Blueprint (2003)

Simply A Masterpiece

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

"Blueprint" is a German movie from 2003, so this one will have its 15th anniversary next year. The director is Rolf Schübel and this film of slightly under 110 minutes is one of his most known works. The same is probably true for the two writers Fischer and Kerner, but for lead actress Franka Potente it probably is not. I find it a bit surprising as she has quite a challenge in here and does a good job with it. I generally don't think she is that great or nowhere near the top of German actresses, but I found her convincing here and she is more memorable than in a certain movie with a certain hair color that's the only memorable aspect about her in that one. But back to this one here. If she holds her own next to Ulrich Thomsen, then that's a respectable achievement. German film buffs will find more familiar faces in here like Justus von Dohnányi for example.Now about the film itself: It is the story of the first human being who gets cloned and it is of course Potente's character. The musical talent of her adds another interesting shade to the whole endeavor. I think this could have been a really uninteresting film if they had focused mostly on the scientific aspect here, but the fact that instead they emphasized the interpersonal conflicts this entire projects brings with them, I found it a more rewarding watch. Also the scientist's part was relevant with the writers concentrating on his intention to reap the honors and results of what he saw. It's all working very well. I think the interactions between mother and child were better when the child was still young and there was one moment I really loved, namely when we see the mothers interact with their children when there is danger for the clone to being injured. This is a moment when it is really all us seeing how flawed and lacking harmony Potente's character's relationship to her daughter is, even if her intentions aren't bad. It's just a huge enigma what could happen to the daughter and how fragile her health may or may not be.Finally, this film was a bit of a positive surprise for me. I had little interest in the subject of cloning before it and I cannot say it raised my interest, but as I already described earlier, this is also never the film's intention. It also doesn't make a statement about cloning being right or wrong and I like that too. It's much more of a family story and the unusual biological context is just the frame, not the color itself if you treat the film like a painting. Acting's good, writing's good and the atmosphere works well from start to finish. Yes there aren't really any great moments in here I guess, but it's a satisfying watch nonetheless. Go check it out.

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.

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.

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.