A frozen flower , south korean fil.
A Frozen Flower (Hangul: 쌍화점; RR:
Ssanghwajeom) is a 2008 South Korean film.
It is directed by Yoo Ha and stars Jo In-sung,
Joo Jin-mo and Song Ji-hyo.[2][3] The historical
film is set during Goryeo Dynasty and is
loosely based on the reign of Gongmin of
Goryeo (1330–1374), but it does not strictly
comply with historical facts.[4] The
controversial story is about the characters’
violation of royal family protocol and their
pursuit of love.[5][6][7]
It was released in South Korea on 30
December 2008 and was the 6th most
attended film of 2008 with 3,772,976 tickets
sold.[8][9]
Plot
The Goryeo King (Joo Jin-mo) is married to a
Yuan Dynasty princess (Song Ji-hyo), but they
do not have any children. There is constant
pressure on the King both from the Yuan
emperor and the Goryeo Kingdom to produce a
crown prince and ensure the continuity of its
royal dynasty. The King's palace guard is
composed of thirty six young soldiers, led by
military commander Hong-rim (Jo In-sung),
who is also the King's gay lover. The King
finally decides to charge Hong-rim, with a
strange commission: make love to the Queen
and beget a child. Hong-rim and the Queen
are uncomfortable accepting the royal order,
but they finally comply. However, their
relationship does not stop at procreation, but
genuinely true and intense romance soon
blossoms between the two, and in this strong
and close intimate relationship there is no
place for the King.
The two passionate, intimate lovers surpass
their "official mission" and continue to meet
each other at midnight in the library in secret.
The King begins to suspect Hong-rim's
infidelity and soon gains evidence through
another subordinate. To punish them and to
also gauge the depth of Hong-rim's affection
for the Queen, the King brings the two
together to his chamber. The king tells them
that he has decided that the Queen's
"consummation" for an heir will continue, but
only with another subordinate. The king
remains firm in his decision despite entreaties
from both the Queen and Hong-rim.
In despair, the Queen attempts to kill herself
by slitting her wrists, but fails. In a last-ditch
effort to change the King's mind, Hong-rim
asks the Queen to stay away from him, and
goes to the King to offer his own life in
exchange for forgiveness. The King pardons
him, believing Hong-rim's claim that his
involvement with the Queen was purely lust.
He decides to overlook everything that had
happened, and instead orders Hong-rim to go
away for a while to clear his mind and settle
his emotions.
The night before Hong-rim's departure, the
Queen's personal maid secretly informs him
that the Queen wishes to meet him one last
time. She also bears news that the Queen has
finally conceived a child. Hong-rim sneaks out
from the King's bedside to meet the Queen in
the library. They end up making passionate
love in the library, but the King has by now
realised what is happening and catches them
in flagrante delicto. When the two lovers
attempt to save each other by begging the
King to "kill me instead," the King realizes how
strong and genuinely intimate their romantic
love for each other is. In a jealous rage, he
has Hong-rim castrated and sent to prison.
The Queen now realises that the King will
eliminate everyone who knows their secret, so
she sends her maid to warn Hong-rim's loyal
subordinates, and they manage to free Hong-
rim from prison and flee the city with him.
Upon learning of the escape, the King
demands to know Hong-rim's whereabouts
from the Queen, but she refuses to answer. In
response, he kills her maid. The King is then
informed that the Queen is pregnant, and as
the Queen had predicted, he then orders the
execution of everyone who knows that he is
not the child's father. Only his Junior
commander, who taken over from Hong-rim, is
spared.
Some time later, and having recovered from
his wound, Hong-rim realizes that the Queen
is still in the palace, and not on the run, as his
subordinates were ordered to tell him. Furious,
he starts out for the city on horseback, despite
their protests, but then he stops in his journey,
realizing how futile it would be. However, on
returning to the refuge, he finds that his men
have been tracked down and captured.
At the palace, the King tortures the
subordinates to discover the whereabouts of
Hong-rim, but they remain silent, so the King
has them killed and their heads are put up on
posts on the palace gates, along with that of
the Queen's maid. Her head bears the
Queen's necklace, in order to trick Hong-rim
into believing the queen is dead and forcing
him to return to enact revenge. When Hong-
rim returns to the city he sees this, and indeed
becomes enraged and determines to kill the
King. Disguising himself as a soldier, he enters
the palace grounds during the celebrations for
the Queen's pregnancy and hides out,
awaiting his chance to reach the King and kill
him.
Meanwhile, as the King returns to his private
quarters, he encounters the Queen, but he
snubs her, and orders his Junior Commander to
escort her back to her room. As the
Commander is about to leave the Queen's
chamber, she warns him that the King will
surely have him killed as soon as the baby is
born; she then says that if the Commander
assassinates the King, and her father takes
over the throne, she will guarantee that his
life will be spared. The Junior Commander
then calls a meeting of his most trusted
subordinates and reveals the truth about the
King, the Queen and Hong-rim. However,
before they can carry out the Queen's plan,
Hong-rim goes into action.
Ignoring the palace guards, who plead with
him to leave before he is captured and killed,
he fights his way to the King's quarters,
cutting down all who oppose him. Reaching
the King's chamber, Hong-rim confronts the
King and demands that he fight him. An
intense duel ensues, during which Hong-rim
slashes the through the King's favourite
painting, which depicts him and Hong-rim
hunting together. As the desperate duel
continues, the Junior Commander and his men
arrive (presumably with the intention of killing
the King, as the Queen had suggested) but the
King orders them not to intervene, and the
Junior Commander holds them back and awaits
the outcome of the fight. At the climax of the
duel, the King manages to break Hong-rim's
sword, and stabs him in the shoulder. While
Hong-rim is pinned by his sword, the King asks
him a last question: whether or not Hong-rim
had ever felt love for him. Hong-rim replies
'no'. Hearing this, the King is shocked, giving
Hong-rim time to throw himself forward on
the blade and kill the King with the shard of
his own sword.
As the King dies, Hong-rim staggers to his
feet, pulls the King's sword from his shoulder
and charges at the guards, but he is fatally
stabbed by the Junior Commander. Moments
later the Queen comes upon the scene with
the guards at her heels, trying to hold her
back. Horrified, she tearfully calls out for
Hong-rim. As she is taken away by the guards,
Hong-rim realizes that the king had not killed
her after all. He turns his head from her and
dies facing the king, his eyes filled with
realization of the King's test. The Junior
Commander then declares that the King has
been killed by an assassin, and he orders his
men to quickly remove the bodies, and to tell
no-one of what has transpired.
The final scenes of the film show a flashback
to when the King showed young Hong-rim the
view of the city and asked if Hong-rim wished
to live together, to which the young Hong-rim
replied "Yes." The film ends on a montage of
the King and Hong-rim happily hunting
together, referring back to a dream the King
once had, as depicted in the King's painting
--
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