Aaron Schimberg’s “A Different Man” is a strange tale of transformation, examining the intersection of what we look like and who we are. Edward (Sebastian Stan) is a would-be actor in New York, his face deeply disfigured from neurofibromatosis. He finds work in corporate videos (the sort where employees are urged to be respectful to disfigured colleagues), but at night, in his dark apartment with its menacing leak in the ceiling, he dreams of something more. Suddenly an offer to change his life materializes: an experimental drug that can restore his face. This might make him, Edward thinks, a different man.

Schimberg’s movie is a combination — sometimes effective, sometimes odd — of indie drama and low-key horror movie; the film is fascinated by the physicality of Edward’s disfigurement, zooming in on the creases and scars of his face, letting us see the seeping, gumlike texture of the skin Edward begins to literally peel off. (This is, I need not say, not a movie for the squeamish.) With his new face, Edward becomes Guy, a handsome man working in real estate — but he still looks back at his old life. His old neighbor, Ingrid (Renate Reinsve), no longer recognizes him; she’s a playwright who’s borrowed from Edward’s life in her work. What does she owe him?

Filmed partly in grainy 16mm (the film, like Edward’s apartment, seems to have a slightly grubby vintage patina), “A Different Man” is a fairly grim experience to watch, and Schimberg is still finding his way as a filmmaker. (Ingrid never feels believable as a character, and occasionally you get the sense that the film has lost its way.) But there’s a very interesting idea at its heart — what would it do to a person to have their physical identity entirely change? — and Stan, in his dual role, gives a fascinating, fearless performance. Guy’s life seems so very much easier than Edward’s, and yet he can’t shake the man he once was. Meeting a happy and confident actor with a similar disfigurement (Adam Pearson) leaves him reeling; is this the life he could have had? “A Different Man” spins out of control in its final act, but still leaves you pondering its questions.

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'A DIFFERENT MAN'

2.5 stars (out of 4)

MPA rating: R (for sexual content, graphic nudity, language and some violent content)

Running time: 1:52

How to watch: Now in theaters

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