Palindromes

Palindromes is a 2004 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Todd Solondz. Referencing Solondz's previous Welcome to the Dollhouse, it was nominated for the Golden Lion award at the 61st Venice International Film Festival. The protagonist, a 13-year-old girl named Aviva, is played by eight different actors of different ages, races, and genders during the course of the film, which features an array of secondary characters. The names of the characters Aviva, Bob, and Otto are all palindromes. Plot The film opens with a funeral for Dawn Wiener (the protagonist from Solondz's Welcome to the Dollhouse), who went to college, gained a lot of weight and acne, and committed suicide at age 20 after she became pregnant from date rape. Her older brother Mark (Matthew Faber, reprising his role) reads the eulogy while Dawn's tearful parents (Angela Pietropinto and Bill Buell, also reprising their roles) sit in the audience and seem to finally show remorse over the way they mistreated her as a child. Dawn's younger sister whom she was estranged from, Missy, does not attend the funeral. One of the attendees is Aviva, Dawn's cousin. A few years later, Aviva desires to have a child. She has sex with Judah (Robert Agri), a family friend, and becomes pregnant. Aviva's parents are horrified and demand that she get an abortion. While the abortion is technically successful, it is implied via a fractured, emotional conversation with the doctor (Stephen Singer) that Aviva can no longer have children. Not fully conscious, Aviva is unaware of this, and her parents, already fragile, lead her to believe all is well when she awakens, afraid to upset Aviva.