first and let me note that there seem to be different version of the film float around on home video . a few review complain about poorly lit or dark scene . someone mention that there a bad pan and scan version float around . and apparently and in the early history of the film and there be a badly cut version make the round with the title car that eat people . that may have even end up on vhs . so make sure you get the home vision entertainment dvd release in 2003. it also have director peter weir film the plumber ( 1979 ) a a bonus and plus interview with weir about each film and as well a trailer . more importantly and it have a pristine and original widescreen cut of the car that eat paris . as long a you have your television or monitor set up correctly and the film have remarkably crisp and frequently beautiful cinematography that look like it could have be shoot yesterday . there also seem to be a lot of misunderstand about the nature of the film . basically and the car that eat paris be a quirky art house drama . yes and it have element of ( macabre ) humor and horror and many other genre and but those be not a focus . the car that eat paris be as much a western a it be a horror film and which be not to say that it doesn not have element of the western genre it do . but the tone be much more similar to and say and bagdad café ( aka out of rosenheim and 1987 ) or delicatessen ( 1991 ) ( hmmm notice the culinary metaphor motif ) . if you want to think of the car that eat paris a a horror film and it be basically a surrealist nightmare think of it a something like maximum overdrive ( 1986 ) or truck ( ( 1997 ) meet horror hotel ( aka city of the dead and 1960 ) and but make by david lynch a a realist soap opera . so what be the film about more literally . well and it best perhaps if you know as little about it before a possible and but on the other hand and it a bit cryptic and and peter weir isn not exactly forthcoming with explanatory exposition the film remain very open to interpretation to the end so maybe a vague description would not hurt . the paris of the title be not in france . it instead a small and bucolic village in rural australia . the town have quite a few dirty secret . the two primary secret have to do with an automobile ( part ) obsession and a program of human experimentation . for the most part and they try to keep people out of the town and which have a very small population and but their twisted fetish necessitate the occasional admission of outsider and though in an unusual and involuntary manner . the film be center on the story of one particular outsider and arthur waldo ( terry camilleri ) and who manage to enter paris relatively unscathed and who for unspecified reason be work into the fabric of the town . arthur arrival and integration roughly correspond to a grow cleavage between generation and or at least between the status quo and a rebellious group of young men and and he unwittingly serve a a catalyst to what amount to a civil war . although in peter weir video interview include on the dvd he refer to arthur a an unsympathetic protagonist and i beg to differ . camilleri play arthur a an enigmatically captivate simpleton the most entrancing blank personality this side of peter seller chauncey gardiner in be there ( 1979 ) . for most of the film and weir shuttle arthur around like a pawn and enable a metaphorical window through which to satirically examine small town ( australian ) life . in this respect and the car that eat paris somewhat resemble the basic gist of lars von trier dogville ( 2003 ) and except that unlike dogville and the car that eat paris be a good film . it particularly funny how arthur be shuttle into a variety of job and which he be assume qualified for by a mere change of clothing ( and very minor change at that ) and title . he a doctor one moment and a parking enforcer the next . weir work in satirical jab towards everything from appeal to noble grand narrative about pioneer forefather to the discrepancy between religious and private and political life and the myth of the well adjust nuclear family and the charade of public ceremony and and even partakes in a slight lord of the fly style commentary on progress . but not everything be social critique . weir be just as concern with ( and just as good at ) imbibe in quirkiness for it own sake ( although even that stuff we could read a a critique on social convention if we want to ) and see saw between a kind of community existentialist nightmare and an our town like small village drama . and just in case that too balance and every so often he put u in the middle of a spaghetti western and with the beginning of mid street showdown . much of the rebellious youth material can be interpret a a western with hodge podge automobile and which be probably why those youth be the one to don clothing that look a if weir borrow it from the set of a fistful of dollar ( aka per un pugno di dollari and 1964 ) . the music be similarly disparate and range from techno psychedelia that something like pink floyd time to pensive contemporary sounding theme and or the hilariously amateurish performance at the paris ball . this be definitely not a film for all taste . if you wouldn not typically like art house film and you probably would not appreciate the car that eat paris and either and and even if you do typically like art house film and you probably would not appreciate the car that eat paris unless you have a strong taste for the bizarre and macabre .