A Frozen Flower Film poster

A Frozen Flower (Hangul: 쌍화점; RR: Ssanghwajeom) is a 2008 South Korean film directed by Yu Ha. The particularly controversial story is about the characters’ violation of royal family protocol and their pursuit of love. The film is set in Goryeo Dynasty Korea and stars Jo In-sung, Ju Jin-mo and Song Ji-hyo.

A Frozen Flower is based on a true story from the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392) 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 on board from the beginning of the project, and having turned down other acting roles to make A Frozen Flower his last work before enlisting for military service. He chose to appear in the film without knowing the exact details and 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,[6] and the film went into production on 16 April 2008. It was the first film to shoot at the newly built Jeonju Cinema Studio.

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.

The only way for the King to be able to protect his throne and establish an autonomous state is if he would have a son through his wife, the Queen. However, he is unable to make love to the queen from Yuan because he is in love with his bodyguard, Hong Lim. As the threats to his throne arise, he is forced to send Hong Lim to make love to his queen. This sexual contact formulates a forbidden love between Hong Lim and the Queen.

They continue their relationship through their meeting up at midnight in the library. Their love is so strong that it even led Hong Lim to not follow the King's orders. The King begins to have suspicions of Hong Lim's infidelity. Hong Lim, in turn, asks the Queen to stay away from him, after which he goes to the King to beg for forgiveness. Meanwhile, the Queen attempts to kill herself by slitting her wrists but fails. The King forgives him after learning that Hong Lim's involvement with the Queen was purely lust. He decides to overlook the everything that had happened and instead send Hong Lim away for a while to have him cool his mind.

The night before Hong Lim's departure, the Queen's personal maid secretly informs him that the Queen wishes to meet him for one last time. She also bears news that the Queen has finally conceived. Hong Lim sneaks out of the King's bedside to meet the Queen in the library. They end up making love in the library, and the King catches them in act. When the two lovers attempt to save the other by begging the King to "kill me instead," the King realizes how strong their love for each other is. In a fit of jealousy, he has Hong Lim castrated and sent to prison. The queen finds a way for Hong Lim to escape with the aid of Hong Lim's dearest subordinates.

Upon finding that Hong Lim had escaped, the King demands to know where he is from the Queen, who refuses to answer. In response, he kills her personal maid. The King is aware that the Queen is with child and by this time, everyone who was aware that the Queen's child was not the King's was exterminated.

Meanwhile Hong Lim, upon realizing that the Queen is still in the palace and not on the run as his subordinates told him in order to quickly escape, heads towards the palace on horseback despite his subordinate's protests. However, he stops in his journey when he realizes how futiles it would be. He returns to the refuge where his subordinates took him to but find that they have been captured. At the palace, the King tortures subordinates to find the whereabouts of Hong Lim, and when they remain silent, beheads them. Their heads are put up in posts on the palace gates along with the queen's personal maid. But the female head has the queen's necklace leading Hong Lim to believe the queen was also killed; an act to entice him to return to enact revenge. When Hong Lim sees this, he is enraged and goes to the King to kill him. An intense sword fight ensues. However, the King manages to stab Hong Lim at the shoulder, and while he is pinned, he asks Hong Lim a last question; whether or not Hong Lim had ever felt real love for the King. Hong Lim replies that he had never felt love for him. At this the King is shocked, giving Hong Lim time to throw a lethal stab of his own sword through the King. One of the royal guards, having watched part of the battle, now intervenes by fatally stabbing Hong Lim. The queen comes upon the scene with the guards and calls out for Hong Lim, however he turns his head from her and faces the dead king as he dies, implying that he may have loved both the King and the Queen but always the King until the end. The last few seconds of the film shows a flashback to when the King showed young Hong Lim the view of the city and asked if Hong Lim wished to live together, to which the young Hong Lim replied yes. The film ends on a montage of the King and Hong Lim happily hunting together.