I hadn’t realised at first that this is an adaptation of a classic fairytale, though perhaps I should have done. It was billed as ‘Christmas Magic and Fantasy’ in the Daily Mail, where we got the DVD free, but it’s nothing of the sort; there’s plenty of snow and ice, not to mention magic and fantasy, but it’s not at all connected with Christmas.

The story is about the evil Snow Queen (Bridget Fonda) who manages to send a sliver of ice into the heart of Kai (Jeremy Guilbaut), a young man who works in a hotel and is in love with the owner’s daughter Gerta (Chelsea Hobbs). He changes character, then vanishes… and she decides to follow him. The second half sees her travelling through the realms of the different seasons, encountering many strange people and creatures including some talking animals, before she finally reaches the Snow Queen’s castle, where Kai is captive.

The film is sad in places, a bit frightening in others, and even slightly amusing at times in some of the caricatured characters. There are some lovely skating scenes, and some dramatic special effects. Gerta and Kai are excellently cast, and the whole works very well despite being quite a long movie – shown on TV in two parts, as it’s nearly three hours long.

Once I’d realised that it was a slightly bizarre and surreal story, I enjoyed ‘The Snow Queen’.