The idea of having a doppelganger replace us has been around for ages, at least since Dostoevsky wrote his famous novel, The Double , possibly even earlier. Great films like The Machinist , Fight Club , Enemy , Stranger Than Fiction and Infernal Affairs have all taken inspiration from the source. It's hard, though, to imagine it being done with more verve and ridiculousness than in Aaron Schimberg's A Different Man . This film is a treat. It stars Sebastian Stan as Edward, who has a form of neurofibromatosis (a condition that affects the nervous system), which causes his face to swell up in lumpy tumours. Early on, he meets a new neighbour, Ingrid (Renate Reinsve), and they become close friends, bonding over their shared passion for the theatre - he's a struggling actor, she's a hopeful playwright. Partially due to this new relationship (and maybe the hope of furthering it), partly due to fatigue at his 'abnormal' life, Edward decides to try an experimental n
This is a very strange film - is it a domestic violence comedy? A neo-realist fantasy? A kitchen-sink musical? All of these sound wrong but director (and star), Paola Cortellesi manages to combine the disparate elements into a unique concoction. Set in post-war Rome, the film opens with Delia (Cortellesi) saying good morning in bed to her husband, Ivano (Valerio Mastandrea), only to receive a hefty backhander. Her reaction tells us this is not an unusual occurrence in her life, as the rest of the family are introduced - a couple of shit-headed boys, a grown-up daughter, and an irascible father-in-law. Cue a glorious slow-motion credit sequence of Delia walking along her local street, getting on with the day's duties. The accompanying musical track is pretty incongruous, another oddity in this head-scratcher of a film (though not as surprising as when an Outkast song bursts in). The story revels in the time and place, and the black and white cinematography, by Davide Leone, is exqui