Some actors have a face that you can’t forget, and of nobody is that truer than Adam Pearson. The London native has neurofibromatosis, which causes benign tumors to grow all over his face. With that, he has become an actor — you may recall him as the man who escapes Scarlett Johansson’s lair in Under the Skin. All actors have to reckon with their face, its expressiveness, its attractiveness or lack thereof, and how it inevitably changes over time, and Pearson has used his to increase the visibility of people with his condition. Now he stars in A Different Man, which is currently playing only at AMC Parks at Arlington, and this film uses his face for something much weirder and more engaging than some soppy “these are people too” plea for tolerance.
Sebastian Stan stars as a New York actor named Edward Lemuel who works with the same facial deformity as Pearson. The movie does tell us that his condition causes more than just cosmetic problems: The tumors are impeding his eyesight and hearing, necessitating myriad surgical procedures. For this reason, Edward submits to an experimental procedure that gives him Stan’s regular facial features, and he assumes a different identity and tells all of Edward’s friends and neighbors that he has died. Among the latter is a playwright (Renate Reinsve) who writes a play about the man, and Edward wins the lead role without telling her that he’s the guy it’s based on. Fate laughs at Edward, though, because another actor named Oswald (Pearson) comes along and takes both the part and Ingrid away from him.
Going back to Frankenstein and likely further, stories about people with deformed faces almost always include a blind character as well, who is the only person who can “see” who the deformed person truly is, etc. etc. This one nods to the trope by giving a walk-on part to a blind neighbor. The early going contains a neat parody of bad corporate training videos by having Edward act in one along with other actors who have facial deformities to teach the importance of tolerance.
Writer-director Aaron Schimberg was himself born with a cleft palate, and his one previous feature Chained for Life also starred Pearson. I’m afraid that in his zeal to distinguish this movie from a conventional drama, he takes his story up some blind alleys. The workings of the stage play and Edward and Oswald’s clashes over how to interpret the main character are of more interest to theater geeks than to the general public.
Having said that, Pearson makes a more than capable foil to Stan, as Oswald maintains a positive attitude when he has a handy excuse not to. Meanwhile, Edward’s deformity has reached his soul, and fixing his face does nothing to keep him from being overcome with jealousy as Oswald reaps all the success while portraying him. The comic acting by these actors and Reinsve (who starred in The Worst Person in the World and speaks such good English that you’d never guess that she’s Norwegian) keeps the bizarre conceit from toppling over and makes A Different Man into a novelty that’s worth seeking out.
A Different Man
Starring Sebastian Stan and Adam Pearson. Written and directed by Aaron Schimberg. Rated R.
