Travis rises above **SIGNIFICANT SPOILERS**
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Paris, Texas
gonemoab — 11 years ago(December 17, 2014 11:05 PM)
Though consensus is this is a laudable film, and I am among that group, some have characterized Travis as wrong-headed, self-absorbed, arrogant, narcissistic, etc. at least with regard to his motives for abandoning his family. Assuming that's true, it gives me a reason to speculate
Travis tracks Jane down in her city. He catches a glance at her back; she glances his back leaving a room, though she doesn't know it. He ferrets out her booth, and solicits her professional services. She can't recognize his voice (we infer) because "all men's voices sound like his voice" or words to that effect. The one-way glass keeps them separated. He arranges a reunion between Jane and Hunter, but without his presence. With all the effort Travis expends to mend his fences, we're left to presume that making physical contact with Jane isn't going to be one of them. This is to me the unfulfilled longing that we viewers anticipate, but are deprived of, and lends complexity and more profundity to Travis through disappointment, loss. He brokers a promised-land deal between mother and child, but he himself is barred from entering. Sort of like Moses.
The peep show is a fantastic director's device. During the second visit, it becomes a confessional booth. Note that Travis must turn his face away during exposition, separated by the glass. Later the roles reverse; Jane now becomes the confessor, and she also turns and faces away. Even eye contact during this intimate exchange would amount to physical contact, and they are limited to voice only. (Yes, each one does see the other through the glass, but not during "confessions".)
No movie critic am I. These observations are just stark in my opinion. It seems as though Travis transcends something above human motives to right his wrongs. Am I seeing too much that isn't there?
Beernow there's a temporary solution
~ Homer Simpson -
mnbush — 11 years ago(December 20, 2014 04:50 PM)
No, I don't think you're seeing anything that isn't there. I hadn't noticed (and thanks for taking the time to post it) but now that I have, it is definitely a point the director wanted to make.
If you remember earlier on Travis is talking about Jame and how young she was. This is setting up a scenario where all people involved are at fault, but aren't really. It's circumstances, the times, whatever, all of the above, just life. And we got to experience Travis and Jane coming to terms with it.
Very good writing and acting and good film too.