Movies

A Different Man, starring Sebastian Stan and Adam Pearson
Trailer: A24

A Different Man
Directed by Aaron Schimberg
Rated R
Masked 4 October 2024
#ADifferentMan

"All happiness in life comes from not accepting what is."
– attributed to Lady Gaga
(from A Different Man dialogue)

A Different Man is an aggravating arthouse misfire.

What Lies Beneath

The problem isn’t with the story. It’s a good one. There are interesting ideas bouncing around, both in terms of the narrative and the characters. There are plenty of thoughtful thematic elements digging into the basics of human relationships and how strangers judge and treat each other.

But the problem in this movie about how appearances can be deceiving and how a person’s inner nature isn’t always fully revealed by their outward appearance is – somewhat ironically – in the movie’s presentation. Layer upon layer of arthouse artifice has to be peeled away and ignored to fully appreciate what A Different Man is trying to do. And that’s a tall order.

Edward (Sebastian Stan, Captain America: The Winter Soldier) is a loner with neurofibromatosis, which is a genetic disorder that – by appearances – would incorrectly be associated with the Proteus syndrome of Joseph Merrick, "The Elephant Man." Edward is teased. He draws stares on the subway. He wants to simply blend in and be like everybody else. He wants to be happy. He wants to be in love with a beautiful woman. But his deformed appearance gets in the way of all his hopes and dreams.

Edward jumps at the chance to participate in a study for an experimental drug that might cure his condition and change his life for the better. But, in the spirit of "be careful what you wish for," when the drug proves successful, Edward’s life actually takes a turn for the worse.

The problem isn’t in Edward having found a cure. The problem is with Edward himself and what lies beneath his epidermis. His is an ugly soul.

Ultimately, it’s a story about self-acceptance and carrying pride for oneself.

But what if the one and same movie telling that story has zero confidence in itself? That’s how A Different Man plays out. It’s a case of cinematic self-sabotage.

Miracle Drug

The movie starts with some bad acting. But that’s all part of the making of a corporate human resources inclusivity video addressing the treatment of deformed colleagues. Edward co-stars as the subject co-worker and he gets some tips from the video’s director regarding the type of moaning he’s looking for from Edward during a scene in which he has an anxiety attack.

Cut to the movie’s reality and Edward heads home to a ramshackle New York City apartment. Home, as it turns out, is where the movie’s problems begin. That’s when the unnatural acting and stilted dialogue of the HR video turns into this movie’s standard. Home is where Edward’s neighbors engage with him in unconvincing interactions; there are strange behaviors all around. And it’s not the characters that are strange. That’d be great. The problem is nobody seems to know how to act natural and writer/director Aaron Schimberg doesn’t know how to extract the natural from the cast.

It only gets worse when Edward sheds the tumor-ridden skin that distorted his face. That’s when Sebastian Stan comes out from under the prosthetics and Edward makes a series of bad (remarkably stupid, actually) decisions. That starts with him lying to his own doctor and telling him Edward died. He’s Guy Morantz now and he’s ready to move up in the world by disowning his own past. It doesn’t really make sense the doctor-patient relationship would play out like this. It doesn’t help their conversation, held in the doorway of Edward’s apartment, is repeatedly interrupted by a repairman coming and going through the door. It only gets worse thinking about how the doctor (Malachi Weir, Billions), sporting wire-rimmed eyeglasses with one square lens and one round lens and frizzy white hair, looks a lot like The Weeknd in one of his Halloween Horror Nights scenes at Universal Studios’ amusement park.

Oh, and the nice, attractive new neighbor, Ingrid (Renate Reinsve, Apple TV’s Presumed Innocent), overhears the news, which puts Edward/Guy in the position of having to start over in his romantic pursuit of her.

The Bluest Eyes

The man now named Guy and formerly known as Edward quickly capitalizes on his new-found good looks and he skyrockets into the top tier of New York City real estate agents, even starring in his own marketing materials. He has a bigger, better apartment (albeit with its own infestations). He has an affair with one of his real estate agents. At the same time, Ingrid starts writing a play about her friendship with her former neighbor named Edward.

That play brings Guy/Edward back into Ingrid’s life. Guy wants to star as himself (Edward, his former self, that is) and, through creative theatre conversations and his demonstrated commitment to the character, his relationship with Ingrid is rekindled. But, alas, that’s when Oswald enters the picture.

Oswald’s played by Adam Pearson, a man who in real life has neurofibromatosis. In 2018 he co-starred in Schimberg’s Chained for Life. Adam’s facial features look identical to Edward’s, before, of course, Edward started taking that miracle drug.

All of this tees up the main theme running under A Different Man. Accept who you are and love yourself.

Oswald is living a very full and rewarding life. He has a daughter and an ex-wife with whom he maintains a respectful relationship.

His is a life full of travel and adventure. He’s a happy-go-lucky conversationalist who befriends hot chicks. He loves karaoke and yoga. He’s also open to LSD, stage acting and nudist colonies.

All of that is in contrast to the self-loathing Edward, who lived a quiet life in his dim, dirty apartment with sewage from the apartment above him dripping onto his sofa. Edward’s efforts to ditch his past and start anew lead to his undoing as Oswald takes over the lead role in Ingrid’s play and in her private life as well.

In an act of rage, Edward storms the stage during a performance of the play he inspired, only to wind up hurting himself more than anybody else.

Edward goes through physical therapy and murders his therapist. His life shrinks back. Ingrid and Oswald get married and have a baby. They live a full life.

There’s even an inspired cameo by Michael Shannon (as himself) discussing the prospects of making a movie version of the play about Edward in which he’d star as the lead (and, Shannon gamely says, he wouldn’t need makeup). The look on his face is funny, particularly in the context of Oswald sitting to his left and Edward (in a body cast, being spoon fed) sitting directly in front of him.

Beauty and the Beast

With all that, the conclusion to be drawn is Edward’s a crummy person. It has nothing to do with his appearance; he might be a little bitter and depressed before the drug, but he’s miserable and insufferable after it.

The morbid turns of the third act offer some surprises and dark comedy, but it’s a lost cause. What started out as a semi-casual comedy throwing a Woody Allen vibe is now struggling to find its own identity.

A Different Man is riddled with distracting, annoying and completely unnecessary details that Schimberg seemingly intentionally wants to bring front and center. Like pimples, blackheads, whiteheads or other blemishes, once they’re seen, they’re hard to ignore. And then what’s being said – the message – gets missed.

It’s a shame. The movie could’ve been bold and groundbreaking.

Shot on Kodak film, there’s a lot of grain in the image. Except, cleverly enough, for that corporate HR video. It stands out in stark contrast with its sharp, almost unnaturally pristine imagery.

That’s a technical choice, one that works. The problem is in the emotions coming out of those images. The character interactions don’t seem normal. Every single thing about A Different Man feels staged. When even simple camera movements get in the way, it starts to feel like a student movie with the cast and crew still cutting their teeth and figuring out what works and what doesn’t.

Cause and Effect

Is it bad acting? Is it bad directing? The emotions don’t feel genuine, so it’s possibly both. But then again, there’s something else missing: honesty. Going back to what started it all is one huge lie from Edward. That he had died.

And that’s ultimately what undermines A Different Man in its entirety. There’s no real emotion being exposed. Nothing feels genuine. There’s no honesty.

Instead, there are all those distractions.

A random woman standing outside an apartment, in the corner, her arms crossed.

At a theatre after-party, a loquacious man talks to Edward, a little over the top, and with a conspicuous, inexplicable bandaged left hand.

During a restaurant scene in which Edward and Ingrid are sitting by a window, outside there are people walking by with umbrellas in a heavy rain. They all give Edward a second look, even when they approach from his back side. A guy in a black-and-white striped shirt incessantly waves through the window. An annoying situation poorly played out that goes on for too long.

There are too many uncomfortable conversations intended to drive a point around people’s appearance that get bogged down by laborious, awkward dialogue. "Hey, Man. I know you. Where do I know you from? I never forget a face." "Do you work for Facebook?"

Arthouse symbolism or distraction? It all brings to mind that line in Buckaroo Banzai, "Why is there a watermelon there?"

Well, when it comes time for the big ice cream truck scene, in which the driver honks time and again at an ambulance blocking a driveway while tending to a suicide incident, the hands go up in exasperation.

Stop! Knock it off!

It’s a stupid scenario that serves no purpose. It’s not effective as social commentary or as an indictment of New York City manners, most certainly not in this context. It’s merely its own noise.

At that moment, A Different Man crosses the line and reveals itself as merely a theatrical exercise driving toward its real goal: delivering one final line of ironic dialogue, the movie’s idea of a punchline directed at Edward, "You haven’t changed a bit."

• Originally published at MovieHabit.com.

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