A Different Man is a different kind of movie

Aaron Schimberg’s drama/thriller A Different Man is a tough and frustrating film to stomach,

because, as a viewer, you start the film feeling bad for Edward (Sebastian Stan) as he blames his

neurofibromatosis for his social anxiety and awkwardness. However, by the end of the film,

you’re still feeling bad for Edward, but not in the same way as at the beginning. Edward’s

reckless and downright stupid actions make the viewers pity him by the end, as he ends up

throwing his life away, simply due to pride and jealousy.

I’ll admit, it does take a while for Oswald (Adam Pearson) to show up in the film, but when he

does, by golly he steals the show. I initially thought that Oswald should have been introduced

sooner, perhaps during or even before Edward’s transformation, but then I realized the film

would not have had the same feeling if Oswald had been a friend rather than a foe. Oswald’s

introduction comes at the perfect time in the film, as it begins tearing Edward’s new and

improved reality to shreds.

By this point in the film, since the audience has gotten to know Edward so well, we see Oswald

the same way Edward does; annoying, obnoxious, and a people-pleaser. Pearson’s delivery of

some of his lines of dialogue has the perfect amount of passive-aggressive nature to them, which

made my blood boil a bit because some people have said similar things to me in the past.

Oswald’s entire charisma and confidence within himself lead Edward astray, realizing that he

could have been just like Oswald before his transformation if he had simply been confident.

Edward believed his neurofibromatosis was the reason why he was mistreated by society, but in

reality, that wasn’t entirely the case, as it was more due to his awkward and aloof nature with

others.

Something I didn’t like about the film was the sudden time jumps. Suddenly, Edward becomes a

wealthy real estate agent after his transformation. Really? To me, I felt like the story should have

focused more on him immediately after the transformation, connecting with those who had put

him down in the past. Making Edward a successful real estate agent didn’t sit right with me,

because he was first shown in the film as an aspiring actor. If we want to keep the time jump

aspect, I would have preferred he became the lead or supporting actor on a famous television

show or something along those lines. Then, his desire to win the role of Edward in Ingrid’s

(Renate Reinsve) play would have felt stronger, as his desire to win the role would have

transcended to playing the character based on himself.

Speaking of Ingrid, I often have a difficult time believing female characters find aloof male

characters so interesting in cinema because that does not happen in the real world at all. I havenever once seen or heard of a woman pursuing a completely socially awkward man because she

thought he was “interesting”. In real life, it is the other way around.

Harkening back to the time jumps, there is a sudden time jump of at least 20+ years during the

film’s third act, where Oswald finds Edward walking outside of a theater, and then they reunite at

a restaurant with Ingrid like old friends, even though Edward attacked Oswald on stage, and

stabbed a man in his home. I know that if anybody I knew was attacked by someone, they would

cut ties with that person immediately, but in this story, that is not the case. Anyway, as the three

reconnect, Oswald reveals that he and Ingrid have been married and have a child in graduate

school and that they are moving to Canada to join a cult. Edward finally accepts his fate, and

then orders his meal, with Oswald telling Edward he “hasn’t changed a bit,” with the film ending

there. This felt like a random spot for the film to end, so I of course had to Google what the

ending meant, Oswald referred to Edward as “Edward” in this scene, not “Guy,” which had been

Edward’s pseudonym since his transformation. This means that Oswald knew that Edward was

the Edward that Ingrid wrote that play about, which adds another layer of complexity to this

already complex story. It begs the question, “How long did Oswald know Edward was Edward?”

In all honesty, I couldn’t give you an honest answer to that, because I can’t remember. All I

remember now, as I am writing this review, is how frustrated I was with Edward and his

decisions during my viewing of the film. Edward kept making one dumb decision after another,

which, as a viewer, is frustrating and cringe-worthy to see. However, those decisions were

writer/director Aaron Schimberg’s intent. He was born with a cleft palate, so he knows what it is

like to have people staring at him when he is walking on the street. He gravitates toward

narratives with characters who have facial disfigurement because he has one. I believe he wrote

A Different Man to capture what society thinks most people with facial disfigurements would

want, but then, he used Oswald’s character as a means of displaying the fact that people with

facial disfigurements live normal lives, IF they choose to do so, and not let their disfigurement be

what people think of them as.

With that being said, I would rate A Different Man three and a half stars out of five.