'A Frozen Flower' (Ssang-hwa-jeom) is a historical drama set in the 14th century, in a time of war for power and palace intrigues in which the need to produce an heir forces Gong Min, the king of Goryeo , to make a decision that will have dramatic and unexpected consequences on himself and everyone around him.
Faced with the discovery of a plot to assassinate him and seize the throne, the king must secure an heir, but here the conflict arises: the monarch has no pleasure in women and loves Hong Lim, his faithful general, the only person he accepts in his litter.
Given the circumstances, she decides that her lover takes his place in the queen's bed and fertilizes her, all under the greatest secrecy and discretion. And there the next problem arises: Hong Lim falls in love with No Guk, the queen, a role played by Song Ji Hyo ('The Witch's Diner'), despite being reluctant at first because he has never slept with a woman, but no. can disobey the king.
The grand historical setting and political plots are clearly overshadowed by the central story.
We are faced with a story of a king in love with his chief of the imperial guard, who has been instilled since childhood that one must please the king in every way. For that reason, he is shocked when he receives the king's order.
Neither the queen nor Hong Lim have a choice. They are puppets of royal power, so they obey without any other alternative. As in a kind of sacrifice, the queen has to have sex with a stranger. But here is precisely the key to the story: if she has never had sex, he doesn't know what it's like to have sex with someone of the opposite gender to his.
After the initial impact, both discover an unknown, unexplored sensual side. What at first is a repugnant obligation soon becomes a discovery of the senses that leaves the three completely perplexed.
A passionate and irresistible desire will push the queen and Hong Lim to face great risks, endangering both their loyalty to the king and their own lives in a story that grows in tension with each scene. And the king will not sit idly by and will explode in anger and seek revenge, because there is nothing that hurts a lover more than having what he considers his own taken from him, and even more so if you are the one in power.
Hong Lim is caught between his desire for the queen and his loyalty to the king. A simple misstep could be considered treason. And they both run this danger.
In my opinion, the female character is the one who bears the brunt, since in the end she loses the two men in her life who, although they never loved her, only used her. His only consolation, besides having loved, is the son he fathered.
Ranked 44th among the best South Korean films of all time, according to the FA rankings, the viewer will be struck by the explicit and realistic sexual scenes, whether between Jo In Sung in his role as Hong Lim, whom we remember for his tender and sweet image in the series 'Shoot for the Stars', with Joo Jin Mo ('Empress Ki'), an actor who plays the king, or between his lover and the queen. And in 2008, at the time of filming, all the romantic scenes in South Korean series and films had the characteristics of being very modest and subtle, more of suggesting than showing. Even today they are not free from this peculiarity, much less if it involves sex between men.
The topic of homosexuality and the love relationship between a king and a member of his imperial guard is not something new or unreal. Historical documents prove it. What is interesting about the film is the decisions that the lovers make and how these lead them to a tragic destiny. This is how the film explores other themes, such as the importance of decisions, the weight of carrying their consequences and regret (or not).
With three nominations for the Blue Dragon Film Awards (South Korea) in 2009, the director does an excellent job of obtaining facial and body expressions from the actors between the feminine and the masculine with total naturalness. The face of Jo In Sung will remain in cinema history as the king scorned and wounded in his self-love for the person he loves madly.
Based on a film text by the director himself, the South Korean filmmaker Yoo Ha, known for his work in films such as 'Gangnam 1970', 'Once Upon a Time in High School' and 'A Dirty Carnival', among others, the feature film recreates a love triangle between the king, his subject and lover, and the queen, or more precisely, a forbidden romance in the Forbidden City.
The film will soon make the viewer understand the complex situation that involves the three protagonists, and how it escapes the hands of the young couple involved, since, when she also falls in love with the head of the imperial guard, they will begin to have dates clandestinely behind the king's back, who, upon learning of the events, must intervene drastically, venting his fury like any jilted lover.
The king, in the end, lets himself be carried away by his obsessive love. Frustrated, more than by his inability to procreate a child, by having to share the body and heart of his lover, making him the villain, since Hong Lim will blame him for everything that happened.
In addition to the solid performances, the impeccable script and the magnificent direction, we must highlight the love story, the plot tension, the dazzling display of costumes, makeup, hair, very consistent with the time, and a full-blown art direction, in addition to a photograph, in the hands of Choi Hyun-gi, clear, luminous, even in closed and dark spaces, such as the lovers' darkened bedrooms, and perfect camera framing, all in order to embellish this historical fiction.
Kim Jun-seok's exquisite music, including diegetic music, that is, that performed by the protagonists themselves or the rest of the cast in public and private royal festivities and celebrations, introduces the viewer to that oriental world in which there is no shortage of combat with swords and other bladed weapons and martial arts fights.
'A Frozen Flower' is, in short, a film whose main theme is simply love.