Sapphire Blue

The second film of the Kerstin Gier trilogy, released in Germany on 14 August 2014. Felix Fuchssteiner directs again, this time with Katharina Schöde, and Maria Ehrich and Jannis Niewöhner continue. Gwendolyn is in fact the twelfth and final member of the Circle of Twelve, overseen by a historical society called the Guardians, with each member tied to one of twelve birthstones. Here she knows the rules and reaches the real question: what the eighteenth-century Count of Saint Germain wants. His intention is to kill his own ancestor, Lancelot de Villiers, the first time traveller in his family. The matter of trust between her and Gideon is not resolved here either; it deepens. The trilogy is named for stones, one per film. This one is the sapphire. What works across the series is that time travel is set up not as an adventure device but as a question of inheritance and control: who goes, who goes with them, and what they are allowed to say on return are all decided by other people. Who it is for: viewers who saw the first film and want to know where the story goes. Who it is not for: anyone starting here. The film re-explains nothing. It is also a middle instalment, and the knot is left for the third.