FROZEN

UK, 2004, 91 minutes, Colour.
Shirley Henderson, Roshan Seth, Richard Armitage.
Directed by Juliet Mc Koen.

Frozen is a film solidly set in Lancashire, around Morecambe Bay. The film focuses very much on the geographic details of the town and the bay itself.

The title of the film is symbolic of the state of Kath, a young woman emotionally disturbed because of the death of her sister two years earlier. She is still pursuing the reasons for her sister’s death – looking up CCTV footage to see what happened, following clues, asking friends. She is also undergoing counselling – from a cleric played by Roshan Seth who has a disabled wife that he cares for – but becomes intimate with the young woman.

The title is also symbolic of her state and is visualised by underwater photography, water frozen – filmed in Sweden’s Arctic Circle.

There are allusions to Don’t Look Now with a mysterious woman in a red coat. There is also an influence of the Japanese horror thrillers with their use of video footage.

Nevertheless, the accents, the look, the atmosphere are all of Lancashire.

Shirley Henderson is persuasive in the central role. She is a diminutive figure but has a strong presence which has come to the fore in such films as American Cousin, A Cock and Bull Story, the Harry Potter films, Yes.

1.The impact of the film? For British audiences? How universal?

2.The Morecambe Bay settings? The vast expanse of the bay? The water? The bleaker aspects of the geography? The town itself, the streets and houses, the factory, the fishing industry? The authentic detail? The musical score?

3.The title of the film, reference to the waters and cold? To Kath’s personality and her life frozen in her search for her sister’s killer or the meaning of her sister’s death?

4.The character of Kath? The background of her attempted suicide? Her work in the factory, her friends, confiding in them, the discussions? Being referred to the clergyman? Her going for counselling? Their discussions? The friendship, Noyen and his wanting to help her? The growing friendship, intimacy? Her activities in order to find out what happened to her sister – stealing the CCTV footage, going to the police station? Her discovery that she could not play the tape at home? Her visit to Steven? Her friendship with him, his work at the security office? Her looking at the tape, seeing her sister walking in a narrow street in the town? Her going to visit that place, her series of visions? Scenes from the past, Annie’s life? The vision of the red-coated woman, being taken across the bay, the boatman? Her pursuit, her shouting – no effect? Her going to see Annie’s colleagues, trying to find clues? Her visit to Jim, Jim and his relationship with Annie? The video footage, the dark patches on Annie’s face? Her discussions with Noyen, with Steven? Her decision to break into Steven’s office, her discovering letters, Steven and Annie, the affair? Steven catching her – and her escaping? At home, her phoning Jim, the meeting on the boat, her wanting to communicate her suspicions? Jim, his attacking her, his wrapping her body and weighting it, thrown overboard? Kath, her seeing the red-coated woman, catching up with her? The discovery that it is herself?

5.Annie, her place in Kath’s life? Her death? The mystery? Her appearing in Kath’s visions and dreams? The truth about her relationship with Steven?

6.Steven, friendship, the security office, getting the tape? His confrontation with Kath, finding her in his office? Her escape? His past background with Annie?

7.Jim, his relationship with Annie? His not seeming suspicious? Kath and the interrogation? Her asking his advice, the meeting on the boat – and his attack, killing her, disposing of her body? Jealousy and the motivation for Annie’s death? Noyen, clergyman, sympathetic, his counselling skills? The meetings with Kath? The growing attraction? His breaking the boundaries of counsellor? The scenes with his wife, his continued care for her? Her personality, her demands, her love for her husband?

8.The authentic detail giving a realistic sense to the story? Yet its being mythic? Its being imaginative – with the touch of the supernatural?