Ruby Red

An adaptation of the first book in Kerstin Gier's bestselling German young-adult trilogy, whose volumes are named for stones: Ruby Red, Sapphire Blue, Emerald Green. A gene for time travel passes down through one family. The family is certain it has gone to the cousin, Charlotte, and has trained her for years accordingly: dancing, fencing, history, etiquette. It goes instead to Gwendolyn, who on her sixteenth birthday finds herself in London at the end of the nineteenth century. With no preparation at all she starts jumping into the past without control and lands inside a secret society. The companion assigned to her, Gideon, happens to be Charlotte's arrogant boyfriend. Felix Fuchssteiner directed. Maria Ehrich plays Gwendolyn and Jannis Niewöhner plays Gideon, who is assigned to her. The most effective thing here is that inversion: the person who was prepared is not chosen, the unprepared one is, and she pays for it throughout. Who it is for: viewers who like young-adult fantasy mixing time travel with period costume. Who it is not for: anyone wanting closure. This is the first part of a trilogy, it does not resolve its central knot, and the ending runs straight into the sequel.