It’s no big secret that the world holds a narrow view on what is beautiful. It’s there on screens, in photos, and in the judgemental gaze of every passerby. Otherness is seen as monstrousness. In Aaron Schimberg’s A Different Man, the notion that beauty is in the eye of the beholder is excavated and complicated in a darkly hilarious satire about what it means to be attractive, inside and out.
Edward (Sebastian Stan) is a struggling New York actor with neurofibromatosis, a condition that manifests in sizeable facial tumours, meaning the gigs he books amount to corporate training videos on treating disabled co-workers with respect. Then things seem to be turning around for him: playwright Ingrid (Renate Reinsve) moves in next door, and even seems to take an interest in him. Later, he’s offered the chance to take part in an experimental drug trial that promises to cure his ailment.
Adam Pearson delivers a riveting, star-making turn.
One minute his face is quite literally peeling off — occurring in spectacular, sickly fashion thanks to some gross-out prosthetics — the next, he has the handsome visage of Sebastian Stan. Not a bad trade, but no amount of science can fix what’s within. Barely able to hold a conversation, Edward is still the same loser he always was.
When Ingrid writes a play partially based on her relationship with Edward, Oswald (Adam Pearson) enters the picture as the star — and Edward’s daily tormentor. He, too, has neurofibromatosis, but he oozes confidence and none of the self-pity that Edwards holds onto. Schimberg’s deft screenplay risks tying itself in knots over the thorny questions of representation (is casting an actor with physical disfigurements exploitative? Is it offensive to portray them as victims?), but A Different Man doesn’t seek to provide answers. Primarily, it’s about the sheer breadth of humanity. A person with neurofibromatosis can be as charismatic as Oswald, or as uninteresting as Edward.
Stan doesn’t let the make-up do all the heavy lifting in Edward’s transformation, instead cleverly shifting his voice and posture to illustrate his character’s growing egotism. But it’s Pearson (previously known for his appearance in Jonathan Glazer’s Under The Skin) who delivers a riveting, star-making turn. Schimberg wrote A Different Man specifically for the actor, after working with him on 2019 film Chained For Life, hoping to create a character as vibrant as he is. Pearson excels, playing a man you truly believe would do yoga in the park, kill at karaoke and woo every woman in town. Perhaps the great tragedy to come out of this is that we’re only now learning that his potential was left unfulfilled for so long.