A Frozen Flower (Ssang-hwa-jeom) (2008) directed by Ha Yu

[reviews_and_ramblings]

A historical drama set in the Koryo dynasty and focused on the relationship between a king and his bodyguard.

Director: Ha Yu

Writer: Ha Yu (screenplay)

Release Date: 30 December 2008 (South Korea)
11 October 2009 (Chicago International Film Festival, USA)

Genres: Drama, History, Romance

Storyline: The king of Goryeo Dynasty Korea attempts to shake off the dominance of Yuan Dynasty China and establish an autonomous state. He forms a palace guard composed of thirty six young soldiers, led by military commander Hong-rim. But the king faces betrayal when Hong-rim falls in love with both him and his rival, the Yuan Dynasty queen.

The Goryeo King is under pressure from his Yuan rulers to either produce an heir, or name his cousin the Crown Prince, which he resolutely refuses to do. Although married, the King's true love is not his wife, the Queen, but his chief bodyguard, Hong Lim. During his marriage he has never so much as touched the Queen. One day the King asks Hong Lim to sleep with his wife, assuming that would solve the issue of his succession as long as a royal son is produced. Instead it begins a vicious love triangle filled with forbidden lust, betrayal, and uncontrolled revenge.

Awards: 2009 Won Baek Sang Film Art Award as Best Actor to Jin-mo Ju
2010 Orient Express Section Special Jury Award to Ha Yu, Fantasporto

@IMDb
@Amazon: A Frozen Flower (2008)
@Netflix

 





















 

Cast (in credits order)
Jin-mo Ju ... King
Ji-hyo Song ... Queen
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
In-seong Jo ... Hong-rim
Hong Jong-Hyeon
Hyeon-woo Kim
In-beom Ko ... Yeon Ki-mok
Tae-won Kwon ... Jo Il-moon
Ju-hwan Lim ... Han-baek
Ji-hyeon Min ... Concubine
Min-wu Noh ... Min-wu
Ji-ho Shim ... Seung-gi
Jung-ki Song ... King's men - No-tak
Wook-hwan Yeo ... Im-bo

     
The Chief and the King

Comments

[lee-rowan.livejournal.com]

It certainly looks gorgeous, and I know what you mean about the grim, fatalistic trend in Asian films. What you describe sounds to me like it's along the lines of the 'tragic doomed gay' stories of most patriarchal cultures--anyone who doesn't follow the "Pass Down Your DNA" edict winds up dead. For all the differences in culture, the basic idea sounds more or less like Marlowe's Edward II.

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

Indead not only there is the tragedy of having to produce an heir when you are basically impotent with women, there is also the jealousy of discovering that, where you (the King) are basically homosexual, the love of your life is instead bisexual. In a modern contest, the obvious solution would have been to have a menages a trois, but in the tragic contest of this historical drama, the love of the King for his Chief was too strong to allow that.