By Harry Hook
One-way mirror – 1hr 58mins
Cinema acts as a one-way mirror. The audience watch the characters in the film; observing, criticising, anticipating. Yet, the subjects of the film cannot see the audience and will never know that they are being watched. Wim Wenders’ 1984 road film Paris, Texas explores this notion by setting its dramatic resolution through a one-way mirror in which an estranged couple reconcile.
On one side of the mirror lies Travis Henderson (played by the late Harry Dean Stanton), who had been previously missing for four years. On the other side lies Jane Henderson (Nastassja Kinski), Travis’ wife who now works in a seedy club where she performs peep shows. Travis’ side of the mirror is a darkened room with only a desk, a telephone and a lamp. Jane’s side is mocked up as an apartment and later a coffee shop. This posits Jane as the performer and Travis as the audience.
There are two scenes in the film which feature this scenario. The first is arguably the better recognised with Jane in the mock apartment wearing an iconic pink angora sweater. However, it is the later scene that truly resonates with me due to its striking imagery and poetic dialogue written by Sam Shepard. The scene begins with Jane at a disadvantage as she believes that there is a regular client on the other side of the mirror rather than her estranged husband Travis. It is from this point that she shifts from performer to listener as Travis relays the story of their tumultuous relationship through a third person perspective.
Travis’ reflection can be seen on his side of the mirror to which he turns his back on to speak to Jane as if to detach himself from her. This transforms the function of the mirror from a peep show to a confessional booth. Kinski’s performance in this scene is of reaction and revelation as Jane listens to Travis’ story and slowly begins to realise that he is recanting the story of their life together. The camera never strays from Kinski during this scene with almost every shot featuring her in some capacity. Travis’ telling of the story is told from a perspective of regret and painful honesty as he recalls the physical and mental anguish they were both put through.
It is at this point that Jane realises who is speaking to her and attempts to peer through the mirror in order to see Travis. She then turns the light off in her room which allows her to see him, thus eliminating the one-way nature of the mirror. However, their reconciliation is still hindered by the glass mirror and through Travis’ revelation that Jane should reconcile with their son without him. ‘It was easier when I just imagined you’ Jane confesses as she turns her back to Travis in an act of role reversal. They both can only seem to reveal their true feelings when they separate themselves from each other. The scene ends with Jane agreeing to meet with their son Hunter without Travis, thus fulfilling the purpose of his visit.
The reason I find this scene to be so evocative is that it shows that cinema is not just a one-way mirror wherein one party performs for another but it can be a conversation separated by a window in which ideas, ambitions, emotions and desires can be communicated in a way that influences our perception of life and our own actions.
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