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That Edward is a struggling actor only renders this consideration more acute.
He stumbles into his bathroom with a white undershirt stained with blood.
He looks at himself with awe and confusion,observing whatever pockmarks and roughness still remain.
Edward tentatively explores the city by foot with his new face.
Shot from behind as he moves through the candy-colored lights of nighttime New York, his shoulders are hunched.
Hes still on guard.
When he sees his own reflection, he stands straighter.
Marvels at himself.Is this what beauty feels like?
The ability to take up more space without question?
(That Pearson wasnt nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category is a discussion for another time.)
WhereThe Substanceis unrelentingly direct,A Different Manis deliberately slippery.
But the camera sneers at her, creating a distancing effect that undermines the complexity of Moores performance.
For all the films interest in the body, it has a remarkable lack of intimacy.
The closer the camera gets to a legible face, the less you see of a soul.
Meanwhile,A Different Mans cameratreats the bodys appearance and movements as the richest way to connect.
The body is still a site of horror, as the single sequence of Edwards transformation implies.
Late in the film, Edward finds himself at a karaoke spot with Oswald.
While everyone vibes to Oswalds crooning, Edwards face is masked with confusion.
His eyes jut around, searching for a truth with which he cant come to terms.
But none of these gives him meaning or pleasure.
Its as if his own truest desires remain incomprehensible.
Meanwhile, Oswald lives a capacious life in spite of the very disorder Edward believed doomed him.
Pearson plays Oswald with a light-on-his-feet charisma that becomes a stunning counterpoint to the heavy sorrow of Stans performance.
Its the most revelatory decision in the film, allowing Schimberg to bypass simplistic moralism about disability.
But these possibilities are a closed circuit.
All Sue desires ismore.
More youth, more beauty, more fame.
That those possibilities curdle into exploitation is a result of Elisabeths own making.
These arent characters but containers for derision.
Schimbergs characterization looks outward as much as, if not more than, inward.
Just do what I tell you, her tone harsh enough to bruise.
Edward tentatively goes into another room and returns naked save for the mask entrapping his face.
When they start having sex again, Ingrid erupts in laughter.
This is so fucked-up.
Youre constantly waiting for him to succumb.
Oswald and a now-pregnant Ingrid handle Edwards care, with his anger and dejection only growing.
After all, bodies inThe Substancearent venues for truth but obfuscation, suffering, and self-loathing.
Every body in Fargeats film is a hall of mirrors caving in on itself.
When you take a look at the shards, its clear theyre reflecting nothing at all.
A Different Manhas a coda to the violence Edward impulsively remakes his life with.
They decide to have dinner at an upscale sushi restaurant with Ingrid by Oswalds side.
Ive achieved everything Ive ever wanted.
