The Snow Queen (2005)

The Snow Queen is a 2005 BBC television movie commissioned by Michael Carrington that is based on the 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.

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.

Synopsis

One night in winter, a young girl named Gerda sees a young boy on the side of the street and shivering in the cold. Gerda gives him her blanket, and Gerda's 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 the story of the Snow Queen, who rules winter. As Kay looks out the window, something falls into his eye, and from that moment on he is cruel towards Gerda. Although Gerda is confused over Kay's sudden change of personality, she continues to try to mend their friendship.

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