The film "Paris, Texas" was nominated for fourteen awards. The film received an award for best directing, won the Cannes Film Festival and the FIPRESCI Film Critics Award. The cameraman is recognized as the best in the genre of feature films.
Travis, wandering out of nowhere, understands that somewhere he has a beloved family. It is unknown to the man that several years have passed since the moment of his disappearance from the life of loved ones. A desperate search for themselves in the wilderness of the American outback is accompanied by the introduction of a viewer and trance music by Paradise Kuder. The sparkling star of recognition of his talent ascended over the town of Paris, in Texas.
Pinnacle of success
Filmmakers are very fond of the genre of road adventures. The place in it is both luxurious views, and the very essence of the direction, that is, endless travel. The German director Wim Wenders, the direction of the road movie brought recognition and fame. The famous works of the director "Alice in the cities" and "False movement" were shot in the style of road adventures.
Ten years later, “Paris, Texas” turned not just into the final stage of creativity, but also played the role of a symbol of farewell to the American influence on the work of the director. From the first shots, Wenders conveys the romance and cult of big roads, so revered in America in the seventies and eighties in the cinema and in life.
The character of the nation is clearly expressed in the constancy of dynamics, continuous movement. It was in this environment that the theme of loneliness was placed. A contradictory trait is felt even in the densely populated areas of San Francisco. Because of this feeling, even the most beautiful landscapes of the picture are deserted.
The main symbol of loneliness is a picture in the hands of the protagonist. The photo shows a desert site in the American town of Paris. The character played by Harry Dean Stanton is an expression of this essence. He, like the hero of a western, is asocial, seeks to stay away from society and therefore is lonely.
Four years of wandering in the unknown, returning to the family thanks to a happy accident, and gaining the apparent meaning of life do not mean finding real happiness. A dream materializes at first glance. However, the eternal wanderer turns into a ghost himself in the endless California expanses. To the poetics of alienation, Antonioni draws a barely noticeable thread.
The components of success
The magic of the soundtrack of Paradise Kuder further enhances the feeling of a vacuum. The slide guitar as if scatters full melancholy and tension notes. The composer anticipated the crossroads, which became a landmark in his biography, with the tonality of work. The sparseness of meditative music falls on the bright saturation of the shades of landscapes.
Cameraman Robbie Muller gave the local family drama an infinite scale, continuing the "road movie" of Jarmusch. He skillfully uses combination to achieve the effect. First, majestic hills appear that reign over everything, growing from the desert plains, then they are replaced by concrete jungle.
The film belongs to atypical representatives of the genre. There is no drive in this road adventure, no dynamics are felt. Wenders conveyed the romantic sadness of the European continent in the transatlantic South. The deliberately emphasized loneliness does not disappear, enveloping every frame. Closer to the end of the film, an almost utopian mood is created, referring to Kobo Abe's “Woman in the Sands”.
But the hero of the European Wenders remains an American, a true Western hero. He does not lead a settled life, his soul needs wanderings, and this is a pilgrimage long in a lifetime. The recognition of work in Cannes graced the film about America even more.
The picture was taken exclusively for Europeans who were disappointed in everything. The plot is borrowed from the ancient myth, the scenery is taken from Westerns, the motif of the lost and newfound memory complements the tape. This proves the director’s desire for a unique balance between intellect and bodily energy, the elevation of everyday routine for the panorama of greatness.
From the endless desert, the hero of Travis goes under the bewitching singing guitar chords. The character flees from the disaster of breaking up with his wife who left her husband and their child. Travis's brother Walt is gradually helping his brother restore his memory, return to the roots and himself. The turning point in Wenders' career was precisely this work. The director is very carefully acquainted with his own mutual feelings with society, trying to find his way.
