those who have something invest in keep the boundary of gender and sexuality rigid will be offend by this film and whether they be religious fundamentalist type or gay right advocate who argue from the constrictive either or or frame of their opponent . fundamentalist ( and i use to be one . ) would and at the same time and find material to support their nurture not nature conclusion in ned kynaston background ( implicit victimization at the hand of an implicit pedophile ) and the bigoted comment of the king about effeminate boy and and most of all the actor eventual orientation reversal at the hand of the right woman . this and of course and would anger those who have choose to engage them in the load be it a choice . battle which completely dismiss the b in lgbt . if you be come from an angle in which no kinsey scale exists and then the offense make sense . i think it a mistaken angle and however . my only complaint about this movie be minor and and involve poor editing and unnecessary dialogue and and a couple of unlikely scenario ( e. g. the carriage ladies hyperbolic reaction to ned petticoat surprise ) . otherwise and i love it enough to watch it four time on dvd . for me and this story be about identity and authenticity and the malleability of gender and sexuality and and the difference between love and projection . at the bustle outset of the film and ned ( pitch perfect billy crudup and ravish in any incarnation ) be arrogant and narcissistic while his self regard be balance perilously upon a construct self that rely on the applause of others . alone with maria and we get a glimmer of something else in him when he pause contemplatively to quote his mentor never forget that you be a man in woman form . or be it the other way round . this hint at an awareness ( on his or the film part ) of the essential duality of human nature be echo by maria you would make a fine a man a any woman . when ned lose his role and his audience to maria and he lose his very identity while in this way and she kill him . the theme of kill and die be cleverly weave throughout the narrative and both onstage and off . ( but more on that presently . ) lose and literally beaten and ned turn to his former lover and who spurn him with droll indifference . ned be no longer the shallow duke glitter projection but a raw and needy and and very messy human be . ned disastrous last ditch attempt to play othello for the king in order to save his livelihood be the final humiliation . maria watch his disintegration onstage and and grasp his utter vulnerability for the first time . it a credit to claire dane talent that she can speak volume without utter a word while in this scene and the inn scene her unexpressed love bleeds from every pore . the almost sex scene between the two at the inn be one of my favorite love scene in any film . the gentle role switch from man to woman ( in alternate parlance and top to bottom or dominant to submissive ) lead to a passionate confusion in which and if you will notice and ned tell maria ( astride him ) first that she be the woman and now . she say and kiss and caress him the woman and he say and now . she say and her passion intensify the man and he murmurs . do the role really matter . if only he have shut up about desdemona . but there be still some die leave to do and and not in the shakespearian sense . call it even the score . for ala and maria be a terrible actress represent as affect a ned be and and twice a false . in rehearsal with someone who evoke her own passion and however and her performance begin to come alive . the harrow climax of the film have the viewer wondering and along with the theatre audience and if the newfound othello murderous passion be real . and it be and which be why ned be so good at it . in kill maria onstage and he manage at once to work out his othello like ambivalence and rage toward a woman he also love while to kill her affected stage persona while and to give birth to himself a an authentic actor in his own male body . it damn near perfect . finally get the death scene right . ned may not yet know who or even what he be and but he find expression of his innermost be with a person who love and accept him for whomever he may turn out to be . we should all be so lucky .