Review: Palindromes - gotta love Solondz

A palindrome is a word or pattern that is the same backwards or forwards. Solondz fifth feature takes this definition and turns it into a fascinating fable-like statement on how people - whichever way you look at them - are always the same inside. As a visual indicator of this, and in a move that is both audacious and utterly appropriate, Solondz has cast different actresses of varying size, age and colour, to play the role of his young protagonist.

Aviva - the bearer of a palindromic name - is a 12 year old girl who, to coin a horrendous cliché, is looking for love in all the wrong places. Convinced she will find love by having a child, she sleeps with budding teenage filmmaker, friend of the family, and premature ejaculator, Judah. She falls pregnant and is forced to have an abortion by her protective, emotional mother Joyce – played to perfection by Ellen Barkin. Despite Aviva’s protests, her mother convinces her that it is the right thing to do by asking how she would like it if her baby were born blind or without limbs.

The abortion goes wrong. Aviva has to have a hysterectomy and thus will never have the opportunity to conceive again. This news is kept from her. Soon after this, the young girl runs away. She is picked up by a trucker who has sex with her and sneaks off in the morning. Aviva is devastated, believing she has fallen in love with him. She runs of again, this time happening upon a large child’s plastic boat by the side of a river. She climbs in and sails down stream. The next shot is of an extremely large, black Aviva lying on the riverside – she was, in previous scenes, white and small framed. This move is extremely powerful. It gives the impression that through sex and running away, Aviva has quite literally changed – been forced to grow physically and mentally. It is also a casting decision that elevates the film to a higher level – Sharon Wilkins is quite extraordinary in this role, imbuing Aviva with an unexpected innocence and purity that belies her appearance.

Later Aviva is taken in by Mama Sunshine, the God-loving ‘mother’ of a host of disabled and discarded children. The scene in which Aviva is introduced to the Sunshine children is subtly significant, and an example of how Solondz is a master at extracting a guilty laugh. One of them is blind. One of them has no arms or legs. These are the children that Aviva’s mother used to justify abortion – for how could you love such a child. The Sunshine children, though almost disturbingly religious, are hugely, wholesomely loved.

Aviva’s time of basking in the love of the Sunshines is cut short when the trucker from earlier scenes arrives. He is a friend of the family and it transpires has been paid by Mama and Papa Sunshine to kill a doctor who specialises in abortion (they are pro-life zealots). Unbeknownst to the Sunshines, Aviva convinces to the trucker to take her with him, and the two set off, the young girl sure that this is the beginning of a loving relationship. The plan does not work out and a terrible mistake occurs that sees Aviva returned home, whereupon - in another excellent casting move – she is played by Jennifer Jason Leigh.

In the film’s final scene Aviva is reunited with Judah, who has changed his name to Otto -a palindrome. The two have sex, and in a scene reminiscent of that near the beginning, Judah prematurely ejaculates. It’s as though Solondz has taken us on a round trip – however you approach this film, Aviva is still desperate to conceive, desperate to love.

There is a moment in Todd Solondz’s seminal Happiness in which a father confesses his paedophilic tendencies to his young son. It is at once an example of the corruptive and redemptive power of love – the former in its effect on the son, the latter in the unburdening of guilt. It is also almost certainly one of the most honestly poignant scenes in contemporary cinema. In Palindromes, Solondz takes the dual edged knife that love can be, and shows how in the pursuit of it, we are all ultimately the same, that none of us change.

Todd Solondz has become quite infamous for his unapologetic and unique films that involve controversial topics. In Happiness, he dared to give humanity and compasion to a pedophile, and the kicker is, he succeeded. You actually cared for him. With Storytelling he took a more laid back approach, and didn't really delve to deeply into any unqiue or controversial topics, which was somewhat disapointing. Now, with Palindromes, he has made his most interesting, thought provoking and, arguably, his bravest film yet, tackling the controversial topic of abortion in ways few would dare.

The film is about Aviva, a 13 year old girl who wants to have a baby. She ends up having sex with a young man who's a friend of the family, and gets pregnant. Her parents find out about this and are determined to force her to have an abortion. The mother has a talk with her, telling her the risks and disadvantages a young girl giving birth could face: "What if it's deformed, or mentally retarded? It's more likely that a young mother will give birth to a baby with birth defects" She says. In a stunning turn of events, the mother confesses that she herself had an abortion, and her reasons for doing so are truley pathetic : "If I had had this baby, you wouldn't have been able to have the luxuries that me and your father provide you, like the quarts of ice cream, the gap clothing, or the Nsync tickets". The mom talks Aviva into having an abortion.

One of the most touching and heartbreaking scenes in the movie is when Aviva is lying on the abortion table, right before the procedure, she has such sorrow in her eyes, the baby she already loves is about to be killed, she knows this, but is too young and naive to do anything about it, she already has a name picked out for it...Henrieta. After the abortion Aviva is upset and runs away, encountering numerous interesting and complex and morally challenging characters, that only Solondz would dare create. On her adventure, she adopts the name of Henrieta, which reminds us that both her and her aborted baby are both one in the same. They're both lost, neither of them got the chance that most normal children would, in a way, they're both dead.

One of the more memorable scenes is when Aviva encounters Mamma Sunshine who runs a home of, in a way, lost children. These are all children with disabilities, these are the children Aviva's mother was reffering to as reasons to have abortion. However, all these children truley seem happy to be alive, and they're enjoying life.

Todd Solondz's true genius lies in his ability to make us challenge our own beliefs. In Happiness he confronted the audience by giving us a human, compasionate pedophile who, rather then hating, you pity. In Palindromes, he challenges us by making us actually want Aviva to have her baby, despite it going against all reason and logic, and despite our social morals that many people share about child pregnancy and abortion.

The film also makes a statement about humanity. No matter what, we're always going to be the same, deep down. The character of Aviva is played by numerous people, ranging in age, race, even sex, but she's always the same character, deep down.

The compasion and love he has for his characters is glaringly obvious, and it's hard for the audience to also not feel something for his characters, despite their sometimes horrific flaws. Palindromes is no exception. All the characters are developed beautifully and it's hard not to feel compasion for all of them, Aviva especially, as the sad, lost soul who was forced to give up the only good thing in her life.

Todd Solondz is, IMO one of the most promising and interesting film makers in the world right now. His films are challenging, intriguing, thought provoking and touching, and he's not afraid to push the envelope and challenge us on a controversial topic. I can't wait for what he has in store next.

In short, Palindromes is a beautiful, thouching, thought provoking and heart breaking film about a sad little girl who has lost the only pure thing in her life, and with it, her own purity.

I look forward to seeing 'Palindromes'...That final scene in 'Happiness' is genius.

I love Todd Solondz films, Welcome to the Doll House and Happiness, I
have yet to see Palindromes but will soon when I'm in the mood, for degradation and hatred

Just rented this.

What did you think?

Didnt really like it , to me,it seemed empty and lacked the bite and drama of Solondz previous work, and I didnt connect with the characters. For me it lacked the humour of his previous work also. I enjoyed the fact that Dawn Weiner was featured though and I liked the scene when Aviva and that guy went on their mission, that was "fried gold", it was "Classic Solondz" and I would liked to have seen more of that. But I found the film a bit boring.