Parallel Tales: Asghar Farhadi’s Cannes-Debuting French Thriller Divides Critics

Parallel Tales (Histoires Parallèles) premiered in competition at Cannes 2026. The story follows reclusive novelist Sylvie (Isabelle Huppert) who watches three sound-engineers across the street through a telescope, turns their observed gestures into a manuscript, and enlists her assistant Adam (Adam Bessa) to spy and ultimately insert the fiction into their real lives.

The Wrap

Farhadi, whose Cannes laurels include *A Separation*, *The Salesman* and *A Hero*, adapts Krzysztof Kieslowski’s *Dekalog* episode Six (*A Short Film About Love*) into a French setting. The ensemble also features Vincent Cassel, Pierre Niney, Virginie Efira, Catherine Deneuve (cameo), cinematographer Guillaume Deffontaine, composer Zbigniew Preisner, and French distributor Memento.

Deadline Hollywood

Cannes listed *Parallel Tales* as an official competition entry. Press notes state the film is seeking U.S. distribution, with Memento handling French theatrical release.

Deadline Hollywood

Deadline praised the film as “wickedly entertaining, a twisty and smart tale freely inspired by Kieslowski’s Dekalog,” calling it possibly Farhadi’s best-ever in style. TheWrap highlighted the “handheld camera moments” that capture natural reactions and noted the thematic link between sound-design and writing.

Deadline Hollywood

IndieWire described the movie as “cramped and tedious,” arguing Farhadi “bends over backwards to contrive a flimsy house of mirrors” and that it “makes you want to fast-forward whenever Isabelle Huppert shows up on screen.” The review also faulted the repetitive structure and lack of narrative thrust.

IndieWire

Reviews diverge: IndieWire gives a C- grade, Deadline lauds the film as a career high point, and TheWrap notes uneven repetition yet affirms its thematic ambition. No audience-viewership data are yet available.

IndieWire

Farhadi’s return to Cannes with a French-language film signals his willingness to cross cultural borders and to examine how voyeurism, imagination and sound shape reality, a timely question in an age of surveillance. The film also foregrounds the ethical implications of turning private observation into public narrative, resonating with contemporary debates on privacy.

IndieWire

• “My stories are from another time,” — Sylvie (Isabelle Huppert), character in *Parallel Tales*.

IndieWire

• “Parallel Tales” is “wickedly entertaining, a twisty and smart tale ‘freely’ inspired by director Krzysztof Kieslowski’s legendary 10-hour television series Dekalog.” — Deadline reviewer.

IndieWire

• “As Nita, Théo, and Nicolas’ lives begin to more and more resemble what Sylvie has written, it’s an apt reminder: art imitates life, but how we live our one precious and wild lives is often inspired by art.” — TheWrap reviewer.

The Wrap

Cannes competition slot: 2026; IndieWire rating: C-; 2027 marks the 100th anniversary of the first talking picture.

Deadline Hollywood

U.S. distribution talks continue; a limited release is planned for late 2026, potentially followed by North American festival screenings.

IndieWire