This film was originally conceived as a vehicle for music composed by Paul K. Joyce. A set of operatic songs had been written by Paul K. Joyce for a concert at the Barbican Arts Centre held in 2003. The songs narrated the fairytale of The Snow Queen and featured Sydney Rae White as the lead girl soprano, Juliet Stevenson as the narrator and the London Symphony Orchestra providing instrumentals. Due to the success of the concert, a full-fledged film was developed around the original songs, and in which Sydney White and Juliet Stevenson returned to contribute as actresses.
The songs written by Paul K. Joyce are central to the film, providing main narration throughout the story. Actual dialogue is sparse, and most notable is that the Snow Queen herself has no lines. The story also focuses entirely on Gerda's journey, with all others, including Kay himself, acting as supporting characters. However, the character of the Raven (voiced by Patrick Stewart) was given more prominence as he follows Gerda throughout her entire journey.
Plot
One night in winter, a young girl named Gerda sees a poor boy shivering in the cold. Gerda gives him a penny and one of her blankets, and her mother eventually takes the boy in, feeding and clothing him. The boy, whose name is Kay, strikes up a warm friendship with Gerda. One night, Gerda's mother tells the pair of the Snow Queen, who rules winter. Kay has seen her and fallen in love with her, so when she returns, he opens the window but something falls into his eye. From that moment on his heart is cold and he is cruel towards Gerda. Although Gerda is confused over Kay's sudden change of personality, she continues to try to mend their friendship.
One day, Kay goes sledding in the woods when he sees the Snow Queen. He hitches the rope of Gerda's sled to the Queen's sleigh and travels off with her. He does not return and when the sled is discovered in the river, he is presumed dead. Gerda mourns him by the river but is visited by a talking raven who tells her that Kay is not in the river.
Gerda decides to find Kay, travelling many miles and meeting many characters. First she meets talking flowers and a rose tells her that Kay is in a palace. Next she befriends a King, a princess and a prince in a golden palace. The King tells her "the legend of the looking glass". It is said that a wicked magician, thought to be the Devil himself, made a mirror that would distort the image of everyone who looked into it. When it broke, the fragments flew into the air causing more trouble. The King suspects that it is a shard of that mirror that fell into Kay's eye.
The King, the princess and the prince let Gerda wear a silk gown and the princess's fur cape for her journey and send her off in a golden carriage to the forest after saying their goodbyes and promising they will meet again. The raven goes along with her. However, the carriage is ambushed by robbers and just as one of them is about to kill Gerda for her clothes, a robber girl saves her. After an argument, Gerda realises the robber girl is all alone and promises she'll come back for her with Kay and be friends. The robber girl gives her a reindeer who knows the way and they make it to the North.
Gerda is exhausted and falls asleep in a blizzard, but an old Finland woman rescues her and her animals. She does not know the entire way to the Snow Queen but she gives them a way to the Laplander's home. Gerda, the raven and reindeer brave many dangerous obstacles and make it safely to the land of the Midnight Sun where the Laplander gives them a potion which flies them through the Northern Lights. But before they go, she warns them that the Snow Queen might freeze them to death.
They finally arrive at the Snow Queen's palace, but are charged at by her giant Polar Bears. Luckily, they shatter into pieces when the reindeer hits them with his antlers. Gerda decides to go on alone and finds Kay unconscious on a table of ice. The Snow Queen confronts Gerda, intent on destroying her, but Gerda remembers that the King said her strong and pure sisterly love for Kay would give her the bravery and power to defeat the Winter Witch, and the Snow Queen explodes into snow and purple light. Gerda wakes Kay with her warm tears, and Kay cries the shard of mirror out of his eye. The pair escape as the palace collapses around them, and the Snow Queen's spirit shoots into a cloud.
They make it back to their town and are reunited with Gerda's mother. The raven is seen flying away and the reindeer living in the North. Suddenly, a fragment of the evil mirror floats past the planet.
All live-action scenes were filmed in bluescreen, with backgrounds fully rendered by CGI in order to give the film a storybook feel. Live-action filming was carried out in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where according to Sydney and Juliet, the challenge lay in pretending that they were freezing cold while wearing multiple layers of clothing in a hot studio.
Soundtrack
A full album recording of the songs was released on 31 October 2006. The track listing is as follows:
"The Snow Queen" is an 1844 original fairy tale by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. It was first published 21 December 1844 in New Fairy Tales. First Volume. Second Collection. The story centers on the struggle between good and evil as experienced by Gerda and her friend, Kai. Unlike Andersen's other stories, The Snow Queen is written in a novel-styled narrative, being divided into seven chapters.
"Snow White" is a German fairy tale, first written down in the early 19th century. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection Grimms' Fairy Tales, numbered as Tale 53. The original German title was Sneewittchen; the modern spelling is Schneewittchen. The Grimms completed their final revision of the story in 1854, which can be found in the 1857 version of Grimms' Fairy Tales.
The Evil Queen, also called the Wicked Queen or the Queen, is a fictional character and the main antagonist of "Snow White", a German fairy tale recorded by the Brothers Grimm; similar stories exist worldwide. Other versions of the Queen appear in subsequent adaptations and continuations of the fairy tale, including novels and films. A particularly notable version is Disney's depiction, sometimes known as Queen Grimhilde. The character has also become an archetype that inspired unrelated works.
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Snow Queen is a 2002 made-for-television film produced by Hallmark Entertainment and directed by David Wu based on the 1844 story The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen. The film stars Bridget Fonda as the title character and Chelsea Hobbs as her rival and the story's heroine, Gerda. The film originally aired on Hallmark Channel as a two-part miniseries, but has since been released as a full-length film on DVD in the United States. The DVD was released in the United Kingdom on November 9, 2009 and in Australia on September 2, 2011. This was Bridget Fonda's last acting role before her retirement.
The Snow Queen is a 1957 Soviet animated musical fantasy film directed by Lev Atamanov. It is the ninth full-length animated production by Soyuzmultfilm and is based on the 1844 fable “The Snow Queen” by Hans Christian Andersen. The film is one of the earliest cinematic adaptations of the Scandinavian Danish fable since its publication in New Fairy Tales. First Volume. Second Collection.
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The Snow Queen is a chamber opera in six scenes and a prologue by Matthew King. The libretto, by Andrew McKinnon, is based on the original 1844 allegorical fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen. The opera was composed in 1992 for the British soprano Jane Manning who sang the title role in the first performance with Pal Rullestad (tenor) and Tracy Chadwell (soprano) in supporting roles. The work also has significant roles for two young singers as Gerda and Kay, the heroic children in the story and a chorus of treble voices. The work is scored for a small ensemble of eight players with conductor: string trio, flute/piccolo/alto flute, clarinet/bass clarinet, piano/celesta and percussion. The pianist also has to play a melodian. At one point, the conductor is required to play a French horn. The wide-ranging musical narrative involves a plethora of musical styles. A review of the first performance described King as being "like a bright Hollywood composer with a sense of humour" and, after a subsequent performance at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, another reviewer suggested that the opera contained '"music of distinctive beauty with disarming theatre sense.'"
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The Snow Queen is a 2000 speculative fiction novel by Canadian writer Eileen Kernaghan.
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