Aaron Schimberg breaks down the disfigurement and desperation of A Different Man’s transformation • Journal • A Magazine • , Life in canada

After

Although Edward’s transformation was borne out of his own obsession with nobody other than himself, things unspool in more complex ways after the procedure because of two other people: Oswald, who we know intimately, and, perhaps most perniciously, Ingrid (The Worst Person in the World’s Renate Reinsve)—Edward’s next-door neighbor, then friend, then whatever the opposite of a muse is, then director, then lover, then ex-lover, then who knows what else.

Ingrid moves in, asks to borrow laundry detergent, does not flinch at Edward’s condition pre-transformation, but does get a little too close. “I knew there was something odd about Ingrid the second she wanted to squeeze his blackhead so early in the game,” Zopinion writes. She is also the character that separates this film from something like The Substance: a woman taking advantage of physical difference, using another person’s life for her own ego, vanity, art, call it what you will. With every justification, she gives about turning Edward’s life pre-transformation into a stage production (she thinks he took his own life, as he re-enters hers as fresh-out-the-box realtor Guy), the ramifications of her actions become greater. Ableism and exploitation don’t seem to care about gender. In other words, as Hudson writes, “still the worst person in the world.”

“When I wrote the part of Ingrid, I was unsure that anybody could pull this off,” Schimberg says. “I thought, ‘This is a very difficult role.’ You could say that Ingrid is unethical, but in other ways, as some kind of artist, I’m dealing with my own personal shit as well. But I’m also, in some ways, cannibalizing the things around me. I don’t necessarily judge Ingrid in that sense.”

After playing a lovesick and lost 30-something in Joachim Trier’s wondrous coming-of-ager, the Norwegian actress thrives as a seemingly charming but fundamentally dubious girl-next-door (in her first English-speaking role). “Renate, in some ways, makes this character more unlikable,” Schimberg adds. “I think she enjoyed the comedy of somebody who was just plowing through without regard for anybody else. She plays this with a certain nuance that I can’t imagine anybody else having as much fun with this role, and embracing her dark side, while also making it light and making her relatable.”