Parallel Tales is the film that turned Asghar Farhadi's slot in Cannes' main competition into an argument rather than a coronation - a French-language psychological thriller that pulled a seven-minute standing ovation from the festival crowd in May and a far cooler reception from the critics who wrote about it the next morning. Four months later, Parallel Tales is still one of the widest-playing titles in Athens, running across both conventional cinemas and the city's last open-air screens of the season.
Farhadi built his reputation in Iran, where films like "A Separation" and "About Elly" turned domestic disputes into moral thrillers with real legal and social stakes attached. "Parallel Tales" (French title: "Histoires Parallèles") is his first feature shot entirely in Paris, co-written with his brother Saeed and loosely built on the sixth chapter of Kieślowski's "Dekalog". Isabelle Huppert plays Sylvie, a novelist past her best-known work who starts spying on the building across the street through a telescope, then hires a young assistant, Adam - Adam Bessa - with consequences that blur what Sylvie observes and what she invents for her next book.
A Cannes Ovation, A Critical Mauling
What makes the film worth writing about is not really the plot - it is the gap between how two audiences received it. Rotten Tomatoes has it at roughly 19 percent positive from 31 critics, Metacritic puts it at 41 out of 100, and reviewers were not gentle: Variety called it "a meandering and rather amorphous mess," IndieWire said it "forfeits the sordid humanity" of its source material for "a long film about nothing," and The Hollywood Reporter landed on "elegant but frustrating." None of that matched the room in Cannes, where the ensemble got a multi-minute ovation and Virginie Efira - playing dual roles - drew consistent praise even from reviewers who disliked everything around her.
The cast is the film's clearest asset regardless of where a viewer lands on the plotting. Alongside Huppert, Efira and Bessa, Vincent Cassel and Pierre Niney each play two roles across the interlocking stories, and Catherine Deneuve appears in a smaller part as Sylvie's editor. At 140 minutes, the structure asks for real patience - strands that only fully connect near the end - and critics split largely on whether that patience pays off or delays a thinner idea than Farhadi's Iranian work delivered.
Widest-Playing in Athens This Week
On Mood's screening data for Athens, Parallel Tales is currently the busiest non-blockbuster title in the city: 78 screenings across 23 different venues this week, roughly a quarter of the 95 cinema venues Mood tracks screenings for in Athens. That footprint trails only the two studio franchise titles dominating the multiplexes, and comfortably beats the next-widest non-franchise films, Gentle Monster and Fatherland, both under 60 screenings citywide.
Part of that spread comes from where the film is booked. Cinobo Opera, the arthouse screen run by Greece's dedicated festival-cinema distributor, has it on multiple daily slots - unsurprising, since Cinobo built its Athens presence on exactly this kind of director-driven, Cannes-competition title. But the film is not confined to arthouse rooms: it also plays conventional neighborhood cinemas and several of the city's remaining open-air screens, among the last titles still booked outdoors before Athens' θερινά season ends for the year.
That combination - a divisive film still drawing a real audience months after a rough Cannes reception - is what makes Parallel Tales worth tracking rather than skipping past. It is not the Farhadi that made "A Separation " a Foreign Language Oscar winner; critics agree his eye for specific social stakes loses focus once the setting moves from Tehran to Paris. What survives the move is the cast, and Efira's double performance gives the film a center several reviewers found more compelling than the mystery built around it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is "Parallel Tales" about?
Isabelle Huppert plays Sylvie, a novelist who begins observing her neighbors through a telescope for inspiration, then hires a young assistant, Adam, whose presence starts to blur the line between what she witnesses and what she invents. The story is loosely based on the sixth episode of Krzysztof Kieślowski's "Dekalog".
Is "Parallel Tales" worth watching?
Critics are split hard on this one. Rotten Tomatoes sits at around 19 percent positive and Metacritic at 41 out of 100, with reviewers largely calling the plotting thin and overextended at 140 minutes. Against that, the Cannes premiere audience gave it a lengthy standing ovation, and Virginie Efira's dual-role performance draws praise even in otherwise negative reviews - it is a film critics disliked and the cast mostly redeemed.
Who stars in "Parallel Tales"?
Isabelle Huppert leads, with Virginie Efira, Vincent Cassel and Pierre Niney each playing two roles across the film's parallel storylines, Adam Bessa as Sylvie's assistant, and Catherine Deneuve in a supporting part as Sylvie's editor.
Where is "Parallel Tales" showing in Athens?
It is currently the widest-playing non-blockbuster title in the city, booked at 23 different venues including Cinobo Opera and several of Athens' remaining open-air cinemas. The full, current list of cinemas and showtimes is on Mood's Athens cinema listings.
Who directed Parallel Tales?
Asghar Farhadi, the Iranian director behind "A Seperation" and "About Elly" wrote and directed it with his brother Saeed - his first feature shot entirely in Paris.
