PARIS, TEXAS? Or the Chinese name is easier to explain. Paris, Texas, is not that romantic city far away in Europe full of French atmosphere. TRAVIS's mother once told his father that he was going to a place called PARIS for a date, and if it wasn't for his mother's emphasis on PARIS, TEXAS, maybe his father really got on a plane and rushed to France. And TRAVIS's life began in this small Texas town, maybe it wasn't even a small town at all. Maybe just a few patches of sand, a log cabin, and a sign next to the barbed wire that says FOR SALE. Parents' joke-like dialogue made PARIS and TEXAS the starting point of TRAVIS's life. Will it also be the end?
Because of the beginning of life, it must also be destined to end, just like the sun rises and sets, and follows the laws of nature like the four seasons. And what about love? TRAVIS's love is as fragile as a cicada's wings. The mutual suspicion between him and JANE did not make the existence of the child firm. The two escaped from each other's love one after another. TRAVIS runs wildly on the road, stops when the sun rises, and starts again when the sun sets, heading towards the destination in his heart - PARIS, TEXAS.
With the departure, there is the search, and the search has become a theme of WENDERS in the film. In the first 25 minutes of the film, TRAVIS looked dazed and did not have a word of dialogue. On the way back to LA with his younger brother, he was trying to accept the living environment that he had abandoned for four years. For four years he has forgotten himself in that place called PARIS, TEXAS, together with his past and his love.
In his brother's video tape, TRAVIS found his shadow, so he began to look for his lost family and love. He won the tolerance of his son, and he worked hard to find his wife JANE. TRAVIS talks to his wife in a special way. They are separated by a window, but they are indeed strangers. TARVIS watched JANE, who had been reduced to selling laughter for a living, wept alone from the window. He talked about their past and the abandoned love. Their pasts were deeply intertwined with each other, but in the process of self-exile and self-discovery, TRAVIS finally gave his son back to his lover and chose to leave. Leaving does not necessarily mean the end, I prefer to understand that TRAVIS has chosen a new beginning for himself, JANE and his son.
Although I desperately hope for a warm ending, WENDERS is more willing to exile this TRAVIS who was exiled by himself and then by society to the end. The film uses the rhythm of "on the road" from beginning to end. The whole film is constantly looking for, the younger brother is looking for TRAVIS, TRAVIS is looking for family, looking for love, looking for PARIS, TEXAS. At the end, TRAVIS still chooses to leave. He wants to find his true self, the self that was once abandoned by himself, the self that he left behind in TARIS, TEXAS.
When the guitar strings rang again, the goshawk crossed the Gobi, a lonely figure was looking for...
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