Cross

A man cross-dresses behind his partner's back.

Through the relationship of a young couple, this short drama explores the act of cross-dressing, particularly how it affects the cross-dresser and their partner. In this story, the person who engages in cross-dressing is Tom (Hayes), a young man, who lives a happy life with his partner Kelly (Harker). In secret, when Kelly is not home, Tom experiments with his activity, trying on women's dresses and high heels and applying lipstick. Eventually and by chance, Kelly walks catches him in the act and that creates significant complications between them.

As mentioned, the screenplay explores the effects cross-dressing has on people who do it and their partner. Tom is clearly ashamed of himself for having such tendencies as while he dresses up as a woman, he seems to have some sort of epiphany that makes him believe that what he is doing is wrong. When Kelly finds out, she is upset (and so is Tom) and she distances herself from him. After some time, she warms up towards him, appearing to have accepted the fact that that is who he is. The film seems to suggest that those who cross-dress tend to be ashamed about it and that they should not be and that those around them, who are aware of it, should come to terms with it and let them be who they want to be.

This is an intriguing and thought-provoking film that utilises cross-dressing in order to tell a story about self-expression, inner struggles and acceptance. It is a dramatic viewing with atmospheric music and contains main messages that seem to be that people should not hide who they are and that understanding is crucial for relationships to work.