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Nobody tells Joaquin Phoenix, but Joker: Folie à Deux is only the second best psychological drama of the week, made with a nostalgia for early 1980s New York. The real winner of this competition is Another manalthough you wouldn't know it from marketing. In the UK, Aaron Schimberg's stark black comedy is being released with fanfare so muted it may only be audible to bats. Anyone looking for this will be rewarded with one of the most interesting films of the year: a unique story about “boy meets girl meets doppelganger”.

The first of the male characters, Edward, is played by sometime Marvel star Sebastian Stan, but with a twist: Prosthetics have made Stan a real-life role model for Adam Pearson, the real-life British actor whose genetic disorder neurofibromatosis causes extensive facial tumors. (You may have seen it on Jonathan Glazer Under the skin.)

Edward is also an actor, although less successful. His face is the central fact of a life he leads timidly in a cramped, walkable Manhattan while infatuated with Ingrid, the wannabe playwright next door. (She will be played by Renate Reinsve from 2022 The worst person in the world.)

The idea of ​​an unemployed actor and aspiring writer making rent in New York feels deliberately dated: the spirit of a more playful version of the city, also present in scenes of exotic bar life and gags about Woody Allen. This connection to reality also sets the tone for the turning point: an experimental medical process that “cures” Edward. (You can consider the film as a less gory companion to last week's feminist body horror The substance.)

The punchline is funny. Now an entirely new Edward emerges, still played by a Stan, but with prosthetics removed and his own chiseled good looks in their place. But even if he has the features of a movie star, his goals remain modest. A job in the real estate industry is tempting.

But now this actually Pearson enters the story with his own magnetic character and unpredictable consequences. This is due to the bravura twist that Schimberg gives to the script, which keeps us off balance while the film raises questions. Are we made or self-made? Does what we ever see in the mirror Really change? Ticklish ideas keep cropping up in a grimly funny film that can even be incredibly uplifting in its own twisted way.

The story focuses on Ingrid's debut play, which is drawn from Edward's life. Cyrano de Bergerac is referenced, but because the film tells the story of a disabled character, it is very much about itself. The surprising thing is how confident it can be without losing everyone else's attention. Schimberg deserves credit, as do Stan and Reinsve – but it is Pearson who brings depth and joy to this peek-a-boo game of life and art.

★★★★☆

In UK cinemas from October 4th and now in US cinemas