Wim Wender’s soulful slice of Americana
Amid a haze of dust, a man (Harry Dean Stanton) emerges from the desert. A shabby affair, wearing a misfitting suit and tie, topped off with a red baseball cap. Seemingly dumbstruck by some unknown trauma, he stumbles into a bar and is eventually identified as Travis Henderson, a man missing for four years. An enigmatic opening gives way to a considered and impactful reconciliation with the past and emotional trauma, as Travis is picked up and driven home to LA by his His brother Walt (Dean Stockwell). The return is a reunion, with Travis joining Walt and his wife Anne (Aurore Clément), as well as his estranged son Hunter (Hunter Carson), who the pair have been caring for in his absence. Initially silent, Travis eventually opens up about his long walkabout and making a new home for himself in the remote town of Paris, Texas. Father and son begin to reconnect, before they decide to set off to Houston on a fateful roadtrip to reconnect with the missing maternal element of their family, Jane (Nastassja Kinski), as well as the events that drove Travis into the wilderness.
Fight or flight is a basic animal response, the latter speaks to a withdrawal to facilitate survival and healing. Despite our evolved sensibilities we still feel those urges, and they can often be compounded by social cues. A long drive after an argument, a hike to clear the head after some bad news. There’s a primal understanding of Travis’s nomadic sojourn even if we are aware of his abdication of responsibility. The simple sight of a man seeking solace opens up into a deeper examination of the mindset of American masculinity, notably the folly of unresolved emotion and inability to face up to trauma, which in this case encircles the fragmentation of a family. Stanton is key to this emotional character study. With a look, both in attire and expression that speaks to years of wear, and a performance that infuses the film with a somber soul.
Paris, Texas is a small town in the lone star state, but the title also hints at the trans-Atlantic temperament of the film. The European sensibilities of Wenders (a German) and cinematographer Robby Müller (a Dutchman) give the film the look and feel of lush European cinema, coupled to the more muscular sights of the US landscape and gritty performances of its cast. Leveraging the American West, this foreign and legendarily untamable frontier, adds to the aura of instinct and isolation. Even a move to the suburban sprawl of Los Angeles offers no respite, an equally foreign an alienating environment awaits Travis. Ry Cooder’s guitar-driven score infuses the film with yet another soulful hint of Americana. The script from Wenders, along with Sam Shepard and LM Kit Carson is light on dialogue, but uses word and visual language to conjure something melancholic and haunting. A man with anachronistic attitudes traversing a run-down landscape, serving as a warning about fixating on the past, over the importance of the present.
The Package
Criterion deliver an all new 4K digital restoration, one supervised and approved by director Wim Wenders. The result, like past 4K Criterions, is truly impressive. Paris, Texas delivers verdant visuals that really pop here. From the deep inky blacks of night, to the punchy neon lights, to the scorched oranges of the desert. Colors are strongly represented, with a palette that at times tilts towards greeny/blue. Density and detail of image is superb, with a healthy, stable grain throughout. 4K-UHD version of the film on a dedicated disc, while an additional Blu-ray contains extra features for the film:
- Audio commentary featuring Wenders: It’s all about the details in this packed commentary. Very focused on technical and logistical aspects of filming
- Archival interviews with Wenders; cinematographer Robby Müller; composer Ry Cooder; actors Harry Dean Stanton, Dennis Hopper, Peter Falk, and Hanns Zischler; novelist Patricia Highsmith; and filmmaker Samuel Fuller: Built into a 40 minute featurette, The Road to Paris, Texas
- Interviews with filmmakers Allison Anders and Claire Denis: Each an accomplished director in their own right, they reflect on their roles as first assistant director and production assistant on Paris, Texas. Anders through pulling from a personal diary, and Denis through an interview
- Deleted scenes and Super 8 home movies: Just over 20 minutes of deleted scenes, with a commentary from Wenders
- Cinema Cinemas: footage pulled from a French TV program which covers some of the collaborative work done to compose the film’s score
- Gallery of Wenders’ location-scouting photos
- Behind-the-scenes photos by portrait photographer Robin Holland
- Trailer
- Cover Art by Neil Kellerhouse
- Liner Booklet: containing an essay by film critic Nick Roddick; interviews with Stanton, writer Sam Shepard, and actors Nastassja Kinski and Dean Stockwell; and excerpts from Wenders’ book of photos Written in the West
The Bottom Line
Paris, Texas won the Canne film festival Palme d’Or back in 1984. It struck a cord then and still is one of the most evocative and impactful renderings of American woven by a foreign filmmaker. An indelible treatise on isolation and identity that deserves the reverence that surrounds it. Criterion’s 4K is sublime and further underscores the craft on display.
Paris, Texas is available via Criterion now
