By Sophia Albertie
A man walks into a bar and he goes completely unrecognized. He sits down and orders a drink, girls eye him up and down.
But this is a miracle for our troubled main character.
Sebastian Stan plays Edward, a man born with deformities that have defined him throughout his life. He has a disfigured jaw, a drooping face and thinning hair.
For him, it’s always been “man walks into a bar, and then immediately out of it.” He was the man who flinched at the touch of another human. An actor who moves from audition to audition, always cast as a very specific, unfortunate archetype… until he decided to change everything.
What does the “Cyrano” story look like in the present day? One would assume after a viewing of the 2024 drama A Different Man that it’s come quite a long way from the”man who hates his appearance and life” trope. Except this isn’t quite what the film is. In fact it’s nothing like anything I’ve ever seen before.
Directed by Aaron Schimberg, this masterfully woven tale of what it means to truly transform follows a man born from insecurity and self-hatred, and what it costs him as he attempts to change his life from a physical standpoint.
Its extreme moments of pitch black comedy entwined with a universal, resounding truth are bound to leave an audience thinking long after the credits roll. What’s that truth, you may ask?
If you’re looking for a movie about how real change comes from within, you should give this film a watch.
Viewers observe Edward through the 1 hour and 52 minute runtime, and watch helplessly as he thinks he’s changing. After undergoing facial reconstructive surgery, he seems ready to face the world, conquer his fears, and win the affection of Ingrid, played by Renate Reinsive, an aspiring playwright who lives next door. She had taken an interest in Edward’s previous deformities enough to write about them. It isn’t until after Edward transforms, fakes his own death, and changes his name that Ingrid puts out a casting call for men who essentially look like Edward to play his character.
Will the all new Edward find what he’s been looking for before it’s too late? Or continue to live a nightmare?
A Different Man gets five stars for its intricate layers of social commentary, candid yet simple storytelling and beautiful cinematography. I can guarantee that once you see it, you won’t see anything like it again.
