Paris, Texas was nominated for fourteen awards. The film received an award for best direction, won prizes at the Cannes Film Festival and the FIPRESCI Film Critics Prize. The operator of the picture was recognized as the best in the genre of feature films.
Wandering out of nowhere, Travis understands that somewhere he has a beloved family. It is not known to the man that several years have passed since the moment of his disappearance from the life of loved ones. A desperate search for oneself in the wilderness of the American hinterland is accompanied by the music of Paradise Cooder, which introduces the viewer to a trance. A shining star of recognition for his talent has risen over the town of Paris, Texas.
The pinnacle of success
Filmmakers are very fond of the road adventure genre. The place in it is both luxurious views and the very essence of the direction, that is, endless travel. The road movie direction brought recognition and fame to the German director Wim Wenders. The famous works of the director "Alice in the Cities" and "False Traffic" are shot in the style of road adventures.
Ten years later, "Paris, Texas" turned not only into the final stage of creativity, but also played the role of a symbol of farewell to American influence on the director's work. From the very first shots, Wenders conveys the romance and cult of the highways, so revered in America in the seventies and eighties, both in cinema and in life.
The character of the nation is clearly expressed in the constancy of dynamics, incessant movement. It was in this environment that the theme of loneliness was placed. The controversial trait is felt even in densely populated areas of San Francisco. Because of this feeling, even the most beautiful landscapes of the painting are deserted.
The main symbol of loneliness is the picture in the hands of the protagonist. The photo shows a deserted site in the American town of Paris. The character played by Harry Dean Stanton is an expression of this essence. He, like a Western hero, is asocial, seeks to stay away from society and therefore lonely.
Four years of wandering in obscurity, returning to the family through a happy accident and finding the apparent meaning of life does not mean finding real happiness. At first glance, the dream materializes. However, the eternal wanderer turns into a ghost of himself in the endless California expanses. A subtle thread is drawn to the poetics of Antonioni's alienation.
Ingredients of success
The magic of the Paradise Kuder soundtrack further enhances the feeling of vacuum. The slide guitar seems to scatter notes full of melancholy and tension. The composer anticipated the film "Crossroads", which became iconic in his biography, by the tonality of the work. The sparseness of meditative music falls on the bright saturation of the landscape shades.
Cinematographer Robbie Mueller has given the local family drama an endless dimension, continuing Jarmusch's road movie. He skillfully uses combination to achieve the effect. First, majestic hills appear that reign over everything, growing out of the desert plains, then they are replaced by concrete jungles.
The motion picture belongs to atypical representatives of the genre. There is no drive, no dynamics in this road adventure. Wenders conveyed the romantic sadness of the European continent to the overseas South. Deliberately emphasized loneliness does not disappear, enveloping each frame. Toward the end of the film, an almost utopian mood is created, referring to the "Woman in the Sands" by Kobo Abe.
But the hero of the European Wenders is the American, the true hero of the Western. He does not lead a sedentary life, his soul needs wandering, and this is a pilgrimage for a whole life. The recognition of work in Cannes embellished the film about America even more.
The picture was filmed exclusively for Europeans disillusioned with everything. The plot is borrowed from the ancient myth, the scenery is taken from westerns, the motif of the lost and regained memory complements the tape. This proves the director's striving for the uniqueness of the balance between intellect and bodily energy, rising above the daily routine for panoramic grandeur.
Travis' hero emerges from the endless desert to the accompaniment of mesmerizing melodious guitar chords. The character flees from the disaster of a breakup with his wife, who left her husband and their child. Travis's brother Walt is gradually helping his brother to restore his memory, return to his roots and himself. This job was the turning point in Wenders' career. The director with great care gets to know his own mutual feelings with society, tries to find his own way.
Characters and plot
Tired of the endless scenes of her husband's jealousy, Jane leaves the house, taking baby Hunter with her. She disappears from the lives of loved ones in Texas. Several years pass. And only then does Walt manage to help them all find their way to each other. Paris has nothing to do with the capital of France: it is just a tiny town in the Texas wilderness. But the picture itself is relevant to the whole world. The film seems to scream about the need to overcome alienation between loved ones.
The missing person was found four years later. He has deep amnesia, he is in a Texas hospital, he has lost not only his memory, but also his speech. Together with his son, his father goes in search of his wife, whom he forgot, but once loved. The doctor was able to find Walt, the hero's brother, using a business card. He took the relative home. All this time, Hunter, the son of Travis, grew up in their family.
The plot seems to lead nowhere, dodging, like the main character, on the way to the denouement. The picture explains the inability of people to truly communicate. Very rarely, the heroes find themselves face to face with each other, this is very alarming. The climax is the scene of Travis' conversation with Jane. They are separated by a two-way mirror. Only in such a situation, both of them realize what happened in the past between them.
After the premiere, Wim Wenders was again talked about as an outstanding master of his time. He did not change the main theme, the search for his place in the world.
The painting became the story of a person who has lost his memory and found himself at the zero point of being. It was there that he met people from his past, found a son again and managed to explain himself with his wife.
