A Different Man – Film Review
A Different Man – Film Review by Frank L.
Director/ Writer – Aaron Schimberg Stars – Sebastian Stan, Renate Reinsve, Adam Pearson
Edward (Sebastian Stan) has neurofibromatosis, a genetic mutation, which can cause substantial distortion of the body by the creation of non-cancerous tumours. Sebastian Stan appears as Edward with his face unrecognisable by the application of prosthetics so as to imitate some of the symptoms of neurofibromatosis. Edward is a meek individual who lives in a grimy area of New York and ekes out a living as an actor. He gets odd parts in occasional industry films which seek to show how ordinary people ought to behave around a person with a disability. However, two things happen in his life; a switched-on young female theatre maker Ingrid (Renate Reinsve) moves into the next-door apartment and secondly, he has an innovative medical treatment which removes his facial disfigurement. Edward now can and has to face the world as a so-called normal-looking person.
The plot twists and turns but critical to it is that Ingrid has written a play about Edward as he was before the procedure. Edward auditions successfully for the part but Oswald (Adam Pearson) then arrives on the scene. He suffers from neurofibromatosis. Notwithstanding his disfigurement, Oswald is outgoing and socially confident, the antithesis of Edward. So Schimberg explores what makes a person who he or she is and how that is affected by how they look.
There are undoubtedly funny moments in the twisting plot but neither Edward (in either of his guises) nor Ingrid are particularly likeable. The cinematography of the grungier parts of New York adds to the unsettling ambience of the plot which is also leavened by moments of humour. It has an out-of-the-ordinary engaging ambience. Stan in both his guises is impressive as is Reinsve as the earnest young theatre maker. Pearson challenges all prejudices which exist about an actor with a disability.
This is a movie with a complex storyline which challenges comfortable preconceptions of what is normal looking and how looks can fashion how other people react. It is unlikely to draw the crowds but as appearances are important for most of us to a greater or lesser extent, this film investigates this not often visited territory in depth. It is thought-provoking.
