Iskyss (2008)

Ice Kiss is a drama about love and espionage during the Cold War. Vladimir, a Russian prisoner of war, and Vera, a Norwegian nurse, meet in Bodø during the Second World War. Norway and the Soviet Union are allies in the fight against the Nazis, but in the Cold War that follows, the countries become enemies. This creates problems for Vladimir and Vera when they meet again in Moscow. The film is based on the story of Gunvor Galtung Haavik, who led a double life for thirty years. During the Cold War, she worked for Norway’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and served at the embassy in Moscow. As a Russian agent, she regularly supplied the KGB with classified information she could access through her work as an interpreter and secretary. The film was made with inspiration from Alf R. Jacobsen’s book Ice Kiss and Gunvor Galtung Haavik’s letters to her secret Russian lover, Vladimir Kozlov. Haavik was a trained nurse and had worked with Russian prisoners of war at the hospital in Bodø before getting a job at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. That was how the two met and, as allies in the fight against Nazism, fell in love. Their relationship would prove very problematic; relationships between Norwegian embassy staff and Russians were forbidden. Haavik and Kozlov continued their relationship even after Haavik began working at the Norwegian embassy in Moscow. When the KGB learned of their relationship, they used it to pressure Haavik into spying for them. As long as she cooperated, they would not harm Volodsjik—Haavik’s pet name for Vladimir. “Ice Kiss” is about a woman who sacrifices everything to protect the person she loves.