A Different Man‘s Exhilarating, Insightful Genre Blend Is More than Skin Deep

You can change your hair, you can change your clothes, you can surgically change your face to that of Hollywood hunk Sebastian Stan, and you’ll still be the same awkward, unlikeable weirdo on the inside. Or at least, that’s what writer/director Aaron Schimberg asserts in A Different Man, an exhilarating blend of body horror, dark comedy, sci-fi and romance. Even with all the power of the 21st century’s most scientifically advanced beautifying technology, the human race has still not figured out a medical surgery to make us better people, perhaps because this wouldn’t be a particularly profitable industry (but that’s a discussion for another time).

It’s not that Edward (Sebastian Stan), an unsuccessful actor afflicted with neurofibromatosis, is a particularly vain individual. In fact, he’s hesitant to undergo the radical facial surgery that eradicates his disfigurement. It just so happens that the surgery gives Edward Patrick Bateman levels of handsomeness. Can you blame Edward for taking that chance? Who among us wouldn’t opt to look a hundred times more conventionally attractive? 

It’s once Edward abandons his own name for a fake sounding one and forsakes his former nice guy identity for a new debaucherous life as a wealthy real estate asshole that we realize, hey, maybe this wasn’t such a great guy to begin with. On top of that, maybe I, the viewer, am also an asshole for assuming Edward was a decent guy just because his face was deformed. This is a layer that Schimberg explored with his previous film Chained for Life; is it more morally deplorable to gawk at or to pity the severely deformed? 

We can judge Edward’s new neighbor Ingrid (The Worst Person In the World’s Renate Reinsve), an aspiring playwright, for not giving him a chance because of his affliction, and we can judge her for many other things later on that I would hate to spoil, but it is more difficult to judge her for rejecting Edward once his true colors shine through. I was fully prepared to write Ingrid off as a classic manic pixie dream girl when she first busts down Edward’s door wearing a yellow crop top and matching yellow booty shorts that reveal her abs, fawning over his typewriter and adorably asking about his childhood photos, but I underestimated Schimberg’s understanding of the darker and more insidious parts of the female psyche. 

It becomes clear that Ingrid has no qualms about lying to herself and using the pain of others for her own artistic gain. Just as it is easy for us to assume Edward was a good person because he was hideous, it is easy for us to assume Ingrid was inherently “good” because of her undeniable beauty and charm. As fate would have it, Ingrid writes a play that feels eerily similar to Edward’s life pre-surgery, and she’s searching for a lead actor—the role Edward was “born to play.” Edward’s newfound beauty is now a curse, and he clings desperately to what could have been. 

At the exact moment when Edward believes he can trick himself into recreating the past with Ingrid in some warped way, the charismatic Oswald (Schimberg’s previous collaborator Adam Pearson) enters their lives stage right, and suddenly, he’s everywhere. Pearson is so compelling here that I hope it becomes his new calling card after long being known as “the guy from Under the Skin.” Oswald is the kind of guy who does yoga in the park, already knows the cutest women at the bar, and flawlessly performs karaoke without the slightest hint of self-consciousness. Oswald is so enchanting, lighthearted yet understanding, and funny that you almost don’t even notice his neurofibromatosis-caused facial deformities, proving that you don’t need to look like Sebastian Stan in order to live a prosperous life surrounded by loved ones. He’s Edward’s exact foil. 

Much conversation will be hashed and rehashed regarding the third act and final shot of A Different Man, and I found myself questioning whether or not Schimberg would have the technical ability to land the plane after so many twists and turns, but I was silly for doubting him. A Different Man is a major work—even as it shapeshifts from Cronenberg to Kaurismäki, developing into new territory at every turn, Schimberg never loses sight of his central questions: What makes us who we are? What does it mean to be a good person in this weird but beautiful world, surrounded by other people? Without providing precise answers, or resorting to the tired old cliché of “beauty is not skin deep,” Schimberg throws us in a new direction. There are always large objects falling out of the ceiling, and people loudly pounding down the door. Much like life, once you get comfortable in the rhythm of A Different Man, Schimberg shoves you out of your seat and forces you to question what you thought you knew about yourself and those sitting next to you.

A Different Man also signals the kind of marriage between independent New York filmmakers and “the Hollywood elite” in a way that we haven’t really seen since Uncut Gems. The supporting cast of A Different Man is a who’s who of New Yorkers who have dedicated much of their lives to independent filmmaking and programming. The list of cameos includes, but is not limited to, Funny Pages director Owen Kline, Screen Slate founder Jon Dieringer, Anthology Films Archives archivist John Klacsmann, and filmmaker/programmer Caroline Golum. Whenever a major producer like Christine Vachon and a consequential actor like Sebastian Stan spot a winning project like A Different Man, much less help those artists behind it bring such a unique vision to fruition, it’s nothing short of a miracle.

Director: Aaron Schimberg
Writer: Aaron Schimberg
Starring: Sebastian Stan, Renate Reinsve, Adam Pearson
Release Date: April 3, 2024 (New Directors/New Films) September 13, 2024 (Limited)

Brooklyn-based film writer Katarina Docalovich was raised in an independent video store and never really left. Her passions include sipping lime seltzer, trying on perfume and spending hours theorizing about Survivor. You can find her scattered thoughts as well as her writing on Twitter.