Schimberg's story about alienation and identity is bold if a bit clunky. While it explores some extremely interesting ideas about who we are in relation to how other see us, it also jumps around and feels awkward at times. My main complaint is the way the film rushes through pieces and sometimes skips over explanations in ways that leave us filling in blanks. But overall it still works well, mostly due to its incredible cast.
The sort of roles Stan has been taking outside his MCU gig which launched him to stardom are brave and vulnerable and A Different Man is no exception. He plays a role which is challenging for numerous reasons, including the meta-ness of playing someone with a medical condition he doesn't have that focuses on "deformity" when he, well, looks like Sebastian Stan. But also the challenge of playing this character through different phases of his life and the ways he changes as a person. He is remarkable in how he makes Edward's journey cohesive despite the film's tendency to skip forward and lurch into the extreme.
It's not just Stan. Reinsve is electric in this playing a character who is immediately magnetic but also elusive. She is often read as more fantasy than real, a fantasy that turns dark as she evolves out of Edward's reach. So much of A Different Man is coded as fantasy, as dream, yet is presented as reality. From Edward's transformation which is dramatically gruesome yet discarded by the plot almost immediately without any consequence. (Without continuing treatment does he remain healed? I guess so. the film doesn't care so lets move on.) From the way the film has Edward leap into the egregious without much emotional preparation (How he stabs a man out of nowhere simply for making rude and insensitive comments.) The film doesn't allow itself to build a realistic world for Edward to exist in and it doesn't necessarily allow Reinsve's Ingrid to be more than just an object of desire that remains out of reach. Yet the actor imbues her with a compelling energy which is palpable.
But overall for me it was Pearson who truly steals the show. From the moment he breezes in he owns every moment. He is the epitome of confidence and admiration, which I get is the film's point, upending our expectations which are played out in Stan's character. But I'm not sure it would have worked so well if it wasn't for Pearson's energy and charisma. The film is asking us to question everything we assume about how we judge people based on difference and it is Pearson's portrayal which pulls this together so strongly.
So I struggled with some of Schimberg's choices in how he told this story but this cast comes together so well to make it all quite powerful and gripping even when I was questioning the story.
A Different Man
Starring: Adam Pearson, Sebastian Stan, Renate Reinsve, Michael Shannon
Writer/Director: Aaron Schimberg
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