Blueprint

We are all created as the amalgamation of the traits of our parents. We are a product of them as soon as we are conceived and continue to be so as their will shapes our development until our own will begins to assert itself. This story has been told hundreds of times but what happens to the story if you are the product of only one parent? What if you are an identical clone of your mother who bore you and raised you to be a facsimile of herself?

This is the premise of 'Blueprint', the new German language film from Rolf Schübel starring Franka Potente (Anatomie, The Princess and the Warrior, Run Lola Run). Iris Sellin (Franka) is a world famous pianist who finds out she is suffering from multiple sclerosis, a degenerative nerve disorder that will gradually stop her being able to perform. She asks a friend, Dr. Martin Fisher (Ulrich Thomsen), a revolutionary reproductive researcher to assist her in creating her clone so that she can pass her music onto her daughter. Even though cloning of humans is illegal Dr. Fisher agrees so that he will forever be known as the first. The procedure is a success (and surprisingly simple; science isn't the focus of this story) and Iris gives birth to Siri ('Iris' spelt backwards). The rest of the story follows Siri's development from child to fully developed adult (also played by Franka), her burgeoning musical ability, and the eventual repercussions once she finds out she is her mother's clone.

As is common with 'life span' stories the telling of the story occurs when Siri is in her mid-twenties and flashbacks are used to show us key points in her life. Siri's current location is a rather secluded, German speaking (?) part of Northern Canada where she is hiding from civilization and spending her time photographing deer. This life is in direct contrast with the rather decadent, rigid life she led with her mother, nanny and the nanny's son in a castle-like compound in Germany. This contrast highlights the detachment she has created between her adult self and her, still alive yet increasingly frail, mother Iris. Siri also undergoes slight character development through interaction with an insistent stranger, Greg (Hilmir Snær Guðnason) which, along with a lot of serene thoughtful scenes of Siri staring at the beautifully shot wilderness, apparently leads to her reconciliation with her past.

The film was enjoyable and reasonably well made. The cinematography is beautiful at times and the use of key piano symphonies as recurring themes on the soundtrack works very well to create a sense of narrative progression and cohesion. Frank Potente is very solid and charismatic both as Siri and Iris although Iris' intense dedication to her music does create quite a one-dimensional character with whom it is hard to relate. Siri on the other hand is loveable and playful. Her character development as an adult seems to consist solely of a growing hatred of her mother for making her a clone when it would have been nice to see her develop into her own woman with her own dreams, desires, and skills. In the future scenes, photography seems to be her life but we get no development of this interest in the flashbacks.

The film spans about 25 years and as such a degree of technological progression and character ageing has to occur. As in the science of the cloning procedure, the technology is dealt with very slightly and only as a facilitator to the human drama at the forefront of the plot. This works well but the artificial aging of some of the characters works less well. Iris (Franka) ages quite comfortably and it is obvious that she has received most attention in this respect. Unfortunately, some of the supporting characters have only a scruffy grey wig, moustache, and cursory wrinkles to make them appear older. This lends a rather unfortunate comical edge to some of the later scenes.

Cloning is an interesting issue that raises lots of pressing questions. 'Blueprint' addresses a few of these questions but doesn't go too far out of the 'mother-daughter' mould. If it had concentrated more on Siri's attempts to define herself through her own will and break away from her mother's genes it might have been a stronger film. As it stands, it is an entertaining thought-provoking film that I hope will see a market outside of Germany.

As a German, I am quite proud of movies from my native country. Sure, German films aren't as successful as American or French films, nor did they revolutionized a specific genre, like the Italian spaghetti-westerns, but compared to many countries, German movies have high production values. So, naturally, let me review the worst German film I have seen.

Blueprint is a drama, directed by Rolf Schübel, based on a novel written by Charlotte Kerner, by the same name. The film is about cloning, and which struggles someone has to face, when being the perfect clone of another person. The main character, Iris Sellin (played by Franka Potente) is a famous and successful pianist, who has multiple sclerosis. To prevent her from dying, she decides to take part in a scientific experiment, which makes her able to clone herself, to let her piano talent transport to her clone (just don't ask). After 13 years her clone, Siri (oh, how very creative), finds out that she isn't a normal, individual child, but rather a cloned, younger version of her mother (because she couldn't figure that out earlier, based on her facial features, her piano talent without learning and that her name is just her mother's name in reverse). The plot is very predictable, pseudo-dramatic, pseudo-tragic and pseudo-society-critical. There are also too many sub-plots, pointless characters and plot-holes.

The acting in Blueprint is just terrible! Franka Potente both plays Iris and adult Siri. Even if the movie is supposed to be a drama, Potente is just emotionless all the time. Ullrich Thomsen, who plays the scientists, who clones Iris, also has a very boring and pointless role. However, it's the character Greg Lucas (who doesn't even appear in the novel), played by Hilmir Snær Guðnason, that annoys me the most. Terrible acting, stupid dialog and no significance to the plot whatsoever, contribute to one of the worst characters I have ever seen in a movie.

In total, this was one of the worst films I have ever seen. It isn't even bad in a funny kind of way, so it doesn't even qualify as fun trash. A boring, nonsensical story, with amateur acting and idiotic characters. It tries too hard, to be intelligent or deep, but fails to deliver. 1/10

The subject certainly is interesting, the plot has a solid pace. It's not all that often you see an actor/actress play the piano herself, on screen (save for the close-up in real difficult pieces), and come across as actually believable. Franka Potente does, and for both that and the plot I'd have like to give this one a vote of 8. But...

Unfortunately, the make-up department and the special effects crew committed some major crimes of negligence. First, the hair-do of supporting actress Katja Studt playing her role at an advanced age are almost _unbelievably_ bad. It really looks as if someone just jumped into a wig shop on their way to some other, more important business, and took the first one they saw without ever even thinking about how it'd look on a freckled redhead like her. I've seen carnival wigs look more believable than that one.

The other major downfall is an overwhelmingly obvious wax puppet of Franka Potente in a scene where both of her personae are on screen at the same time. I found it looked un-natural enough that it managed to drop the whole scene dead in its tracks. Couldn't help but stare at that puppet instead of paying attention to the movie itself.

Let-downs like that invoke the feeling you're watching a massively under-financed B-movie or student production. If you're a fan of Franka Potente and can tolerate some bad craft work, you'll quite probably like this movie a lot. I didn't.

I think that the previous commenter was on something because the issue of the wig or of the "wax model" of Franka Potente are both ludicrous, and do not exist in the film. Franka is fantastic in her dual role, displaying an emotional range that was both understated and wholly believable. The most interesting and daring aspect of the film was the fact that it did not delve into being a straight-up sci-fi flick. The futuristic aspects were subtle and well-induced to the world of the film. The pop songs that bookend the film reek of cheese but beyond that this is a great film that is worth seeing, if you can find it. I had to get it on Japanese import but it was well worth it. Franka Potente is the cat's meow.

The premise interests me, and Potente is a great actress. But it was a very disappointing film. The concept, overly simple, the sci-fi element is toned down as much as possible, and while it tries to focus on the idea that the clone would reach a point in life where it wanted to be it's own person, the concept has been done before, and far far better than this.

The clone's rebelling in this film is pathetic, the dynamic of the relationships is poor. There is no philosophical element to the film.

All the characters are frightfully shallow, even the 'mother' and 'daughter' characters. I haven't read the original novel, but the film has no depth at all. Siri has no personality, so the idea that she wanted to be herself instead of her 'mother' doesn't come across well at all, and while Potente actually does a decent performance, the direction, script and aimless flashbacks say very little in a long amount of time. I've seen short films say with this the premise in a few minutes than this film did in just under two hours.

For anyone that wants to watch a more fleshed out, recent, full-length film with the same premise. Never Let Me Go (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1334260/) might be a better choice.