Reviewed by Anne Wollenberg
Stars Harry Dean Stanton, Nastassja Kinski, Dean Stockwell, Hunter Carson,
Bernhard Wicki, Aurore Clément, Tom Farrell | Written by LM Kit Carson & Sam Shepard
UK certification 12 | UK RRP £15.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 139 minutes | Directed by Wim Wenders
Someone once told me that the best way to ruin a film for yourself is to study it. Or maybe I said that myself after a particularly ridiculous super-neo-feminist (or something) lecturer tried to convince me that the yellow brick road in The Wizard of Oz symbolised menstruation. Actually, that never happened to me. But it did happen to my friend Fran, who was sent out of the seminar for sniggering.
Either way, my introduction to Paris, Texas wasn’t a particularly happy one. I had to give an assessed presentation on it as part of a university film module called Hollywood and Europe, because Paris, Texas was a co-production between companies in France and West Germany — it was released in 1984, while the Berlin Wall was still up — but was made in the US and blends Western constructs with European influences. This meant I watched it under duress and panicked about it.
Tell you what though, it stuck in my mind. For starters, this is a film that looks amazing. Think sweeping, dry desert landscapes and empty, stark space, evoking loss and longing and loneliness. You might think that sounds pretentious, but take one look at the haunting landscapes reminiscent of Monument Valley, where John Ford shot films such as The Searchers, and you’ll agree.
Equally haunting music helps provide the backdrop for the story of a man trying to piece together the remains of his broken life. Stanton is amnesiac Travis, who’s been missing for four years. After his brother Walt (Stockwell) takes him in, Travis tries to rebuild his life and, teaming up with his seven-year-old son, he goes in search of his ex-wife Jane (Kinski). Just don’t expect the plot to go rattling along. Bleak and beautiful, this is a moody film that requires some patience, and if gorgeous cinematography is lost on you then you may end up hitting fast-forward. But to do so would be to miss out on a seminal piece of cinema. There’s a reason why I was made to study Paris, Texas at university — it’s because it’s bloody good.
EXTRAS *** There’s a director’s commentary from Wim Wenders, who’s incredibly softly-spoken and also doesn’t feel the need to rabbit on during every single second of the movie, but instead chills out and just talks when he’s got something to say; about 22 minutes of deleted scenes with commentary from Wenders; Home Movies, which consists of unused footage from the home video footage shown in the film; footage from Cannes 1984, where Paris, Texas won the Palme d’Or; and a trailer.
• Also out this week: Wings of Desire and Kings of the Road