Frozen Flower

A Frozen Flower is a 2008 South Korean film directed by Yoo Ha. A story particularly controversial is the characters’ violation of royal family protocol and their pursuit of both homosexual and bisexual love.

The film is set in Goryeo Dynasty Korea and stars Jo In-sung, Ju Jin-mo and Song Ji-hyo. In the end of Goryeo era politically manipulated by the Yuan Dynasty, the ambitious King of the Goryeo Dynasty organizes Kunryongwe. Hong Lim, the commander of Kunryongwe, captivates the King of Goryeo, and the Queen keeps her eyes on the relationship between Hong Lim and the King with a reluctant view.

Meanwhile, the bilateral relation between Goryeo and the Yuan gets worse as Yuan demands to install the cousin of the King in the Crown Prince of Goryeo with ascribing it to no son the King has. The King refuses it resolutely, so the high-ranking officials of Goryeo, who are in submission to Yuan, are discontented with the king. One day, the King gives Hong Lim a covert yet unobjectionable order to sleep with the Queen instead of himself to protect the independence of Goryeo from the Yuan by making a son, the successor to Goryeo throne.

A Frozen Flower is based on a true story from Goryeo Dynasty Korea and takes its title from a song of that era which described the sexual relationships between men and women.

It is the fifth feature film by director Yoo Ha, who wanted to make a change from his previous works by doing a historical film, saying, “I always felt uncomfortable with the genre but I felt I should try to overcome those feelings. It is also a new challenge for me to focus on a melodrama”.

He also stated that the film was “a love story between men”.

Jo In-sung was onboard from the beginning of the project, having turned down other acting roles to make A Frozen Flower his last work before enlisting for military service. He choose to appear in the film without knowing the exact details, having faith in the director following their earlier collaboration in 2005 on A Dirty Carnival. Jo began training for the role in August 2007, learning martial arts, fencing, horse riding and geomungo.

The casting of Ju Jin-mo as the king was announced in December 2007.

The budget for A Frozen Flower was $10 million and the film went into production on 16 April 2008. It was the first film to shoot at the newly built Jeonju Cinema Studio.