Sebastian Stan did not receive an Oscar nomination, despite winning the Silver Bear, for portraying Edward Lemuel/Guy Moratz in A Different Man.
A Different Man follows an aspiring actor with neurofibromatosis who undergoes an experimental treatment that may cure him of his condition.
Sebastian Stan ended his 2024 with an Oscar nomination for portraying Donald Trump in The Apprentice, but he began with taking home the Berlin Festival acting prize for this rather off-beat character study. A character study that begins with Stan being entirely invisible underneath some rather heavy and rather convincing makeup as Edward the man with neurofibromatosis. This is not a makeup defined performance however as Stan not only wears the makeup so naturally, he works brilliantly within the confines of the makeup, which obviously covers his whole face except one eye for expression. Stan does so much more though in his physical manner as Edward where there is an innate shyness and awkwardness in every single movement on Stan’s part. Stan projects very much in his movement, even forgetting his face, a man who is in a state of discomfort within himself as he goes about life with an innate nervousness. Stan also accentuates the makeup in his vocal performance where he so naturally speaks as someone whose voice is a bit impaired by his condition and it isn’t even something you think about. It is something that Stan makes an entirely natural part of himself as Edward which is really amazing work in terms of becoming blended entirely into his makeup. We just open and Stan is entirely Edward as we proceed with the story, which the first change is Edward getting a new neighbor in Ingrid (Renate Reinsve), an aspiring playwright…and perhaps a manic pixie dream girl however that concept is cleverly subverted in this film.
Stan is great as Ingrid knocks on his door causing an immediate shock which leads to Edward to cut himself accidentally. When she comes over she treats his hand and Stan is marvelous throughout the scene. In the way you see how he is consistently trying to work up courage in his body language to look at her straight at any point. Stan exudes in the level of awkwardness as she seems to show some kind of interest in him, and Stan presents just in his head position the way that he can never know where to look precisely at any point. Stan’s deliveries in this scene just barely come out of his mouth with such shyness to every syllable. Although the encounter leads Edward to attempt to make some kind of connection by offering a red typewriter he found to Ingrid as a present. Where Stan is marvelous by the way he can play attempted and failed confidence within a man completely lacking in confidence. Stan’s physical performance is still filled with so much anxiety within himself and just completely uncomfortable even as he is trying to project comfort. Where later when she’s visiting him again watching an employee training video Edward acted in, Stan is so perfectly painful in the way of just how much every nervous movement on his part of just being next to her, and just how excruciating it is when he turns towards her to try to project any kind of romantic feeling. Something she quickly rejects, and Stan just comes down all the more to this posture of that of the man being desperately depressed and down on himself.
I would be remiss though if I did not mention the acting scenes themselves which are some great comic bits from Stan in showing a slightly different side from Edward in trying to be the actor. In first coming into his portrayal of the great pain as performance the employee training video, although as said by the director too much pain, as Stan plays the overt tension beautifully as though he was acting in something actually dramatic rather than the employee training video. Something we get then contrasting comically by his final performance in the video, where Stan is just playing the smallest bit of barely recognizable discomfort within Edward, something a bit more suitable for your given employee training video. We also are granted an audition by Edward where Stan is terrific in showing that genuine attempt by Edward to act in the moment, even if there is at the same time an awareness of the stares of the casting directors which are clearly less for awe and more of just disdain or discomfort towards someone they obviously are not going to cast. And we see the quiet pathos of the man, where Stan is quite outstanding in just how much he gets out of his single eye. Particularly a moment where he looks at a human statue in fascination, where Stan manages to bring so much emotion within the man, creating the sense of the extreme self-doubt and just the state of the man filled so much with a personal sorrow in his state as Edward. Stan plays flawlessly in the darkly comic moments granted to him, but he convincingly gives you this Edward. He isn’t at all just the makeup, making Edward wholly tangible as a person where you just believe and accept him.
To be perfectly honest leaving it at just this performance as Edward with neurofibromatosis would already be a great performance, but this is only the first act of the film. The experiment Edward has been undertaking leads to Edward losing all the facial growths, and leading to us seeing Stan sans the makeup. A sequence in itself where Stan does some fantastic body horror style acting in creating every bit of the strange and painful process of essentially his old face ripping off of him. Then the moment of seeing himself in the mirror Stan is fascinating in showing the sense of discovery in Edward as he himself seems to look at his new face as not entirely convinced that is him at first. Stan walks around still with the same level of personal fear at first as walks around, until he sees himself again, and Stan portrays just a bit more confidence as he begins to accept the face, in turn also starting to walk straighter with far more belief in himself. Going to a bar he had just been to with his own face, where Stan shows this meekness of the experiment of seeing if he will be recognized. Stan’s incredible in showing the way every glance is him calculating if he will still be recognized at first, but when a group of random guys starts celebrating with him randomly he recognizes he’s no longer an outcast. Stan is wonderful in the way he does still brings some hesitation to the moment, then building the acceptance in Edward to completely believing that this change really has happened, creating that specific sense of discovering within the process in his performance and building to so organically that he is no longer looked upon as an other by those who are around him.
A pivotal scene comes soon afterwards when in Edward’s apartments, one of the doctors conducting the experiment comes looking for Edward, only finding the change form and questioning him on the whereabouts of Edward. Stan is magnificent in the scene because he plays the different layers during the conversation. As he creates the sense of still that anxiety he’s been purging himself up when he thinks the doctor might recognize him right down to his slightly imperfect posture at first. As the conversation goes on, and it is clear the doctor doesn’t know a thing about who he is, Stan straightens up with confidence and suddenly his delivery is a man who is sure of himself entirely as he notes that Edward is in fact dead. All this before Edward takes off allowing everyone to believe he had died and to start a new life. Something we then cut to years later as we see Edward now going by the fake name Guy as a successful real estate agent, who is considered so good looking that he is their golden boy as an advertisement standee. Stan’s delightful in the reinvention because he very much goes too far, in the best way possible in terms of projecting someone who is overpowering in his confidence, at least among his fellow real estate agents. There Stan is suddenly the coolest guy ever, at least believing himself to be, and Stan projects this perfectly, by managing to naturally make it funny with just how overly satisfied he is with himself by his large grin he so often bares, yet it also very much shows us where Edward is at this point in his existence.
That confidence though will be something that Stan plays with throughout his performance to such great effect, as he presents it as an essential facet to the real heart of Edward. Because after such a scene of grandiose boisterousness, we follow that with a scene of a boy looking at him on the subway, just as people used to gawk at him with his condition. Stan, in contrast to the previous scene where the confidence was a bit much, is so natural in seeing a glint of his old anxiety again as the boy looks at him, just enough until he notices that the boy simply recognized his face from a vandalized ad featuring him on the subway. Edward’s journey continues by chance, finding Ingrid again now having auditions for a play about her experiences with Edward fittingly called Edward, where he wanders into it for an audition. Stan beautifully plays this strange yet tangible mix of emotions of not exactly knowing how to react to such a surreal situation, before being put on stage to read for one of the parts. Where Stan does some proper bad acting, as Edward doing some bad acting in his extremely stilted line readings and utterly failing to be the role in any way. Edward however manages to come back, with a replica mask of his own face created as part of the experiment, where Stan for a scene brings back the old Edward in the audition. Stan changes it just enough in that it isn’t strictly as honest as his early scenes, however far better than his previous bad audition, providing though the sense of Edward being able to nearly fully return to his old state with the mask on.
The following scene after impressing Ingrid is just amazing work in the nuance of Stan’s portrayal because what he shows is the way of Edward playing the surface of his nonchalant attitude about his apparent talent and knowledge of such a condition, playing it off so casually as just someone he knew who committed suicide, which he seems strangely unburdened by. Stan layers this with just his eyes if you see him watching Ingrid throughout the scene and you see him subtly nervous that she might still recognize him. Stan in just the way he watches her having this analysis of the situation still not entirely sure of himself, despite presenting himself as such an assured man. Something that continues as Ingird invites him back to the old apartment complex, where Stan is exceptional in the way you see the flashbacks going on in his mind by being reminded of his old life, and as he enters the room, Stan brings such a quietly seething fear. He almost fully becomes Edward again of old in his reactions to the scene, his physical manner coming back, even his head looking away, as he creates the sense of doubt that she might still know who he is despite not at all looking as his old self. Only really finding comfort when Ingrid starts making out with him, although notably noting that she leaves many jilted lovers in her wake with a bit of a curious pride.
Unfortunately Edward’s “perfect” new existence is already a bit questionable as the more we see him act Stan is less convincing in replicating his old self, and ably plays the levels of good to bad performance as only a great actor can. But more so, his existence is shattered by the appearance of a man with his exact same condition, Oswald (Adam Pearson) who happens to also be interested in the part, though defers to Edward…at first. Oswald, despite having the same condition isn’t at all like Edward at all, as Oswald is supremely confident, doesn’t let his condition for a moment get in his way, and becomes the life of the room wherever he goes. And if one thought Stan was great before this scene, Stan goes next level after this point. Stan’s reactions alone are absolutely priceless throughout, where he manages to present such deep seeded existential dread every time Oswald pops up. His face trying to figure Oswald out with a mix of astonishment and paranoia towards his actual intentions. Meanwhile becoming so much less outwardly confident himself within the play, and I love Stan’s delivery of lashing out against Ingrid’s view of the old Edward, where as much as he’s trying to present it as an actor wanting a better script, despite not being able to remember lines to begin with, the intensity of it is of someone who doesn’t like how his life story is being adjusted in the “adaptation”.
Stan’s performance once Oswald becomes more prominent becomes an absolutely hilarious performance though also functioning entirely within the dramatic arc of Edward’s mounting doubts as he sees the man who is what he was, yet is everything he wasn’t. Stan’s wonderful in the scene where everyone, including Ingrid, is taking every thought of Oswald’s to heart and charmed entirely by him. Stan’s reactions of the smile, with so much beneath that smile of just disbelief, annoyance and continued existential crisis never get old. With a particular standout moment being Oswald talking about his accent that everyone loves then wowing everyone through his Rocky imitation, leading every to pester Edward to do an accent, where Stan does the very best halfhearted horrible British accent, that is absolute perfect in its terribleness, particularly as you see in Stan’s eyes how much the whole social situation is pure torture for him. Stan’s comedic timing here is flawless in finding a new way for Edward to fall apart. I have particular affection for his delivery of fumbling around various incorrect facts about presidential assassins in some faulty attempt to attack Oswald, I particularly love his accentuation of “yeah in the booth” as though he’s finally found a true fact for himself. It is just a masterful bit of artfully being a bumbling fool in the best of ways.
The progression of the film then follows this strange situation where Oswald seems to slowly take away everything from Edward, while also being this constant reminder of who he’s not, and while Oswald is always super friendly, he becomes this, perhaps unintentional, sinister presence that tortures Edward. Stan is the master of the reaction shot throughout every scene with Pearson because we just see the way he gets so pained, so paranoid and progressively gets more stricken by crisis. Stan is amazing in the scene where Oswald gets his leading role in his own life story, and Stan’s work is just so good. As you see in his eyes just sheer disbelief and he struggles to argue for himself while in that disbelief. Stan borders so effectively on this bordering mental breakdown that is both funny but also wholly convincing as this growing intensity towards insanity. Where at first he’s left as merely the transformed Edward at the end of the show where Edward is left just the best possible awkward smile by Stan as an actor without an actual part. The afterparty of the premiere is greatness by Stan, purely silent work from him, just having his ear talked up by some random guy, and Stan’s face says everything, as it is the face of a man in the strangest of purgatories, which again is comic gold yet also the emotions just run so deep in Stan’s eyes. Unfortunately for Edward, this only continues as he gets fully written out of the play, and Oswald even hooks up with Ingrid. Stan’s montage of just watching Edward in different places, is yet again such effortless work in painting such an extreme, in you see the all the confidence sucked out of him, all the jealousy just building in him, but worst of all you see something even more penetrating of a man watching his life be stolen as some kind of cosmic joke against him. Leading to a full mental breakdown, where Stan manages to be brilliant in a whole new way as he dons his mask, and does some twisted version of Oswald himself even in his real estate job. Stan going off the deep end so beautifully that is not a great imitation, though better than the one forced upon him at the bar, but it is a perfect one in terms of Stan realizing Edward completely losing it. Eventually leading him to crash the play even and attack Oswald, where Stan is outstanding in his rabid psychosis. Where Stan manages to go beyond anything else we’ve seen and have a breakdown of just a true mess of emotions where he’s lashing out at everything in every way as someone not finding that cosmic joke the least bit funny.
Unfortunately, this only leads to Edward being injured and put into an even more extreme joke where Edward with his broken bones has to just literally sit and watch Oswald lead “Edward’s life”. Where again, masterclass by Stan in the reaction shot, where now he’s not quite comatose but near it as just in a strange near state of acceptance but not quite. Which is a fine line that Stan absolutely nails with an absolute ease. Edward only snapping when attacking his own physical trainer, after the physical trainer mocked Oswald’s appearance. Where Stan plays the attack still near comatose, but with this strange focus as though the man is defending himself in the attack. Leading to the film’s weird, though in a way love, conclusion where we see Edward spend time in jail only to get out years later where he is almost immediately spotted by Oswald. Where he is invited to dinner with Oswald and Ingrid both living successful lives together, though with some indications that their life might not be exactly perfect either given they plan to join a cult in retirement. Notably in the scene Oswald calls Edward, Edward directly without seeming to refer to the play at all, perhaps having figured out his full situation. And within this final moment, as much as it seemed like Edward lost everything, there’s something so essentially special about Stan’s final reaction of the film. Where Edward struggles in his typical indecisiveness to choose something to eat to which Oswald notes that Edward “hasn’t changed a bit”. Stan’s reaction to this is the perfect button to his whole performance as he laughs in appreciation of the statement, and notably in this Stan shows the one scene where Edward is genuinely at ease in the entire film. Even though the situation may be less than ideal in so many ways, Stan in just that laugh shows Edward is finally accepting who he is and there’s a strange yet potent poignancy in this final acceptance of one’s self. In case the rest of the review didn’t make it abundantly clear I love everything about this performance. As Stan thrives in what is such a singular journey where he manages to amplify every big swing within the character, blend the drama and comedy of it with ease, and make every second of it captivating in this one of a kind turn.
