Just how essential are appearances? It’s a question that’s asked repeatedly – and sometimes unintentionally – throughout Aaron Schimberg’s A Different Man.
Sebastian Stan is Edward, a self-conscious New Yorker with facially-transforming neurofibromatosis. His shyness eases, slightly, when aspiring playwright Ingrid (The Worst Person in the World’s Renate Reinsve) moves in next door. But even as they become close, he’s engaging in a secret experiment to cure the condition that’s come to define him.
Once it works (and Stan pulls off his prosthetics in haunting fashion), Edward buries his old identity: he renames himself Guy, tells a heartbroken Ingrid that ‘Edward’ died, and swiftly moves on to a new life. Too swiftly, actually; Schimberg’s script jumps forward to a barely-sketched existence in which an anxious introvert is suddenly a loft-dwelling playboy and glad-handing real estate broker. It’s an unfortunate, and curiously ironic, choice that we’re meant to accept Stan’s face – marvelous though it may be – as an automatic ticket to instant success.
Regardless, the thrills don’t last long. When Edward discovers Ingrid is mounting a play about their relationship, he sees a chance to meld his two selves. She’s understandably baffled when this conventionally handsome stranger arrives to audition for such a specific role. But once he puts on a mask that resembles her late friend in uncanny fashion, she agrees to cast him. Until, that is, another actor with neurofibromatosis turns up out of nowhere. And unlike Edward, Oswald (Under the Skin’s Adam Pearson, excellent) is confident and outgoing and, apparently, not remotely tortured by his physicality. Which, of course, only tortures Edward more.
The Marvel actor is working just a little too hard here
Every scene is thoughtfully constructed and individually compelling – and thanks to the strength of its parts, we can imagine the sum potential. Cinematographer Wyatt Garfield shoots the city with a deadpan chill that evokes classic alienation tales from Taxi Driver to Joker. And Umberto Smerilli’s outstanding score keeps pace with every moment, skittering from jittery nerves to ominous dread.
Stan throws himself into the dark dualities of his role, but Pearson’s fluid performance – and a needle-sharp cameo from another star – do highlight the fact that the Marvel actor is working just a little too hard here. In contrast, Reinsve is entirely persuasive as a woman who personifies the free passes doled out for superficial beauty. And Pearson’s ultra-charming Oswald is an ideal foil for Edward: who is he really, and what does he represent?
Unfortunately, no one seems to have settled on a decisive answer. Is Schimberg most interested in Cronenbergian horror? Psychological thrills? Darkly comic surreality? He’s gotten so much right that one more pass at the script could have pushed him to where he wants to be. But without a rock-solid core, A Different Man eventually succumbs to an insurmountable crisis of identity.
In US theaters Sep 20, and UK cinemas Oct 4.