FANTASTIC FEST: ‘A Different Man’ Is Deliciously Uncomfortable

2024 is the year Sebastian Stan became one of our most vital actors. If the incisive, controversial The Apprentice didn’t clinch it, A Different Man certainly will. Written and directed by Aaron Schimberg (Chained for Life), A Different Man aims for modern beauty standards, insecurity, and exploitation in ways designed to make the audience as uncomfortable as possible. The bizarrely under-marketed A24 release is one of the distributor’s best films to date, marrying dark comedy and psychological thrills wrapped up in a deeply unsettling, intellectually invigorating package that’ll spark an internal debate long after the credits have rolled.

Edward (Sebastian Stan) is a man living in squalor with a physical deformity caused by neurofibromatosis. In a subversion of usual tropes, Edward is not gawked at in the ways films like this would portray him as. His struggle is purely internal, as he looks desperately for signs of being mocked. Stan makes Edward a sad sack shut-in with the feeling that the world’s against him. Character-wise, he bears more than a passing resemblance to Taxi Driver‘s Travis Bickle or Joker‘s Arthur Fleck, right down to his inability to properly pursue a crush on a neighbor, playwright Ingrid (Renate Reinsve).

What makes A Different Man, well, different than other films of self-loathing outcasts is that the central outcast actually manages to rise above his station. After a life-altering procedure, Edward gains movie-star good looks and a new identity as a realtor/model Guy. A year into enjoying his new life, Edward finds out that Ingrid is putting on a production based on the life of “Edward”. He auditions, donning a mask and impressing with his portrayal, but he faces one major roadblock: the hyper-talented Oswald (Adam Pearson).

Adam Pearson, an actor who actually has neurofibromatosis, is a supernatural level of charming as Oswald. He’s everything Edward wants to be: charming, talented, and confident in himself. Aaron Schimberg goes to great lengths to underline that Edward’s transformation was for nothing: here is someone who didn’t have to change a thing about himself to be accepted and beloved by the public.

One of the standout scenes sees Edward under the haze of a karaoke bar’s neon lighting, scrumptiously shot by director of photography Wyatt Garfield. As Edward waits for Oswald to embarrass himself, his face slowly drops as Oswald reveals he has a beautiful voice.

That seething jealousy runs throughout the core of A Different Man. Aaron Schimberg takes the old axiom “it’s what inside that counts” and runs with it to a gloriously uncomfortable place. Under the hood of Edward/Guy is someone who feels like a victim of the world, tragically untalented and bad with people in every way that counts despite his newfound visage.

Meanwhile, here Oswald is- his face a reminder of who Edward was, only with the charm to make people see past the surface level. This sets Edward off to no end, and he’s on a mission to prove that the Emperor (Oswald) has no clothes. In other words, he wants everyone to know that Oswald is as ugly as him on the inside.

All the audience can do is nervously laugh, which can be one of the most special movies a film like this can give. Moreover, Aaron Schimberg’s script is densely multi-layered. It leaves the question of whether or not Edward himself is a deeply disturbed person or if a world that encourages unrealistic beauty standards made him that way. There’s a disturbing implication that Edward feels as though Oswald is a “traitor” of sorts, a token disfigured actor that the world can feel better about themselves for accepting. Edward is out to expose a perceived fraudulence in Oswald, at one part interrupting a show and grabbing at his face, screaming, “Take off your mask!”.

It’s an ugly dynamic not often seen in film, and the very nature of the concepts A Different Man wishes to explore gets the blood pumping to a notable degree. Another wrinkle A Different Man adds is exploitation. Despite her seeming benevolence, Renate Reinsve’s Ingrid is an unsavory figure. She steals Edward’s life story for a play, almost allows it to go through with a man without deformities (the transformed Guy), and almost fetishizes Oswald. These are the people who are different in any way and have to perform for you. Will you be an Oswald and make the most of it, or will it drive you further into the abyss, like Edward?

A Different Man will linger with you far after the credits roll. Its hard-to-swallow, blackly comedic take on exploitation, self-hatred, and jealousy is unlike anything else in the movies. Sebastian Stan and Adam Pearson are a duo for the ages. More importantly, they’re a vessel for questions Aaron Schimberg wants the audience to have at the forefront of their minds. The question is: will you dare to try and find an answer?

A Different Man screened as a part of Fantastic Fest and is currently in limited release, with plans to expand soon.