Palindromes [2004]

Both liberal pro-choicers and christian pro-lifers share the conviction that human individuals have the power to choose who to be and how to act. For the christian, individuals have the power to choose between good and evil. God has granted us the power to define our very souls and to be granted everlasting heaven or hell. Homosexuals can be 'saved'. Even paedophiles like the character Earl can be born again. For the liberal on the other hand, the only thing constraining choice is that of unfavourable power relationships. Society may determine the choices that women want to make ie.wishing to have children, or deny them the choice at all.

Solondz presents the journey of Aviva as a darkly grim fairytale that reveals a dfferent kind of truth about human nature. People don't change. They might get a facelift, lose weight, spend dollars on breast enlargement, in other words change their appearance and gain acceptance in society, but they always stay the same. The need to believe in free will, the ability to change and to control your destiny is fundamental to almost all creeds and dogmas and indeed across the american political spectrum. It is essential to our notions of morality, to praise and blame, reward and punishment, to who we are and to what we may become.

But there is no free will. In the end we finish up the same people we were at the beginning. Despite her many weird experiences, at the end of her journey Aviva is a lot older and wiser, but still the same child she was at the beginning, still needing love and acceptance and still needing to fulfill those needs through having children.

In the end we are the same collection of cells, the same genetic blueprint for life and potential that we were as a fetus, a fetus that Avivas mother describes as 'just a tumor'. The same human fetus that is somehow imagined by christians to be a unique human soul (even those that 'lack fingers and toes, brains and hearts') and yet has its uniqueness defined by a power of choice it does not yet have, if it ever will.

The acting is superb throughout, with all the actresses playing Aviva performing admirably and a couple excelling.

The DVD lacks extras, but is certainly worth purchasing as it is a film that deserves many viewings and that repays careful study. It does come with an informative printed interview with Director/Writer Tod Solondz.


waste of time   February 13, 2006
Jonathan Ackroyd
4 out of 15 found this review helpful

happiness = excellent
storytelling = poor
palimdrones = waste of time

minimal plot, poor acting, irrlevant characters...just a really annoying tedious film. Please dont waste your money on this. Just because a director does one good film doenst mean subsequent films are worth watching.


El beef? Feeble.   September 2, 2006
Petrolhead (Hong Kong)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

This film will easily offend the easily offended. I am not easily offended and was simply a little intrigued by the quirky way the actors change from scene to scene and the riddle of why Ellen Barkin decided to take a major role in this film. In fact, the question I was left with at the end was: how in Hollywood's name did "Palindromes" ever get made?
I loved "Happiness" by the same director, which was mercilessly hilarious in the way it ridiculed modern sexual manners. But this? It's well enough made and there's some irony, some Christian-bashing, and one or two moments of Happiness-style close-to-the-bone black humour. But funny it ain't. Maybe I'm just not sick enough.
Todd Solondz obviously put a lot of work in trying to say something, but it's not clear what. Perhaps it's a morality comedy aimed at the 12-year-old girl market? Apologies if I'm missing something, but Todd has gone a bit overboard in the arthouse-pretentious-teenage school of film making.
I gave it two stars rather than one because I think someone will appreciate it more than me, I just can't think who.


Oddly engaging   November 1, 2005
Stephen Newton (Manchester, England)
3 out of 6 found this review helpful

This oddly engaging film left me stumped, but on reflection tried too hard. Eight actors aged about six to teens playing the lead as she deals with issues (yearning for motherhood/abortion/parental pressure) fails as it distances us from the central character. Might have worked had it been less determined to sit on the fence.