X
- 1984
- R
- Twentieth Century Fox
- 2 h 25 m
- 1984
- R
- Twentieth Century Fox
- 2 h 25 m
Summary Travis Henderson, an aimless drifter who has been missing for four years, wanders out of the desert and must reconnect with society, himself, his life, and his family.
Directed By: Wim Wenders
Written By: L.M. Kit Carson, Sam Shepard, Walter Donohue
- 1984
- R
- Twentieth Century Fox
- 2 h 25 m
- 1984
- R
- Twentieth Century Fox
- 2 h 25 m
Paris, Texas
81
7.8
Where to Watch
Summary Travis Henderson, an aimless drifter who has been missing for four years, wanders out of the desert and must reconnect with society, himself, his life, and his family.
Directed By: Wim Wenders
Written By: L.M. Kit Carson, Sam Shepard, Walter Donohue
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 13 Critic Reviews
81
77% Positive
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
23% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 13 Critic Reviews
81
77% Positive
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
23% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
It is an eerie, sad story whose meaning disappears over the vast horizon as if on a highway heading away through the desert.
Wim Wenders’ heartbreaking, profoundly American masterpiece...The climactic scene – set in a peep-show booth – features a stunning autographical monologue that’s one of the most mesmerizing pieces of screen acting ever filmed.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 61 User Ratings
7.8
79% Positive
48 Ratings
48 Ratings
11% Mixed
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
10% Negative
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 61 User Ratings
7.8
79% Positive
48 Ratings
48 Ratings
11% Mixed
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
10% Negative
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
This is one of those films that, without them, cinema or life would be inconceivable. What supports that is his story of search, introspection and reunion, although not necessarily with a happy ending. Its development makes the 145 minutes of footage hardly felt.
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It's perfect in all ways and it's brilliant in all ways, Paris, Texas is a beautiful, realistic, depressing story, with a master performance by all the cast especially Harry Dean Stanton, Paris, Texas is just become one of my personal favorite and best films of all time, this movie is too good to be made.
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So many mood pieces sustain their mood only as far as the closing credits; the blissful melancholy of Paris, Texas endures with recall and association, however distant from one’s last viewing. Cannes has rewarded many a great film, but none that is quite so permanently, ever-retrievably embedded in my sense memory.
It’s indeed a beautiful film, one that will surely convince doubters that Muller is one of the cinema’s best cameramen. He gives the story a surface polish that hints of Edward Hopper and Georgia O’Keefe Americana paintings. Some images are positively breathtaking.
Like Wenders's other road movies, this is largely about the spaces between people and the words they speak—Antonioni updated and infused with German romanticism; the various means of indirection through which the hero communicates with his son (Hunter Carson) and wife (Nastassja Kinski) constitute a striking motif.
It's no shameless Hollywood weepie, mind you, but an overestheticized, coolly abstracted weepie, which is not necessarily better. [19 Nov 1984, p.132]
Paris, Texas is thus a curiosity. On balance it seems overblown and rickety, as substantial as tumbleweed. And it seems to be less than the sum of its two major parts, the script by Shepard and the images by Wenders. Still, it's an essential entry into the Wenders file, full of hollow portents and signs signifying little. And it would be worth seeing for Stanton's performance alone. [8 Feb 1985, p.8]
“Every man has your voice.”
‘Paris, Texas’ is one of the best art-house westerns out there. A slow-burn two-and-a-half-hour movie that kept my eyes locked onto the screen. How a movie can be so warm, and gentle hit the hardest in emotions.
The movie is long and slow paced, so of course it’s not going to be for everyone, but then again, every movie isn’t for everyone. However, movies like these are a special type of breed that cannot be duplicated so easily if you tried.
Watching this movie without knowing a single thing about it added so many layers of mystery that perfectly placed me in the main characters head. Travis Henderson (Harry Dean Stanton), once a family man, but now a silent drifter walking aimless in the Texas desert while having amnesia on certain parts of his life. He has become a worn-out and raggy version of himself, which leaves the audience wondering why. His brother Walt (Dean Stockwell) finds him and helps to recollect his memories, while also reuniting him to his son, sister in-law, and eventually his wife. So as Travis is retracing his steps and rediscovering forgotten memories, you are with him all the way until the end.
Harry Dean Stanton is excellent as Travis, a man fallen into a black hole of emotions. He may not be a great father or husband, but tries his best to mend the wounds he caused in the past and to leave a personal impact on his son Hunter. Stanton subtle approach of bringing a character like Travis to life is truly extraordinary, because Stanton draws more into Travis gentleness while also displaying the pain behind his kind smile. There were many instances in the movie that I thought that if any other actor played the role, they would have easily over done it for dramatic effect, but Stanton deadpan and yet natural delivery made certain scenes more effective.
A solid child performance from Hunter Carson, who plays Travis's son who is also named Hunter. The scenes between the two were the sweetest elements in the movie and brought a warm smile to my face.
Natassja Kinski plays Travis’s wife, who does not appear until the third act, but when she does, she is instantly hypnotic to watch. An actress of pure beauty and raw talent. Her quiet and soft-spoken voice made her presence even more remarkable, because how something so simple can leave the biggest impact. She spends most of her scenes in one room, and yet I totally bought the chemistry between Stanton and Kinski, which is impressive considering the two are never in the same room together and share only two scenes in the movie. All the emotions from Kinski comes from her reaction and demeanour, so with every flicker of her eye and long pauses communicates so much of her emotional state that a million words could not. It’s unbelievable.
The conversation scene towards the end is one of the finest achievements in cinema. Painful and revealing that even if you don’t cry, you will think about crying. It is as moving as anything I think I have ever seen. I’m getting teary eyes just thinking about it.
I find it fascinating how a German director like Wim Wenders approaches the portrayal of family life in America, because Wender leans more towards the sad elements in order to destroy the illusion of the perfect family life. It is not all doom and gloom, but it is not all sunshine and rainbows too, just real enough for the audience to attach themselves to the characters and story.
The score from Ry Cooder is fantastic and plays perfectly in sync with the Texas setting. The music also represents that dry, lonesome, and reminiscent of the past. It is the type of music that makes you feel sad, but the weird kind of sadness that you enjoy.
Perhaps the biggest standout in the whole movie is Robby Müller’s cinematography. Everything from the breathtaking landscapes of the Texas desert where the scorching heat cannot stale the colours of the environment, while Müller shows us a distant land stretching further away. The other is light and colour that is drenched in vibrant neon. The whole movie has beautiful visuals that helps create the overall mood of the movie while also giving it a foreign feel. It has some of my favourite shots ever.
Overall rating: A devastating, but hypnotic movie that stirs emotion in me like no other. An absolute masterpiece.
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For a long time the movie feels long and could be shorter. The only things I could enjoy were the beautiful landscapes of Texas and a bit of California. There is a mystery about the behaviour of the protagonist and it becomes clear, that this is the key to the movie. The revelation of it is an incredibly strong scene. For this moment I forgot my surroundings and felt with the characters, so sad. The bad ending took me back to the world and showed me again, that this movie is just average. Anyway the acting was great.
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Paris, Texas - is a worse place for living in real life. This is a city for gangs/criminals and corrupt/criminal city officials.
This is city for looters/hackers/ stalkers - there isn't anything to say good about them [ city officials].
They protect and perpetrate the gangs/criminals. It's a safe heaven for them. If the gang criminals were jailed in the past - that is a good point for getting protection from the city officials. City officials means - City Mayor, commissioner, City Manager, DA of the county and the Police Dept. So, IF you are a criminal - they will WELCOME you. They will protect you. And they will encourage you to continue.
So, the movie was not made based on the facts.
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Ouais bah déjà, deux choses : premièrement, c'est une palme d'or de mes couilles du festival des aliénés et autres peigne-culs de la foire à intello-bobos (de mon cul) ; secondement, c'est un film de "Wim Wenders", vous savez, le réalisateur allemand qui réalise des merdes !
Troisièmement, Paris n'est pas au Texas, bordel de merde ! parce que sinon je veux pas gâcher ta joie mais ce Paris-là, c'est pas exactement la même chose que l'autre... et je prends les paris !
Sinon, que dire d'un tél étron intello-psycho qui se regarde le nombril pendant deux plombes ? eh bien, que c'est à la fois stupide et naïf et à peine digne d'un épisode de Julie Lescaut qui aurait forniqué avec un vieux téléfilm sur C8, juste après les trois heures non-stop avec Hanouna et sa clique de mangeboules attitrés. Et que c'est pédant et dérisoire en même temps... c'est ça le "cinéma" ? un cinéma de balais à chiottes qui font une chorégraphie à côté de la cuvette, ouais ! nan mais merde, c'te blague...
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Wings of Desire is an incredibly beautiful movie. I love it. So it was really soul-crushing to watch this one. It took me days to finish. I know a lot of people love this movie. But it is SO **** misogynist, my mouth has been falling more and more open. The women characters are ZOMBIES. The camera just stares at how pretty they are. The gentle enigmatic man we fall in love with in the course of the film is a **** jealous idiot who it turns out beats and abuses an underage girl because he has "delusions" that she might be cheating on him. This is insane. This is not a good movie. Make it go away.
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Production Company
Road Movies Filmproduktion,
Argos Films,
Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR),
Channel Four Films,
Pro-ject Filmproduktion,
Wim Wenders Stiftung
Release Date Nov 2, 1984
Duration 2 h 25 m
Rating R
Genres
Tagline A place for dreams. A place for heartbreak. A place to pick up the pieces.
Awards
Golden Globes, USA
• 1 Nomination
BAFTA Awards
• 1 Win & 4 Nominations
Cannes Film Festival
• 3 Wins & 3 Nominations
