

    On a technical and production aspect of this film, the makeup is absolutely stellar here, really disguising Stan and transforming him into this character of Edward. It is truly incredible what they were able to achieve here, and I'm truly in awe of the prosthetics they use here for his character. I think it is possibly one of the best this year, if not the best. 

    A Different Man is truly such a unique and hauntingly moving story about a man who simply thinks changing his appearance will change how he feels on the inside. This story can easily resonate with the audience in numerous aspects, and Stan really gives perhaps one of the best performances of his career so far. I hope that this film will allow Stan to really show how great of an actor he is in other roles in the future, and that this will bring awareness to people with disabilities throughout the world.