A Different Man ★★★½

AARON Schimberg’s A Different Man may not be the best film of 2024, but it is certainly one of the most interesting.

Shot over just a few weeks in New York, it’s the sort of experimental film that you might have seen during the rich movie decade of the 1970s.

Part black comedy, drama and romance, with a little science fiction thrown in, A Different Man is hard to categorise.

But the overall result is a delicately balanced, life-affirming story that leaves a lasting impact.

Edward Lemuel is a struggling actor and writer with a condition known as neurofibromatosis, which presents as a disfiguring facial condition.

He has learned to live with the states and judgements, but only by retreating within himself.

He lives alone in an apartment building where his neighbours have grown used to his appearance, but his timidity extends to not even complaining where there is a bad leak in his ceiling.

Another aspiring writer, Ingrid Voldbut, moves in next door and Edward is struck by how much she treats him as any other person.

They form a friendship which leads to growing affection on Edward’s part, but he is too nervous to act on this urge.

At the same Edward has signed on to be part of a new ‘wonder drug treatment’ that could potentially heal with disfigurement.

And that’s exactly what occurs, with Edward’s excess skin and fat literally falling away to reveal a new, handsome exterior.

But, at the stage, Edward is still the same person. He tells people that Edward has died and reinvents himself as Guy Moratz, a successful real estate agent and aspiring actor.

Guy stumbles on the venue hosting auditions for a production simply called ‘Edward’ only to discover it’s a play written by Ingrid about her relationship with Edward.

Guy is desperate to play the part and rekindle the relationship with Ingrid…but then Oswald comes along.

That’s more plot detail than I would normally reveal, but it’s important that audiences understand the premise so interested is piqued.

The film is astutely written by Schimberg and features three very good performances.

Sebastian Stan has taken an extended break from Marvel duties as the Winter Soldier (seven films so far!) to make this film and The Apprentice and displays the right balance of restraint and bewilderment at the events that befall the characters of Edward and Guy.

Norwegian actress Renate Reinsve gives an honest and sensitive portrayal of the woman navigating the life between her work and two men who she loves in different ways.

And best of all is Adam Pearson whose Oswald character is the enigmatic centre of the drama.

A Different Man is truly different.

Watched at the cinema.