palindromes
Todd Solondz 2004年的電影，Palindromes是回文的意思，就是順著念、倒著念都一樣的字，像Bob, Ono, 或是本片主角的名字Aviva。回文在此象徵著永遠不會改變、跳不出去的迴圈。
電影圍繞著人性的變與不變，如同片子裡一段頗長的對話說的，你可能變胖變瘦、換了膚色、換了性別，但在本質上，你從來就沒有改變。你一開始被設計成什麼樣子，那麼你之後就會是什麼樣子。自由意志沒有意義，我們如機器人一般，所欲所求都來自基因最初的編排。
可以悲觀看待，但正如導演所言，了解自己生命的限制，何嘗不是一種解放呢。要這樣想，人們也會變得更謙卑吧。總覺得導演有某種宗教目的。
電影以歡迎光臨娃娃屋的主角Dawn Wiener的喪禮開場，根據導演的說法，這是為了區別兩部片子，希望觀眾不要輕易的把本片的Aviva等同於Dawn，而把Aviva視為一個全新的角色。或許也可以說，每個人的個性雖然是生下來就固定了，但每個個體卻都是獨一無二的。
導演找了許多不同的演員來演Aviva這個角色，效果很好，看得毛骨悚然。很有意思的怪電影。雖然導演用這樣的故事來傳達他的人性不變論好像不是很具說服力，因為電影裡的Avava雖然始終如一，但故事的發展其實也看不出必然性，導演也可以安排她完全改變不是嗎…
官方網站有故事大綱與導演O&A。
Mark Wiener: People always end up the way they started out. No one ever changes. They think they do but they don’t. If you’re the depressed type now that’s the way you’ll always be. If you’re the mindless happy type now, that’s the way you’ll be when you grow up. You might lose some weight, your face may clear up, get a body tan, breast enlargement, a sex change, it makes no difference. Essentially, from in front, from behind. Whether you’re 13 or 50, you will always be the same.
‘Mark’ Aviva Victor: Are you the same?
Mark Wiener: Yeah.
‘Mark’ Aviva Victor: Are you glad you’re the same?
Mark Wiener: It doesn’t matter if I’m glad. There’s no freewill. I mean, I have no choice but to chose what I choose, to do as I do, to live as I live. Ultimately, we’re all just robots programmed abritrarily by nature’s genetic code
‘Mark’ Aviva Victor: Isn’t there any hope?
Mark Wiener: For what? We hope or despair because of the way we’ve been programmed. Genes and randomness, that’s all there is and none of it matters.
‘Mark’ Aviva Victor: Does that mean you’re never going get married and have children?
Mark Wiener: I have no anent desire to get married or have kids. But that’s beyond my control. Really, it makes no difference. Since the planet’s fast running out of natural resources and we won’t make it into the next century.
‘Mark’ Aviva Victor: What if you’re wrong? What if there is a God?
Mark Wiener: If that makes you feel better.