Instant Film School #1: Paris, Texas

Welcome back to Country of What. I’m going to try again with this thing and see if I can maintain regular updates and some sort of consistency with the content. Today’s entry is the first of (hopefully) many columns discussing films available through Netflix’s Instant Viewing feature. Appropriately enough, I’m calling it Instant Film School, and I’ll be focusing on films that have made an impact on the film medium. Unsurprisingly, many of these films are brought to you by the invaluable folks at Criterion Collection. I suggest viewing the films before reading my column, because it is more of a discussion about the film than a review. Meaning there will be SPOILERS.

Instant Film School #1: Paris, Texas

Wim Wenders’ 1984 masterpiece, PARIS, TEXAS, is available on Netflix’s 720p streaming HD, as well as blu-ray and DVD from the Criterion Collection. The transfer is phenomenal, showcasing some of the best streaming quality I’ve seen through the streaming service. This is great news for Netflix subscribers because one of the true stars of PARIS, TEXAS is Robby Müller’s gorgeous cinematography. The Texas landscape has rarely looked so beautiful. The contrast between the desert and the bright blue sky is breathtaking.

PARIS, TEXAS opens with Travis, played by Harry Dean Stanton (Wild at Heart, Alien), wandering out of the Texas desert and collapsing in a nearly deserted bar. His brother’s phone number is found in his pocket and the local doc calls to inform him of Travis’ status. Travis’ brother Walt, played by Dean Stockwell (Quantum Leap, Blue Velvet), reveals that Travis has been missing for four years and agrees to drive down from L.A. to deal with him. We soon find out that Travis and his wife Jane (the amazing Nastassja Kinski) disappeared four years earlier and that Walt has been raising their son ever since.

At first, Travis refuses to speak and tries on a few occasions to wander back into the desert—aimlessly searching for something he doesn’t even remember. As he is reintegrated into his brother’s family, he begins to remember what he has lost and to reconnect with his son, Hunter. For much of the film, we are as in the dark as Travis about what happened that drove him to the wilderness. Eventually, he and Hunter strike off on the road to find Jane.

The “reunion” of Travis and Jane is the emotional climax of PARIS, TEXAS, and the centerpiece of the film. Jane has been working in a Houston peep show where customers watch through a one-sided mirror and communicate to the girls with a telephone. Through this impersonal medium, Travis and Jane are able to open up about what happened four years earlier that pulled them apart. Travis turns his chair away from the window so he and Jane are in the same situation, neither can see the other. He tells her of a man who married a younger woman; a man who drank too much and would go into jealous tirades, demanding to know where she’d been every moment of the day. The man cleaned up and the couple had a child, but the woman began to feel trapped by the weight of that responsibility. She dreamed of escape, and, finally, she did. She left the man for dead and never looked back.

Besides the great performances, what makes this 10 or 15 minute scene stand out as it does is Wim Wenders’ control of the camera. He lingers on Natassja Kinski’s face as her expression transforms during Travis’ story. We can see the moment she notices the similarities to her own story and begins to pay attention. We witness the heartbreaking moment when she realizes this IS her story and that her ex-husband is on the other side of the glass. The mirror is an active participant in this scene, as it shields Travis from her. Jane stares into her reflection as she moves through these emotions. The couple changes the lighting so that Jane can see Travis, but they are never able to see each other at the same time. It’s telling that their lack of physical closeness allows them to connect in a way that they never have before. They both open up about what they were going through as their marriage disintegrated.

Finally, Travis tells Jane about the hotel room in which he has left Hunter. The former couple never meets face to face. Travis barged uninvited into Hunter’s life, took him from the family he had grown up with and delivered him to a mother he has forgotten. Like a natural disaster, Travis tore through his family’s lives and left things in disarray. It’s interesting that Travis did not choose to leave the desert. If he had not been found passed out, he would still be wandering the desert and his family would continue to assume him dead.