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Blueprint (2003) movie poster

Characters & Themes

Blueprint (2003) Characters, Setting & Themes Explained

Release, runtime and language
2003 · 108 mins · German
Directed by
Rolf Schübel
Starring
Franka Potente, Hilmir Snær Guðnason, Nina Gummich, Ulrich Thomsen, Katja Studt, Justus von Dohnányi

The first cloned human tells her own story. Composer Iris Sellin, thirty, learns she has an incurable disease. Wanting to preserve her music beyond death, she arranges her own cloning. Her daughter Siri, created as a virtual twin, discovers she is the world’s first clone—a living blueprint of her mother. From that revelation everything changes.

On this page (7)
  1. 1 Characters explained (5)
  2. 2 Where & when it takes place
  3. 3 Themes & meaning (3)
  4. 4 Character & meaning questions
  5. 5 Movie threads
  6. 6 Movies like Blueprint
  7. 7 Every angle

5 main characters · contains spoilers

Blueprint Characters Explained: Who Is Who

The main characters of Blueprint (2003), heroes and villains: what drives them, how they change over the course of the story and what each of them reveals about the film's bigger ideas.

  • Iris Sellin (Franka Potente)

    A world-famous pianist and composer whose talent is matched by a stubborn resolve. Her battle with multiple sclerosis pushes her to seek a clone so her art can survive beyond her own stage performances. She combines magnetic artistry with a protective, sometimes controlling, attitude toward those closest to her.

    • 🎼 Music
    • 🧠 Genius
    • 💔 Vulnerability
  • Siri (13 Jahre alt) (Karoline Teska)

    At thirteen, Siri learns she is Iris’s clone, shattering her sense of self and identity. She resembles her mother in looks and musical talent, which intensifies the conflict over who she is meant to be. Her search for autonomy drives her from the glare of fame toward a life that challenges everything she has been told.

    • 🧬 Identity
    • 🎵 Talent
    • 🧭 Autonomy
  • Siri (8 Jahre alt) (Nina Gummich)

    Young Siri embodies the potential and burden of her origin, already showing musical aptitude and an uncanny likeness to Iris. Her early life is colored by the concealed truth of her birth and the expectations that come with being Iris’s clone. She is a quiet echo of the adult Siri, hinting at the conflicts to come.

    • 🧬 Identity
    • 🎶 Talent
    • 🌲 Innocence
  • Greg (Hilmir Snær Guðnason)

    A charming architect who becomes a source of warmth and possibility for Siri. His presence offers a path toward healing and a chance at love, reintroducing human connection into Siri’s life. He helps bridge the distance between mother and daughter and introduces a hopeful arc.

    • 💞 Love
    • 🧱 Architecture
    • 🌟 Hope
  • Dr. Martin Fischer (Ulrich Thomsen)

    A revolutionary reproductive researcher who agrees to create Siri, enabling Iris to preserve her art. His decision places him at the center of a moral debate about cloning, consent, and the consequences of scientific ambition. He embodies the ethics and ambitions of a breakthrough that could redefine legacy.

    • 🧪 Science
    • ⚖️ Ethics
    • 🧠 Intelligence

Last updated: February 20, 2026 at 18:32

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Setting

Where and When Does Blueprint Take Place?

The setting of Blueprint (2003): the year and time period, the places and locations, and how they shape the characters, the mood and the tension of the story.

Time period

Location

Canada

Siri retreats to a remote Canadian woods to escape the pressures of fame and her lineage as Iris's clone. The expansive wilderness provides quiet space for reflection and a chance to redefine herself away from public gaze. The Canadian landscape contrasts with the world of music and family drama at the heart of the story.

  • 🇨🇦 Canada
  • 🏞️ Wilderness
  • 🕊️ Solitude

Last updated: February 20, 2026 at 18:32

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3 major themes

Blueprint Meaning: Themes & Message Explained

What is Blueprint (2003) really about? The emotional, social and philosophical themes the film keeps returning to, its symbolism and the message beneath the surface.

  • Identity

    The clone premise drives a meditation on what makes a person unique. Siri’s sense of self is tested by her origin, and Iris’s legacy becomes a force that both binds and divides them. The film explores how identity can be shaped by family, talent, and unseen genetic ties.

  • Motherhood

    A fraught mother-daughter relationship sits at the center of Blueprint. Iris’s ambition and control collide with Siri’s search for autonomy and belonging. Their closeness is tested by secrecy, competition, and the ache of shared art.

  • Ethics

    The cloning project raises questions about medical ethics, consent, and the price of technological breakthroughs. Dr. Fischer’s decision to create Siri sits at the crossroads of fame, scientific progress, and personal cost. The film uses this tension to critique the pursuit of legacy at any cost.

Last updated: February 20, 2026 at 18:32

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Character & theme questions

Blueprint Characters & Meaning: Your Questions Answered

The questions people ask about Blueprint (2003): who the characters really are, their relationships, what the symbols mean, where it takes place and what the movie is really about. Each answer contains spoilers.

Q1

Where does the story take place?

The story centers on a remote Canadian woods where Siri retreats to escape the pressures of fame and her identity as a clone. This wilderness setting provides the solitude she needs for self-reflection, contrasting sharply with the world of music and family drama that defines the rest of the narrative.

  • canada
  • wilderness
  • setting
  • remote woods
  • solitude
Q2

Who is Iris Sellin?

Iris Sellin is a world-famous pianist and composer whose exceptional talent is matched by her stubborn resolve. When diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, she decides to create a clone to preserve her musical legacy beyond her own performances. She is both magnetic in artistry and protective, sometimes controlling, toward those closest to her.

  • iris sellin
  • composer
  • pianist
  • musician
  • ms
  • clone
Q3

What is Siri's relationship to Iris?

Siri is Iris's genetic clone, created as a virtual twin so that Iris's music could survive beyond her death. Siri discovers this truth at age thirteen, which shatters her sense of self. She shares her mother's appearance and musical talent, but her journey is defined by the search for her own identity and autonomy.

  • siri
  • clone
  • iris
  • identity
  • genetic
  • twin
  • daughter
Q4

Who is Dr. Martin Fischer?

Dr. Martin Fischer is the reproductive researcher who agrees to create Siri, enabling Iris to preserve her artistic legacy through cloning. He sits at the center of the film's ethical debates about consent, scientific ambition, and the consequences of technological breakthroughs in creating human life.

  • dr martin fischer
  • researcher
  • scientist
  • cloning
  • ethics
Q5

Who is Greg in the story?

Greg is a charming architect who becomes a source of warmth and possibility for Siri. His presence offers her a path toward healing and a chance at love, helping bridge the distance between mother and daughter while introducing a hopeful emotional arc into the narrative.

  • greg
  • architect
  • love
  • healing
  • relationship
Q6

What does the movie say about identity?

The clone premise drives a meditation on what makes a person unique. Siri's sense of self is profoundly tested by her origin as a clone, while Iris's legacy becomes a force that both binds and divides them. The film explores how identity can be shaped by family, talent, and unseen genetic ties.

  • identity
  • self
  • clone
  • uniqueness
  • genetic
  • origin
Q7

What is the motherhood theme in the film?

A fraught mother-daughter relationship sits at the center of Blueprint. Iris's ambition and control collide with Siri's search for autonomy and belonging. Their closeness is tested by secrecy, competition, and the ache of shared art, creating a complex emotional dynamic between genetic identicality and personal identity.

  • motherhood
  • mother
  • daughter
  • relationship
  • family
  • control
  • autonomy
Q8

What ethical questions does the film raise about cloning?

The cloning project raises questions about medical ethics, consent, and the price of technological breakthroughs. Dr. Fischer's decision to create Siri sits at the crossroads of fame, scientific progress, and personal cost. The film critiques the pursuit of legacy at any cost, questioning whether creating a human life as a means to preserve one's own artistry is morally justified.

  • cloning
  • ethics
  • consent
  • medical
  • legacy
  • scientific
  • ambition
Q9

What is the tone and emotional weight of the film?

The film has a bittersweet tone, blending the tragedy of a degenerative illness and a fractured relationship with glimmers of reconciliation and rekindled love. It carries heavy emotional weight through themes of mortality, existential crisis, and familial conflict, while maintaining a deliberate, character-focused pace.

  • tone
  • bittersweet
  • emotional
  • drama
  • theme
  • mortality
Q10

How does the film portray cloning technology?

The film presents cloning as a revolutionary but morally complex breakthrough. Through Dr. Fischer's work, it explores the scientific ambition that could redefine legacy, while simultaneously questioning the human cost of such technological advances. The clone is portrayed not as a scientific marvel alone, but as a living person with her own identity and right to selfhood.

  • cloning
  • technology
  • science
  • breakthrough
  • future

Movie threads

More Movies Like Blueprint, by Mood & Story

Curated lists built around what makes Blueprint tick: the same mood, the same kind of story or the same emotional payoff. Each list explains why these movies belong together.

Sci-Fi Family Dramas Like Blueprint

Technology forces families to confront difficult questions about love and identity. If you were fascinated by the emotional and ethical battleground between mother and cloned daughter in Blueprint, explore more movies where advanced technology disrupts core family relationships. This thread features sci-fi dramas that tackle themes of identity, legacy, and difficult love.

  • introspective
  • tense
  • strained
  • ethical
  • melancholic
  • thoughtful
  • Tone: bittersweet, introspective
  • Pacing: slow, deliberate
Why these movies?

The story pattern: The narrative pattern revolves around a technological breakthrough—like cloning or AI—that introduces a new member into a family unit or redefines an existing relationship. The story unfolds through interpersonal conflict, ethical debates, and a slow-burn exploration of what it means to be human and to belong.

Why they belong together: These films are grouped together because they share a focus on the intersection of speculative science and domestic drama. They prioritize emotional weight and character development over action, using their sci-fi premise to delve deeply into themes of identity, responsibility, and the complex bonds of family.

Movies About Inheritance and Legacy Like Blueprint

Characters confronting the complex inheritance of an artistic or personal legacy. If you appreciated Blueprint's exploration of a daughter inheriting her mother's artistic and genetic blueprint, you'll find similar themes here. Discover movies about the burdens and beauties of legacy, where characters must forge their own path while carrying the weight of the past.

  • melancholic
  • hopeful
  • introspective
  • strained
  • tender
  • redemptive
  • Tone: melancholic, tender, bittersweet
  • Pacing: slow, character-focused
Why these movies?

The story pattern: The narrative follows a protagonist who is deeply shaped by a powerful inheritance—be it a family business, an artistic gift, or, as in cloning, a literal genetic blueprint. The central conflict is internal and external, as the character struggles with the expectations and identity imposed by this legacy, culminating in a bittersweet acceptance or a redefinition of their relationship to it.

Why they belong together: These films share a focus on the emotional weight of inheritance and the struggle for individual identity. They feature slow-paced, character-driven narratives with a melancholic yet hopeful tone, often ending on a note that acknowledges both the pain and the value of the legacy.

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Movies Like Blueprint

Similar movies to Blueprint: the same genre, themes or kind of story. Each one comes with its own plot summary, timeline and ending explained.

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Every angle

Blueprint (2003) Explained: Plot, Timeline & Characters

Everything about Blueprint in one place: what happens in the plot summary, the timeline in chronological order, the characters and meaning and a spoiler-free summary. What's After the Movie adds the cast, box office and post-credit scenes.

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