A Different Man (2024)
“Oh my old friend. You haven’t changed a bit!”
Following deliberately silent production credits, the opening credits and “A DIFFERENT MAN” continue amid a black background and what seems like both a noir style font and musical style harkening back to the 1950s. This quickly dissolves into a very present day of 3D imaging, scans, x-rays and computer readouts concerning a heavily facially disfigured man who is immediately introduced as “Edward Lemuel” (Sebastian Stan) acting on set. We see Edward acting in a distressed and unwell manner and as the camera pans back we see both a fuller extent of the set as well as the director giving notes and guidance for Edward to retake and reshape his part. This is quickly cut away from and back to Edward now sitting opposite a fellow actor on his “first paying gig” who seemingly distracted, looks anywhere but his colleague sitting beside him.
We now find Edward riding the train home and in full close-up we can see the disfigurement and scars that circle his head in protruding lumps, deep scar tissue and whilst his right eye is open (yet he continually looks down at the floor almost throughout the entirety of the journey) his left eye is completely closed. A lady sitting opposite Edward stares before looking away. A gentleman in black sunglasses does not however and continually smiles at him. Meanwhile, an eccentric roams the train carriage, passing Edward twice but never engaging with him. A “casting director” compliments him on his expressive performance, perhaps to pacify and calm down the eccentric man, but the camera passes back to a downcast Edward, a now asleep lady opposite him and the still smiling gentleman in the black sunglasses.
We cut to Edward entering his apartment building and a hubbub of busy life circles him as a sofa is roughly manhandled up a tight staircase (squashing Edward against a wall in the process) before what appears to be the landlord of the building asks him to check his neck for a lump and his friend calls Edward, for the first time of many in the film, “nervous”. The landlord’s friend is in full flow now as he appears to call Edward “Woody Allen”, and the “Little Guy” before elucidating the phrase “All unhappiness in life comes from not accepting what is” before attributing this quote to Lady Gaga. A befuddled Edward is passed on the stairs by a clearly irritated fellow tenant before he finally arrives at his apartment (4F) to see the sofa that had previously squashed him against the wall downstairs was destined for his new neighbour “”Ingrid Vold” (Renate Reinsve) who’s startled and shocked at Edward’s appearance before he slinks past the sofa once more and into his apartment.
Now inside the safe haven of his home, Edward is dismayed to notice a huge black stain on the ceiling and a small hole leaking water onto his sofa. This is moved out of the way and a small bowl placed to catch the falling water and as the camera pans around his apartment it’s clear that Edward lives a neat and tidy life within his “lived in” home. A later cut now sees Edward preparing an evening meal in the kitchen whilst listening to and watching a Youtube video on how to whistle, but his nervousness shows as with a loud knock at the door he carves a deep gash in his hand with the kitchen knife he was holding. Opening the door he finds his new neighbour Ingrid who is immediately apologetic for disturbing him and disappears as quickly as she appeared before returning with a first aid kit for his badly gashed hand and a further apology for the deep gash in his front door caused earlier by the delivery men squeezing the sofa between their two tight apartments and into hers. Ingrid is bright and friendly as she tends to Edward’s wound and asks “what happened to you?” but before Edward can stammer an answer she continues with the first aid. Sitting next to each other on the sofa, Edward is all smiles for his new neighbour before Ingrid looks up in astonishment at the hole in the ceiling.
Panning around the room Ingrid notices a baby photograph of him with his mother and asks both if that’s him and whether his mother still alive. He confirms it is him and sadly, his mother is deceased. Inquisitive, Ingrid asks Edward what he does for a living before exclaiming “You’re a Writer!” as she points at a distinctive red coloured typewriter. Edward dismisses this as something he found in the street before Ingrid reads the current sentence sitting on the page within the typewriter:
“They taunt me and beg me to show my face only that when I do, they can turn away in horror”
Edward dismisses this too as “just testing it out” before Ingrid excitedly exclaims she’s an aspiring playwright and “we’ll write to glory together!”.
Thus is the opening 10 minutes of A Different Man written and directed by Aaron Schimberg (Chained for Life, Go Down Death) and although a “nervous nelly” and a “part of medical history”, Edward is a struggling actor living a life that continually circles around him until a transformation (a spoiler but hey, the title is A Different Man!) changes his life beyond recognition as his life imitates the art and drama of an off Broadway play and a struggling actor becomes something entirely beyond his acting dreams.
But whose dreams are they and who is this imposter?
A further spoiler has to be, simply has to be, an appreciation for the third performance in a trio of brilliant ones from actor Adam Pearson who has the neurofibromatosis condition afflicting Edward. Prior to this film I wasn’t aware of Adam, his acting career or his outreach programmes to raise awareness of his condition and his performance here is sublime and full of the ebullience of life sadly missing in this particular miserable misanthrope!
Bravo Adam.
A Different Man can be easily classified alongside Beauty and the Beast, The Mask (the 1985 version, not the Jim Carrey comedy of the 1990s), The Elephant Man and even this year’s stunning The Substance which continues to vie for my film of 2024. There’s an obvious transformation but there are far more twists and turns to be found within a film that didn’t entirely convince (despite three separately brilliant performances) but which I recommend to you by reiterating the final line of the movie:
“Oh my friend. You haven’t changed a bit!”
Thanks for reading. Whilst you’re here I may as well brag about the release of my latest self-published book (Sunday 8th December 2024) as it’s a real doozy and a pride and joy from my English summer. Free to read if you subscribe to Amazon Kindle “Unlimited” or reasonably priced in both paperback and hardback. Go on, treat yourself or a loved one this Christmas and help out an Indie Author! Buy the book if you’re financially able to.
We HAVE to keep the spirit of reading books alive and well.
Thanks.
"My Ironbridge Summer" - link to Amazon
Thanks for reading. I hope this message in a bottle in The Matrix finds you well, prospering, and the right way up in an upside down world.