Sebastian Stan gives an award-winning performance in A Different Man, which is somewhat ironic given the ending for his character in the film.
The A24 dark psychological thriller directed by Aaron Schimberg follows an aspiring actor who undergoes radical facial surgery only to be haunted by the person he once looked like.
How Does A Different Man End?
A Different Man is ultimately a tragic story about a man who attempts to solve his outward problems only to find that they come from within.
Sebastian Stan (known best for his role as Bucky Barnes in the MCU) stars as Edward, an awkward and introverted actor struggling with neurofibromatosis, who agrees to undergo an experimental surgery that will free him of his facial disfigurement.
Following the surgery, Edward realizes that a new face has not solved his problems.
New Face, New Life
Early on in A Different Man, Edward befriends his neighbor, Ingrid (Renate Reinsve) who is an aspiring playwright. Edward is too nervous to act on his feelings for Ingrid and after a series of demoralizing events, he decides to undergo surgery to change his face.
Emerging as a new man, Edward decides to take on a new persona as Guy, telling everyone that Edward died.
As the years pass Guy/Edward becomes a successful real estate agent and makes enough money to move out of his apartment. Years later he comes across Ingrid again and learns she is putting on a play about Edward's life.
Edward decides to audition for the play but it's only after he reads while wearing a mask of his old face that he lands the role.
For a moment, all of Edward's dreams start to become reality. He is the lead in a play and begins a romantic relationship with Ingrid. However, no one is aware he was secretly Edward once.
A Different Man With the Same Face
It's not long before Edward is haunted by his past life (and face). Edward starts to struggle with reading his lines through the mask and Ingrid begins to show a weird infatuation towards him wearing it, even when they're being intimate.
Then, one day a man named Oswald (Adam Pearson), who also has neurofibromatosis, shows interest in the play. Unlike Edward, Oswald is charming, funny, and seems to have no self-confidence issues related to his appearance. Oswald quickly wins over Ingrid and the crew.
Oswald and Ingrid grow closer and Edward starts to get jealous. When he continues to struggle with his lines, Ingrid ultimately recasts Edward with Oswald. The play is a huge success.
A Dark Descent
Edward's jealousy of Oswald leads him to spiral. He tries to mimic Oswald's confident personality in his everyday life, but can't pull it off. He and Ingrid break up, he loses his real estate job, and starts to stalk Oswald.
Everything culminates one night when Edward attacks Oswald on stage at the theatre, causing a piece of the set to fall on top of him and break his arms and legs.
Edward moves back into his old apartment and goes through physiotherapy to learn to walk again. He stays in contact with Oswald and Ingrid during his recovery and listens as they make plans to turn their play into a movie with Michael Shannon in the lead.
Edward's jealousy escalates after Oswald and Ingrid move in together and Ingrid becomes pregnant with Oswald's child.
One day during a therapy session, his psychologist makes an offhand comment about Oswald's appearance which causes Edward to snap and stab him. He is sent to jail.
A Tragic Ending
A Different Man picks up with Edward years later after he's been released from jail.
He reunites with Ingrid and Oswald over dinner, who are now happily married and very successful. They reveal their plans to retire to a commune in Canada.
The film ends when the waiter arrives to take their orders and Edward struggles to make a decision. Oswald comments that Edward has not changed at all.
What Does A Different Man's Ending Mean?
A Different Man is a reflection on the tragedy of idealized perfectionism and reveals that not all problems are skin-deep.
Oswald's final comment to Edward sums up the idea that despite all the physical changes the man went through, his personality has not changed at all and that was his true struggle all along. The tragedy of Edward's character is that he always sought to fix his life through external factors, never trying to resolve the ones he could control within.
The role is a transformative one for Sebastian Stan, (and it's not the only one he had in 2024 after also portraying President Donald Trump in The Apprentice).
The actor spoke about the ending of A Different Man to Polygon, revealing he didn't want to "tell people how to feel about it:"
"I think it is interpretation. People will relate to that moment or find things about it differently. You don’t want to comment on that, to tell people how to feel about it."
Stan added that Edward, Ingrid, and Oswald "weirdly need each other," revealing that Edward's struggle at the end is a split of being "in awe of these people" but also being "incredibly hateful and angry:"
"Edward and Oswald and Ingrid, they all sort of weirdly need each other, and they all are sort of these planets spinning around each other in a necessary way, whether there are all these other feelings there. It is a mix of emotions. It’s not just one thing that’s driving him at the end of the movie, it’s a slew of things. There’s probably an inner struggle between being in awe of these people, while at the same time being incredibly hateful and angry at these people."
As Stan suggests, the ending of A Different Man is fairly ambiguous, so what audiences will take away from it will be subjective.
A Different Man was released theatrically in September 2024. Stan has since won a Golden Globe award for his performance.
A Different Man is now streaming on Max.
