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Blueprint
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Much mainstream German cinema seems pretty strait-laced these days. But at least one film redeems the epithet of old-fashioned. Rolf Schubel's Blueprint is a strange and compelling mixture of a modern sci-fi story and a Douglas Sirk-style family melodrama. The remarkable Franka Potente (from Run Lola Run [1998]) takes both main roles: as a celebrated classical pianist with multiple sclerosis, and as the daughter she clones from herself. Although it has some drab and drippy scenes – especially of the daughter lolling melancholically on an island retreat – the melodramatic complications evoke such tortuous Family Romances as Frank Borzage's I've Always Loved You (1946). Or to make a more contemporary comparison: it has been a while in cinema since we have seen a mother-daughter tussle so redolent of Mommie Dearest (1980) – with lines like "You are my life" made to sound especially chilling. © Adrian Martin April 2004 |
