Interview: Todd Solondz on the 4K Restoration of ‘Palindromes,’ the State of Independent Filmmaking, and his Approach to Comedy

Todd Solondz has long embraced his persona as a cinematic agitator and provocateur. He seems to follow a pattern: as critics and audiences recoil from the objectionable material in his latest project, he doubles down, delving even deeper into the inner lives of characters who range from exasperating to outright execrable. These stories are delivered with an unflinching imperviousness and a pitch-black sense of humor, ready to absorb any backlash as fuel for his next film. Consider that his Sundance breakout Welcome to the Dollhouse originally had the working title Faggots and Retards—a jarring entry point into Solondz’s distinctive realm of discomfort.

Yet the success of Solondz’s method and exploration of his characters’ often appalling actions stems from an incongruous sense of pathos that speaks to a broader understanding of humanity. The moral decay present in many of his characters is portrayed as just another facet of personhood, reflecting an unvarnished reality. Perhaps his most famous and contentious film, Happiness—recently reissued via a 4K UHD restoration from The Criterion Collection—came under fire in particular for its shocking pedophile storyline. But the film endures because of Solondz’s unflinching examination of humanity’s darkest corners and how they intersect with our collective understanding of society.

That’s not to say Solondz’s films aren’t, on some level, engineered to provoke—shock value is embedded in their DNA. Now, one of his most uncomfortable depictions of twisted Americana, Palindromes, has received a 4K restoration (courtesy of Monument Releasing, Visit Films, and The Museum of Modern Art) with an upcoming theatrical run at the IFC Center. It’s a concentrated dose of Solondz’s worldview, amplified by bold experimentation. The film follows Aviva, a young girl who dreams of becoming a mother, as she runs away from home and encounters a string of odious characters. Told in chapters, Palindromes recasts Aviva with different actors of varying ages, races, and even genders, infusing the film with an eerie, disorienting quality. It’s as ghastly and darkly humorous as Solondz’s most iconic work.

We sat down with Solondz to discuss the Palindromes restoration, the state of independent filmmaking, and his perspective on why his movies remain so polarizing.

Trace Sauveur: Nice to meet you, Todd. How are you feeling today?

Todd Solondz: I feel… I don’t know. I am fine. As far as I can tell.

Sauveur: We’re here talking about the new 4K restoration and 20th anniversary of Palindromes. Just to start us off, I just wanted to know how you’re feeling about the film 20 years on. Has your relationship with the film evolved in ways that have surprised you?

Solondz: Well, I’m really just grateful that Visit Films decided to restore the film. Otherwise, I’m afraid the movie might have disappeared altogether because I don’t know that anyone would have invested in such a project. I don’t know that I’ve been thinking about the movie so much over the years but I’m happy that I was able to make it, and I’m happy that others will have the opportunity to see it again.

Sauveur: You obviously don’t really make movies that appeal to, let’s say, common sensibilities. Contemporary reactions to Palindromes and your other films were often divisive, sometimes contentious. But with the recent Criterion release of Happiness and now the restoration and screenings of Palindromes, do you sense a growing appreciation for your work over time?

Solondz: Well, I don’t know if I have. I do know I have a more challenging map for financing my next movie, and that’s been a bit of a struggle. So it’s nice to be appreciated, but even nicer to get financed.

Sauveur: I wanted to ask you about that. So many of your most famous movies feel like they were born out of that ‘90s boom of independent cinema experimentation, where there was a willingness to put resources behind films that challenged audiences. But by the time Palindromes came around, it was difficult to secure funding, and now that landscape seems even more precarious, though there’s some reliable pockets of more independent and arthouse production. Do you think it would be easier or harder to get it made today? And how do you see the current state of independent filmmaking?

Solondz: I don’t know that it’s more difficult. It’s always been difficult. I’ve just been lucky and I think maybe my luck ran out. But if your movies are profitable, I think then you’ll have a much easier time financing. But since my movies have never been profitable, they make it much more difficult, they work against you, because they make less and less money. So that’s why it’s been difficult. But, we’ll see. You never know.

Sauveur: With the new restoration, is there any aspect—visually or emotionally—that you think will have a particular impact on new audiences watching the film, especially the newer generation of film fans going out to see something like this?

Solondz: Well, I never have any idea how people will ultimately respond to what I do, but young people, I thought, they don’t even really go to the movies anymore. It’s not really the kind of touchstone it once was decades ago. I think that young people tend to be much more interested in things that are related to social media and the platforms that they’re connected to. It’s just not central in the way it once was. That’s not to say that they’re not engaged in all sorts of entertainment, but the audiences have definitely shrunken, and that’s why so many theaters have closed.

Sauveur: Your films often challenge audiences to sit with discomfort. Do you think that willingness to confront difficult subject matter is part of why your work continues to endure, even as audience sensitivities shift? And do you think a movie like Palindromes could be made in today’s cultural climate?

Solondz: Well, all sorts of oddball movies can still be made, it’s just the budgets have to be very modest the more idiosyncratic they are. I understand what you’re saying about discomfort, but I never felt discomfort with the stories. I think there’s much more discomfort to be found if you read the news and all the stories that are happening in the world today. So in that sense, none of the so-called taboos and so forth that I have dramatized are addressed in other media. But it’s a question of the way in which you address it that makes it more difficult, right? 

Sauveur: Related to that, the title Palindromes suggests a cyclical inevitability, reflected both structurally and thematically. Politically, it feels like we’ve done a complete 180 from the big-dreams liberalism of the 2010s back to staunch conservatism. Given the film’s dissection of characters from both ends of the political spectrum, do you feel the film’s themes resonate even more strongly now?

Solondz: I don’t know. It’s a different world from when the movie was made 20 years ago. And I do remember at the time the divide between the liberals and the conservatives, or the Republicans and the Democrats, was it felt very extreme but now, of course, you look at it and it feels like a much more innocent time.

Sauveur: To that point, abortion remains as contentious an issue today as it was when Palindromes was released — arguably even more so. How do you see the film’s portrayal of that debate holding up in today’s political landscape?

Solondz: Well, I think there’s never gonna be a resolution on the subject. And so long as there’s no resolution, there’s always going to be some sort of conflict. And you just hope that violence doesn’t arise from it. 

Sauveur: The world has become more visibly reflective of the uncomfortable or morally complex aspects of your stories. Yet a film like Palindromes still retains its startling impact. Do you think the erosion of societal illusions about virtue makes your films more or less shocking to contemporary viewers? 

Solondz: You know, I really can’t say I know as well as you. Certainly I haven’t seen

my movies as they play with an audience, and audiences are fickle and unpredictable, and it depends so much on the context in which people are watching your movie. I don’t, I’m afraid. I don’t really have an answer to how people would respond to it today, as opposed to years ago. 

Sauveur: You often revisit characters across films and play with recasting—like the Weiners who show up across films, or the full recasting in Life During Wartime. And of course, there’s the central conceit of Palindromes. From a larger perspective across your work, what draws you to placing these characters under the custody of different performers, and how do you see that reframing their arcs?

Solondz: Well, I think certainly in theater and television, it’s a common enough way of going about things. So recasting different actors in the same role––that happens all the time in both theater and on television, so I don’t see it quite as radical as that. But one of the reasons people are recast is to lend a different nuance and attitude about these characters. So it’s more, you can play with an idea, as long as you’re finding fresh ways of looking at things. I think it has value.

Sauveur: How did you decide which actors would play Aviva in each segment? The emotional weight and dynamics of certain scenes shift dramatically depending on who’s on screen—do you ever wonder how the film might feel different if certain actors had swapped segments?

Solondz: It was never much of a debate. For me, it was clear from the casting process who would fit in where. There might have been a couple where I could see them flipping, but the actors who came in––particularly the non-actors, because they’re limited in ways actors are not so limited––it directed me pretty clearly to where each performer would have to lie.

Sauveur: Would you ever revisit any of the Palindromes characters in another movie as you do with the Weiners and the Happiness ensemble?

Solondz: I never had any plans to revisit anyone. It just happens. It just seemed handy that I could use or explore some character from a previous movie, in another movie, in another context. It wasn’t some sort of grand scheme. It just kind of played out that way.

Sauveur: I think part of why your films are so polarizing is because they’re partially pitched as dark comedies. There’s definitely a lot I laughed at in Palindromes––as with other viewers I’m sure, the boyband-esque pop performances of the Christian foster kids come to mind, even though the bleakness of their circumstances punctuates it. How actively are you thinking about how funny your movies are when you’re writing them?

Solondz: Well, I think that the comedy in the movies comes out of the pathos, and that these two elements are very much intertwined. It’s not like I write a story, and then I add something comedic. It’s all there at the start. That’s part of what gives it the charge for me to think that it’s worth making into a movie, that it’s something that needs to be made. That friction between that which moves me and the irony that it’s married to is, I suppose, what defines my sensibility.

Sauveur: Are you able to speak to what you’re working on currently?

Solondz: I have a couple movies I’d like to get made, but it’s been such a long process. I’ve even shifted casts, at least one of them so far, because of financing issues. So this recasting happens in real life as well as on screen. I like to be hopeful that at some point, the money will come together and I’ll get to make at least one more movie.

The new 4K restoration of Palindromes will have showtimes at the IFC Center beginning on March 12, 2025. It will be released digitally on May 20, 2025.

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