In the shadow of the Yuan Dynasty, the Goryeo king is under pressure to produce a son from the queen, herself a member of the Yuan clan. If he cannot sire an heir then he will be forced to name his cousin as regent, effectively surrendering his throne in the process. The problem is that the king only has eyes for his chief bodyguard, Hong, a feeling that is passionately reciprocated. The king secretly enlists Hong to “service the queen”, a proposal to which the queen understandably objects. She has been neglected since her arrival in the palace and is only too aware of Hong’s relationship with her husband. In her eyes, Hong is responsible for her alienation and unhappiness. However, they reluctantly agree to carry out the king’s wishes, and amidst the throes of passion stirs a deep and powerful attraction between Hong and the queen, igniting an affair that is doomed from its very inception.

A Frozen Flower was a huge hit in Korea last year, following in the footsteps of The King and the Clown with its tale of forbidden homosexual relations within the highest echelons of patriarchal society. However, A Frozen Flower breaks new ground with the candid nature of its content, featuring numerous explicit sex scenes, including a steamy, frantic coupling between Hong and the king. The film set a new box-office record for an erotic film. But director Yoo Ha is after more than titillation and cheap thrills. A Frozen Flower is a lavish production that features a number of well-staged traditional dance performances and elegant set designs.

However, A Frozen Flower is let down greatly by its script. The set up – a love triangle between the king, the queen and their shared lover – seems almost impossible to fumble. Add to this an impending political takeover and a handful of scheming politicians and chamberlains and the stage is set for a drama of almost Shakespearian scope. However, the plotting quickly becomes predictable and you find yourself second-guessing the characters actions and reactions, even down to lines of dialogue. This in itself is not enough to sink the film, but the pacing is also far too slow. The film runs about half an hour too long, with an easily foreseeable chain of events unfolding at an increasingly agonising crawl.

This is a great blow to a film that has a lot of potential. Ju Jin Mo makes for a deeply conflicted monarch, secretly placing the future of his kingdom into the hands of the one person he truly loves, only to be betrayed. Song Ji Hyo delivers a courageous performance as the queen, at once fragile and vulnerable, yet passionate and impulsive. She is quite possibly the best thing in the film and is sure to have a furtive career ahead of her. Jo In Sung, however, has been drawing most of the attention as Hong, the lover of both royals, who must choose between king and queen, knowing that either decision could topple the kingdom and quite possibly bring about his own demise.

In the end, A Frozen Flower is a disappointment and not close to emulating the quality of The King and the Clown. The film will be remembered for its explicit and challenging content as well as its courageous acting, rather than as the thrilling, passionate tale of forbidden love and political intrigue it aspires to be. But perhaps being remembered at all is enough. James Marsh