Palindromes

English/100 Minutes/2004/Not Rated

In “Palindromes” Todd Solondz has perhaps finally found a way to tell the story he's been struggling with all these years. From “Welcome to the Dollhouse” through “Storytelling” he has been trying to convey that people do not change but that they are more than their circumstances. At least I think that's the story. It's the one I like best.

Palindromes is the story of Aviva who from a young age decides that she wants to be a mother. When she gets pregnant though, she learns that love is not unconditional and that life is much more complicated than she expected. I should tell more of the story but I don't want to spoil it. Suffice to say that, after a tough decision, she leaves home to find better fortune.

What makes the movie interesting and vital to it's core message is the fact that Aviva is played by 8 different actors of varying ages, race, (and in a brief segment) gender. The movie is roughly episodic with actors changing out at breaks in the story (usually titled by a character name) and sometimes within the same segment (especially near the end). While it may sound like an arthouse stunt the complexity provided by so many different actors provides an intriguing perspective.

Each actor has their moment to shine but there are a couple that really stand out. Sharon Wilkins as “Henrietta Aviva” shines in the role of a lifetime. She is an overweight black actress, a group not unlike middle-aged women who are too young to be lovers and too old to be moms, for whom Hollywood rarely has room. Solondz and Wilkins bring to Henrietta a beautiful innocence and openness that is refreshing. Far from a stunt she is one of the highlights of the film (no coincidence, I think, she's on the cover).

In another turn Valerie Shusterov plays the sexual side of Aviva in a bold role. She occupies an odd middle ground. She may be over 18, maybe not (it is implied she is a minor). She is mature and open about her sexuality and craving that connection. In a typical Solondz trend she finds love with a pedophile named Bob (Stephen Adly Guirgis) who is tortured by his desires.

Finally an unrecognizable Jennifer Jason Leigh turns in a portrait of an older, wiser Aviva who still clings to hope. She has learned to assert herself in a new way, expressing control over her circumstances. It is this Aviva that encounters Mark Weiner, the devil's mouthpiece of the film. He tells her that people do not change, that the depressives will always be depressed, that he has no control over whether he gets married and has children because its completely dependent on his “programming.” Mark has given up control of his life and hidden behind a mask of "rationality” while Aviva still holds out hope. Mark may be Solondz voice, but Aviva is his heart.

Solondz may be saying that we do not change, that we end the way we begin, but that what lies between those areas is complex and beautiful. Each Aviva is a shard of a soul, a facet of her. Even though she does not change she has so many parts. She has a child part, a guy part, an older woman part, each different but adhering to the same unchanging core. Aviva is played by many actors but remains a singular entity. One actor alone would have made a decent dramatic film, but Solondz is not interested in narrative as much as looking so intensely at one character that she actually fractures into pieces.

That's why “Palindromes” works so well as a film but also as a bookend to “Welcome to the Dollhouse.” It finally shows what Solondz' intentions have always been, why his stories are so fractured his characters so tormented. Perhaps I read too much hope into the film, but I think Solondz has said something life-affirming in this film and I think he has finally told his story.

We may never change, but there are so many parts to us that come to the fore in different times that we do not need to “change” we just need to learn to love all our parts. Highly Recommended.

Not Rated: Mature Audiences, contains Language and Sexual Situations, some involving Teens