Todd Solondz the director of uncomfortable yet compelling films Storytelling, Happiness and Welcome to the Dollhouse releases another darkly humorous and challenging tale of car-crash sexuality and mixed meanings that manages to intrigue and horrify all at once.

The story centres on 12 year old Aviva Victor who desperately wants to be a mother, in the first few scenes she manages to persuade a teenage family friend to momentarily have his way with her. Her parent's react to the resulting pregnancy by forcing her to have an abortion, Ellen Barkin plays Aviva's emotionally desperate mother trying to prevent her daughter repeating her own mistakes. Barkin excels in this understated role as she delivers each emotional blow to her immature daughter while extolling the twisting logic of their situation "it's not a baby yet, it's just a tumour!"

It's not long before Aviva still determined to get pregnant, renames herself Henrietta, after her mother's own aborted son Henry, and runs away. This unusual road trip brings her into contact with a variety of men, women and children willing to take advantage of her for their own ends before she travels full circle back to the bosom of her family.

A straightforward family drama this is not, with Solondz method of filmmaking the subject matter is never quite as simple as its synopsis. There is a possibility that Palindromes may be perceived as an 'issues' film exploring paedophilia and abortion. However as Solondz explains, "The two sides of the 'issue' are irreconcilable." His original idea was to use the issues as a backdrop for a story of a young girl suspended between one family that kills one way and another that kills another way. "Or between one family that offers no choice, and another one for whom all choices have already been made."

Never one to let the audience sit back and simply watch a film Solondz works on the internal perceptions of the audience as they empathise or recoil with the extremes of Aviva's experiences. This is made possible by rotating the performers playing the lead character of Aviva throughout the duration of the movie. In total two women, four girls (13-14 years old), one 12-year-old boy, and one 6-year old girl each get a chance to play the young teen. Each actor triggers a stereotype or expectation in the audiences unconscious that is then projected on screen as we watch the film.

It is this device that is incredibly powerful, by portraying the same twelve year old character in this way Solondz shocks us not simply by the subject matter but by our own varying degrees of acceptance of it. When we see an adult Jennifer Jason Leigh on screen as Aviva our expectations of what is permissible are profoundly different from when we see a six year old black girl or an overweight white teenager. As well as the differences it was also the director's aim to explore what would happen by casting a number of different people as one character, "a character who is wholly sympathetic." While it is sometimes easy to feel empathy for Aviva's character it is just as easy to distance yourself from someone so determined to seek resolution for their own lack of self worth by assuming everything will be solved by having a baby.

There are also moments of hope and humour in the film that happily prevent Palindromes from simply becoming a bleak intellectual experiment with the minds of the audience. For example when Aviva is rescued and taken into the care of Mama Sunshine who runs a home for disadvantaged children. She finds a deliriously happy pastiche of old world Americana and the musical numbers by the kids will briefly warm hearts and linger in the mind's eye, while Mama Sunshine's confession that "Our special child ran away, and she didn't even have any legs!" will provide a gut laugh that is soon tempered by Aviva's middle aged lover crying out in despair at what he is doing, "How many times can I be born again?"

Ultimately Solondz, the performers and the crew have created a film that plays relentlessly with media images of children against a background of irresolvable issues. There are moments that truly outrage sensibilities and may make you question at times whether the film is simply a justification for soft kiddie porn. However after stopping one's knee from jerking, it becomes obvious that none of the scenes in the film are erotic in any way and when you remember that the average children's magazine contains more overt images of sexualised children than even one frame of this film it is easier to appreciate the creative merits of Palindromes.

The filmmaker's art has always been to suspend the disbelief of the audience. By making a film that challenges our morals, offers no answers and manages to successfully maintain our belief in one dislikeable character played by eight different actors; Palindromes succeeds and is a brutally rewarding, often humorous and frequently uncomfortable film that manages to hold your attention whilst you squirm in your seat.

Frank Coles

Palindromes is released on the 6th of May.
Palindromes - Official website