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The Snow Queen (2005 film)

January 01, 1970

The Snow Queen is a 2005 BBC television film commissioned by Michael Carrington that is based on the 1844 Hans Christian Andersen fairytale of The Snow Queen. Directed by Julian Gibbs, it stars Juliet Stevenson as Gerda's mother and the voice of Patrick Stewart as the raven.

The Snow Queen
DVD cover
Directed byJulian Dominic Gibbs
Written byHans Christian Andersen (original story)
James Andrew Hall
Based onThe Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen
StarringSydney Rae White
Juliet Stevenson
Patrick Stewart (voice)
Music byPaul K. Joyce
Production
companies
Amberwood Entertainment
SQ Productions
Distributed byBBC Worldwide
Release date
  • 24 December 2005 (2005-12-24)
Running time
56 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget40,000,000$

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 edit

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.

Cast edit

Production edit

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 edit

A full album recording of the songs was released on 31 October 2006. The track listing is as follows:

  1. Sonnet XXV
  2. The Snow Queen Overture
  3. Hear Next Of Winter
  4. The Mirror And Its Fragments
  5. She Walks In Beauty
  6. A Little Boy And A Little Girl
  7. The Cold Earth Slept Below
  8. Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep
  9. Remember
  10. The Enchanted Flower Garden
  11. Lullaby
  12. The Prince And The Princess
  13. In The Bleak Mid-Winter
  14. The Little Robber Maiden
  15. How Calm, How Beautiful, Comes On
  16. The Lapland Woman And The Finland Woman
  17. Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep (reprise)
  18. The Snow Queen's Palace
  19. The Snow Queen Suite

External links edit

  • Official site
  • The Snow Queen at IMDb  

January 01, 1970
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The Snow Queen is a 2005 BBC television film commissioned by Michael Carrington that is based on the 1844 Hans Christian Andersen fairytale of The Snow Queen Directed by Julian Gibbs it stars Juliet Stevenson as Gerda s mother and the voice of Patrick Stewart as the raven The Snow QueenDVD coverDirected byJulian Dominic GibbsWritten byHans Christian Andersen original story James Andrew HallBased onThe Snow Queen by Hans Christian AndersenStarringSydney Rae WhiteJuliet StevensonPatrick Stewart voice Music byPaul K JoyceProductioncompaniesAmberwood EntertainmentSQ ProductionsDistributed byBBC WorldwideRelease date24 December 2005 2005 12 24 Running time56 minutesCountryUnited KingdomLanguageEnglishBudget40 000 000 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 Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Production 4 Soundtrack 5 External linksPlot editOne 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 Cast editJuliet Stevenson as Gerda s Mother Sydney Rae White as Gerda Patrick Stewart as The Raven voice Kenneth Welsh as King Pax Baldwin as Kay Tiffany Amber Knight as The Snow Queen Colleen Williams as Mrs Neilson Sasha Clements as Robber Girl Leah Cudmore as Princess Bradie Whetham as Prince Pascale Audrey as Robber WomanProduction editAll 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 editA full album recording of the songs was released on 31 October 2006 The track listing is as follows Sonnet XXV The Snow Queen Overture Hear Next Of Winter The Mirror And Its Fragments She Walks In Beauty A Little Boy And A Little Girl The Cold Earth Slept Below Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep Remember The Enchanted Flower Garden Lullaby The Prince And The Princess In The Bleak Mid Winter The Little Robber Maiden How Calm How Beautiful Comes On The Lapland Woman And The Finland Woman Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep reprise The Snow Queen s Palace The Snow Queen SuiteExternal links editOfficial site The Snow Queen at IMDb nbsp Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title The Snow Queen 2005 film amp oldid 1166277320, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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