The film by the Iranian helmer has gained space inside my thoughts since I first watched it on the Croisette, always a sign of something special in a work of the seventh art.
I confess. For one thing, Isabelle Huppert’s Sylvie in Parallel Tales is a mirror of my own mom, twenty years ago. Down to the woolen sleeve she wears on one arm at one point, to pack up her belongings to move out of the apartment she has promised her niece she will sell. But then changes her mind, of course.
But let’s go in order here. While watching Parallel Tales, I was awed by the costumes and interiors that Asghar Farhadi paints, with the help of his crew, up on the screen. I imagined that this was the Iranian director’s attempt at Woody Allen, a bit, with a lot of “De Palma does Hitchcock” thrown it, as a friend said of the film later. With, and Farhadi himself admits it was the starting point for his film, Polish director Krzysztof Kieślowski’s 1989 series Dekalog, which the Iranian helmer was approached to remake as a series, at first, for an American company. To be exact, he reworked episode 6, ‘Brève histoire d’amour’, after the same company said he could choose a favorite chapter and adapt it into a film.
A story within a story, of a woman voyeur, who with the help of her telescope imagines her next book lived out in the lives of those who work in the apartment across the street from her, in Paris.
Yet, even though the film was brilliant and entertaining to watch in Cannes, where it screened in the official Competition, I somehow hadn’t discovered the complete brilliance of the Academy Award winning filmmaker’s latest, which only really becomes apparent after a few days.
Parallel Tales is the one film which has remained with me all this time, its scenes and feelings playing out in my thoughts for more than a week after watching it and in solid shades and nuances. I consider myself lucky not to be a film critic, as their reviews had to be published immediately after watching it, and therefore many lacked the added value of time. Time spent contemplating the film’s simplicity, hidden amidst its complicated, yet poignantly contemporary storyline. A knee jerk reaction for Parallel Tales does not allow for its brilliance to take hold of you.
From the ding of the trams passing below, which sound throughout the film coming from outside of Sylvie’s window, to the comfort of food in Paris, to the look of Parisians sporting the easygoing style of the more undiscovered neighborhoods, Parallel Tales changes the way one looks at all things French and while in Cannes, I felt joyous at hearing the “ding ding” sound outside my hotel window! Somehow, the idea of becoming Sylvie, even for just a fleeting instance, felt exhilarating.
Adam Bessa and Virginie Efira in a still from Asghar Farhadi’s latest
A bit more of the story now. While Sylvie studies her neighbors in the studio across the street, an apartment which she writes about having belonged to her family before her mother tore apart its nucleus by falling in love with their next door neighbor, the trio working on the nature TV sound effects across the way provide the story, or not. They are made up of a duo of brothers — Vincent Cassel and Pierre Niney — and Nita, the fantastically, always naturally good looking Virginie Efira. Sylvie’s niece, played by India Hair, provides most of the humor in the film, constantly arguing with her aunt about selling the home that belonged to her mom as well. Huppert provides her usual cool rockstar best, dressed in vintage nightgowns and long necklaces, topped with velvet jackets.
Into this mix comes homeless, down on his luck Adam Bessa, who one day valiantly rescues niece Céline’s wallet from a gang of robbers on the metro. Céline decides the young man would make a nice, honest helper for aunt Sylvie and brings him home to her, to speed up the packing and help with the heavy lifting. But Sylvie is a challenge of a woman, and I say that with all the love of knowing women who are challenging, including yours truly, and hasn’t left her home in months. Soon Adam (no need to change such a perfect name, right?) becomes her carer too and the duo dance a lively waltz of give and take, giving as well as taking insults and kindness.
Soon enough, the student becomes the teacher, unbeknownst to Sylvie herself at first, and begins to follow, “write about” and stalk — yes, I don’t use that word lightly, Adam stalks — Nita. He shows up where she eats her simple yet yummy looking budget meals and stands outside the building where she works with the brothers, uninvited. He follows her on the metro, as a predator stalks its prey. And from strong, independent woman Nita turns into an object of adoration, with all its perils and downsides, right in front of our eyes.
Parallel Tales is masterfully written by Asghar Farhadi and his brother and frequent collaborator Saeed Farhadi. The ambiguity of the characters is all, one hundred percent full on and perfectly comprehensible to a cinema lover. Watching Parallel Tales is like reading a fantastic book which holds a secret in its very ending, all the while knowing that book could never be filmed. This film could never be a book and it shouldn’t be a book even though it tells the story of a book, or two, being written. It serves its purpose as a film alone, to transport the viewer onto its unique universe that lives deep within him or her for days, even weeks to come, I imagine.
Sound, the identity of it and its construction, is a theme present in the film, as it was in the original series, and Farhadi himself explained it in the film’s press kit: “The people Sylvie spies on for her book are sound effects artists, and she imagines they work on fiction films, as one naturally assumes. But I remembered that the sound in wildlife documentaries, which constitute the most real and tangible images, is almost entirely studio-produced. The idea that the most real and natural sound is completely artificial became the concept that permeated the entire film. It's about reflecting on reality: on fabricated reality, on the effect of reality through sound, but also on how real people, who themselves belong to a fiction, are distinguished from the fictional characters within the fiction!”
To be true to this mantra, Farhadi has three sound engineers, designers working on Parallel Tales — Pierre Mertens, Paul Heymans and Mathieu Michaux — while the spot-on editing is left to his frequent collaborator Hayedeh Safiyari. French DoP Guillaume Deffontaines provides the intimate cinematography and his fellow countrywoman Emmanuelle Duplay is art director on the film. The extraordinary Khadija Zeggaï, who had already dressed Huppert in Ira Sachs’ 2019 film Frankie and recently also designed the costumes for the Oscar nominated best international film The Voice of Hind Rajab, serves as costume designer on Parallel Tales.
The film is currently in French theaters but does not have a distribution deal in place for the US and the UK. I personally hope that changes, very very soon. It is a gem which requires an audience enjoying it in the comfort of a summer, air conditioned movie theater and not be subjected to a group of overworked, underpaid film critics to help decide its fate. Parallel Tales is being sold internationally by Charades.
All images courtesy of the Festival de Cannes, used with permission.