Aaron Schimberg’s 2024 darkly comic psychological thriller begins as a psychological story about identity insecurity before diving into the sci-fi genre and finally transforming into a meta-commentary on identity and a satirical exploration of representation in the arts. But importantly, it is about self-hatred leading to self-sabotage because of searching for beauty by physical attributes governed by society.
A Different Man (2024) Plot Synopsis & Movie Summary:
Who is Edward Lemuel?
The first act of the film majorly follows Edward Lemuel (Sebastian Stan), a Juilliard-trained struggling actor suffering from neurofibromatosis, which leads to his face adorned with neurofibromas. Considering the profession he is based on, it becomes hard for him to audition for roles beyond ones directly related to his disfigurement.
At his barely standing dingy apartment complex, he befriends his attractive neighbour Ingrid Vold (Renate Rensieve), an aspiring playwright. He is, however, too awkward and insecure about his physical affliction to make a move on Vold. He takes baby steps, like gifting her his typewriter, remarking that she could write him a part for her play in exchange. But his romantic inclinations go all for nought because of his debilitating insecurities, even though we see them going out to dinners and hanging out at cafeterias, with both of them struggling to maintain conversations.
How does the transformation occur?
The movie in brief spurts, shows Lemuel undergoing a highly experimental treatment that would lead to the curing of his condition. The experimental dosage works but its ensuing effects terrify him because of the bodily secretions, or how patches of his skin would fall off or be torn off. It is paralleled with the damp ceiling in his kitchen that finally breaks apart, with a dead mouse falling on his kitchen room floor.
However, once the transformation is complete, with Lemuel’s face almost bursting out of the neurofibromas, he is incapable of shedding his awkwardness. Unlike previous encounters where he would be mistaken for others suffering from the same condition, once he is cured, he goes for a night out and finds himself accepted, and even for a fleeting moment comfortable in his own skin.
What happens after the transformation?
However, instead of acknowledging his previous identity, he takes on a new one – “Guy Moratz”, and announces the death of Edward Lemuel. Months later, “Guy” is now a successful real estate agent, even though we can see discomfort in the newfound charisma that Guy is still reluctant to utilise. Upon seeing Ingrid on the streets one day, he follows her, and discovers her production of an off-Broadway play titled Edward, based on Lemuel as well as her interactions with him. He stumbles onto the set, reads the lines, and later makes an impression on Ingrid by wearing the mask of a neurofibromatosis-affected face and play-acting himself. This impresses Ingrid, even though their conversations reveal Ingrid’s niggling doubts about representation, appropriation tending towards exploitation of such a story. Soon, however, both Ingrid and Guy start up a relationship, but Guy/Edward finds difficulty in memorizing his lines.
How does Oswald burst into Edward’s life?
The proverbial grenade is thrown into Guy’s life when Oswald (Adam Pearson) waltzes into the set. In contrast to Edward Lemuel, Oswald is confident and comfortable in his skin, but most importantly for a community obsessed with externality, his thick English accent works as an additional charismatic topping over his confidence. It allows Oswald to interrupt a dinner between Guy and the rest of his officemates to congratulate on the play (without compunction), and reveal Guy’s “double life”.
Oswald’s demeanour and ideas regarding the play influence Ingrid to change her story. Upon receiving the pesky questions from Guy regarding the backstory or the passivity of the central character and how that is altered, Ingrid demotes Guy and promotes Oswald as the protagonist. In not so uncertain terms she explains that Guy’s recasting is due to the inability to remember his lines. Guy is still allowed to stick around in the play due to his relationship with Ingrid.
What causes Edward’s mental deterioration?
The recast is deemed successful, as Oswald’s performance garners rave reviews. This leads to Edward stewing and slowly losing his “Guy” persona as he begins to wear the mask even at his day job. He suffers a psychic break in his office and is let go. He stalks Oswald and tries to convince Vold about his infidelity, only to be pushed away by her. She reveals that Oswald is moving to Edward’s old apartment which very much implies that the two of them are in a relationship. Eventually, Edward storms onto the stage in the middle of the play and attacks Oswald, almost trying to tear his face off. Amid the scuffle, as he hits the stage door, part of the set falls on him, breaking his arms and legs.
As he recovers from his injuries, we see him move back to his old apartment, which we now realize has been cannibalized into Ingrid’s apartment as well by breaking down the walls. Ingrid and Oswald as a couple, taking care of Edward, form a strange family unit as they converse with film actor Michael Shannon about adapting the play into a movie, with plans to incorporate Guy’s experiences in the film.
A Different Man (2024) Movie Ending Explained:
Why does Edward stab the physical therapist?
Edward’s physical condition slowly and steadily improves, while mentally he retreats into himself, choosing to answer in monosyllables. As the movie barrels towards the end, we see the months progress, Ingrid visibly pregnant, and living happily with Oswald while ensuring that Edward is taken care of by his physical therapist. But because of the conventional mindset, the therapist, once Oswald is out of earshot, asks Edward about the relationship, especially how weird it looks.
It is very much presumed that this derision of the therapist is what breaks Edward out of his stupor, as he suddenly begins to limp about and then stabs the therapist in anger. The identity crisis Edward feels throughout the movie, as a result of body dysmorphia and insecurity bubbling up within the surface, enrages him, leading to the stabbing. The blackly comic moment occurs when Oswald returns to the house to fetch something he had left behind and asks without noticing the dead body that he had heard some struggle.
Who does Edward meet with after coming out of prison?
We do see Edward being carted off to prison, where he presumably spends quite a while before being let off (presumably for good behaviour considering he had retreated to himself and doesn’t socialize). Years later, an aged Edward would encounter posters of a Broadway play directed by Ingrid Vold before encountering Oswald.
Agreeing to having dinner, he learns that both Vold and Oswald not only have married, but they have also partnered up as a creative duo. He is also surprised about Vold dismissing “Edward” the play as a “piece of shit” and expressing relief that the movie hadn’t been made. Edward is bemused that the two of them are now planning to go off on a retirement commune together, take in LSD, and “fuck all day,” clearly realizing that they are going off to join a cult but not caring in the slightest. It feels like director Schimberg is doubling down on the shallowness of the glamour of the performing arts industry, Hollywood and the creative process in general, where the race for validation overrides everything else.
The movie finally ends with Edward, still highly nervous about any form of attention afforded to him, unable to decide what to choose from the menu, to which Oswald chuckles and remarks how he hasn’t changed a bit. It feels like the encapsulation of the character in general—stuck in his insecurity, unable to fathom any form of happiness due to his self-sabotaging nature.
A Different Man (2024) Movie Themes:
A dilemma of identity
Even if Edward Lemuel would only be afforded roles or advertisements related to disability or being “facially different,” a different form of otherness and insensitivity occurs in the real world. It is impossible for “normal” humans to discern him from any other individual suffering from neurofibromatosis, and thus he is either treated as a circus freak, an object of pity, or mistaken for someone else.
The involuntary shriek uttered by Ingrid looking at Edward soon transforms into Ingrid incorporating his experiences as fodder for her art. Meanwhile, Lemuel’s search for validation is further compounded by his choice to become an actor and finding roles hard to come by. This further increases the awkwardness within the character and the deep-seated insecurities, which pushes him to retreat even deeper.
Thus, when the cure finally works, the trauma isn’t magically healed. The very unsubtle metaphor of the dampness and rot in the ceiling, remaining after being painted over, is equivalent to the man scared of being watched or commented upon his disfigurement. It leads to the crafting of a new identity rather than acknowledging the old identity and the barrage of explanations as well as reconciliation.
However, when he finds himself drawn to the play “Edward” and realizes that his disfigurement is being utilized as an art form, the actor within him believes this to be a role tailor-made for him. However, his skill, while not overtly expressed in the film, feels rather limited even as an actor, and thus the authorship he wants to imprint on Vold’s work is offset by his own lack of natural screen presence as well as acting.
The depiction of a positive disfigured person
A criticism can be afforded to Adam Pearson’s Oswald regarding his character serving only as a positive yang to Edward’s ying, rather than being fully fleshed out. The confidence and charisma that Pearson brings forth to Oswald’s character works very well as a counter to Edward, thus leading to Oswald effectively hijacking Edward’s fantasy of the perfect life even after being cured.
Oswald represents Edward as if he had been at peace with his disfigurement and with an air of confidence and charisma that makes him far more attractive than physical beauty that runs only skin deep. And while the character never blooms beyond that (on account of his limited appearance relative to the film itself), Pearson’s performance injects this film with a much-needed dose of energy. He is also someone exhibiting a modicum of self-awareness of his limited acting ability, as well as acknowledging his English accent as being part of his appeal.
The Exploitation and Appropriation of Disability
The character of Ingrid Vold is fascinating because, under Rensieve’s able hands as an actor, she comes off as a sweet and kindly foil but also very unlikeable. It becomes clear very quickly that she commences a friendship with Edward because she is searching for new material for her play.
Thus, once transformation occurs and then Guy Moratz enters into her life, we soon learn that her story about Edward is mutable, like the identity of Edward itself, though unknown to her. Her story paints Edward as an awkward, passive sad sack coaxed by a sensitive person to come out of his shell. But she struggles to find something empathetic within a heavily exploitative tale. Thus the questions being raised about casting a normal actor and being worried about representation are all valid, but are doubts further compounded by a paper-thin play.
With Guy entering into her life, we do start to also realize that there are shades of sexual attraction exhibited by Ingrid that almost resemble devotism, especially in a scene where, in the middle of lovemaking, she asks Guy to wear the neurofibromatosis mask but soon laughs, calling him ridiculous.
It is also very telling that Oswald’s confidence becomes the catalyst for her to create a love story with the “Edward” of her story, ironically pushing the real Edward away and recasting him with the ideal “Edward”. In a significant meta-moment, the final “Beauty and the Beast” denouement, with the Beast or Edward resembling a normal individual, is played by Guy.
The final nail in the coffin, that being Schimberg’s commentary about the appropriation of said disability for art, is highlighted in two key scenes. The first is in Oswald and Ingrid’s discussion with Michael Shannon about how the movie would further explore the psyche of “Edward,” with Guy’s hijinks in real life added in the movie. The second is when Ingrid reveals at the end of the film that she has moved on from the play, calling it a “piece of shit.” It’s a fascinating reduction of an idea that stemmed from kernels of interaction with a real-life figure and how that is appropriated as an art form for people to consume.
