My most anticipated film of 2026 was Iranian director Asghar Farhadi's “Parallel Tales” which is his riff on Polish master filmmaker Krzysztof Kieślowski’s “A Short Film About Love”, although this is only one of a few inspirations behind his new film. His previous film, “A Hero” (2021), ended up being quite a controversial project for Farhadi, as it saw a former student of his, Azadeh Masihzadeh, sue him for plagiarism over a documentary idea she presented in class (and subsequently made), which she then accused Farhadi of stealing it's concept. Farhadi ended up winning the case, due to his film being fictional, whilst Masihzadeh's film was a real-life documentary; both films however were “based”on the same man, Mohammad Reza Shokri. Similar to Pedro Almodovar's “Bitter Christmas”, we have a story that talks about author's inspirations and how much they owe the real person that their imagined story is based on, if anything, which is a key theme also in “Parallel Tales”.
Sadly, it pains me to report that Asghar Farhadi's “Parallel Tales” was a massive disappointment, and for mine, is his worst film to date. My main issue with it was that I absolutely despised the character of Adam who is a spineless, selfish little worm that causes pain to everyone he interacts with. I cannot remember hating a character so much for a very long time, which turns out to be a problem when he is your film's main character. Because of Adam and his actions, I was immediately against the film, and despite the good that is in “Parallel Tales”, it was never enough to bring me back to enjoy the film. This was a massive shock to me because this is the first film from Farhadi that I haven't enjoyed. It was also the first film from him that didn't appear to have any social commentary attached to it either, making it feel less important. That is fine, as not every film has to have something to say or teach, but if you are going to just go for entertainment, you need your audience to at least relate (they do not have to like them) with your characters, and I just couldn't with Adam.
“Parallel Tales” exists in three layers of reality: imagination, remembrance and real life, and Sylvie, Isabelle Huppert's character, uses all three when writing her stories. Each night she spies on her neighbours ,who are sound recordists, while they work (real life), and comes up with her own relationships, dramas and dialogue between them (imagination), whilst adding a personal touch by using the memory of her mother's death as part of her story too (remembrance). Similar again to Almodovar's “Bitter Christmas”, we get to see Sylvie's story played out with Virginie Efira, Pierre Niney and Vincent Cassel playing the imagined roles as Sylvie is writing it. To differentiate from fact and fiction Virginie Efira's character in the novel has dark hair, while her “real life” character is blonde. This part of the film is actually pretty fun, and very cinematic, as it revolves around voyeurism and infidelity, and voyeurism is the basis of cinema itself (watching characters in personal moments). With hints of Hitchcock's “Rear Window”, “Parallel Tales” looks amazing too during this section of the film. Once the book is rejected by her publisher for being too old fashioned, Sylvie throws away her manuscript, only for Adam to claim it for himself, pretend he is the author of it, whilst doing everything in his power to first meet, and then get mixed up in the lives of the real people Sylvie based her book on. Through Adam's unstable eyes and sick mind, he struggles to tell the difference between fantasy and reality, and interprets the real life people to be just like the characters in the book, which is where the real drama of “Parallel Tales” begins. However it is also this point where the film starts to lose its footing and head towards the disappointment it turns out to be. Granted, it does deal with some interesting themes such as does real life inspire fiction or does fiction inspire real life, as well as looking at the weird phenomenon of fandom where some people get so involved in a story, they deem it to be more real than real life itself. I admit this is interesting stuff, but I just wish that these topics were explored in a better film, rather than the unsatisfactory and bloated “Parallel Tales”.
Outside of my extreme hate for the character of Adam, the biggest problem with “Parallel Tales”, ironically, is that it didn't feel believable nor that it reflected truth, especially when it comes to the characters actions or reactions, particularly those of the women. Adam is so innately creepy on his initial contact with Nita, that I cannot believe she would continue to give him the time of day, let alone not call the police. His actions are dangerous so treating him like he is harmless was not only a bad decision, but it also never rings true. The fact that he repeatedly makes contact with her and follows her, for Nita to do nothing makes no sense. I also found Isabelle Huppert's character, Sylvie, to be totally inert, even though the whole film revolves around something she wrote. Sylvie has no point in the film, even though, ironically, she is at the center of everything. However for the majority of “Parallel Tales” she potters around her unit preparing to move out; she doesn't change nor have a “character arc”, there is nothing to her. If the film existed without her character, with Adam finding a manuscript written by the previous owner, he found while cleaning his apartment, you would honestly not miss the character at all. Huppert's performance in the role, also is not one of her best. Speaking of pointless, do not get me started on Catherine Deneuve's cameo, who shows up for all of one scene as Sylvie's publisher, never to be seen again. It screamed of desperation and stunt casting, just so Deneuve's name could appear on the movie poster to attract more viewers (although she is quite good in the scene).
Something else that really frustrated me about “Parallel Tales” is none of the characters ever take ownership of their actions, or worse, are happy to look past or excuse other people's actions because it would make their life harder to do the right thing and call out or condemn the toxic behaviour. Due to spoilers, I cannot delve too deep into this point, but multiple characters do horrific things to others, and they all have an excuse for why they did it or have someone else back them up, claiming it wasn't that bad to begin with. That is why I loved when Nita finally says “enough”, stands up for herself and refuses to compromise her self worth to anyone, despite how difficult it will make her life going forward.
The best performance in “Parallel Tales” comes from Virginie Efira, who gets to play two roles, Nita and Anna, the character from Sylvie's novel that is based on Nita. Whilst Efira's performance is the best in “Parallel Tales”, it does not come close to the greatness of her performance in Ryusuke Hamaguchi's “All of a Sudden”, which I saw on the first day of MIFF this year. I think the reason for this has to do with Asghar Farhadi's script and his inability to present his characters in truthful situations. It isn't until near the end of the film when Efira really shines, and no surprise, this is when Nita finally acts how a woman in her position would really act.
Overall, Asghar Farhadi's latest film “Parallel Tales” turned out to be a massive disappointment, and for mine, is the worst film made yet from this super talented Iranian director, mainly due to the fact that his characters actions and reactions have no basis in reality. I read a review for the film recently where the reviewer made the quip that Farhadi had turned “A Short Film About Love” into a long film about nothing which, while harsh, is also pretty spot on. It is not all bad though as the film does look nice, particularly the scenes based on Sylvie's book, but voyeurism is inherently cinematic, and I did like the question explored in the film over whether real life influences fiction or does fiction influence real life, as the real life characters of “Parallel Tales” start to mirror the characters from Sylvie's book. In the end though, I could not find myself liking “Parallel Tales” due to the character of Adam, who I absolutely despised due to his slimy, selfish manner. “Parallel Tales” was my most anticipated film of 2026, so in that context, to say it was a disappointment is a serious understatement.
2.5 Stars.
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