Asghar Farhadi’s ‘Parallel Tales’ Receives Heartfelt 7-Minute Ovation at Cannes
Oscar-winning Iranian director Asghar Farhadi premiered his new film, Parallel Tales, at the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday, receiving a resounding seven-minute ovation from the audience at the Grand Théâtre Lumière. This marks Farhadi’s first feature film in five years.
Following the screening, French cinema icon Catherine Deneuve shared a heartfelt moment with co-star Isabelle Huppert and Farhadi. The emotional embrace was captured and shared on social media, showcasing the camaraderie among the film’s prominent figures.
Parallel Tales was filmed in Paris last year, featuring a star-studded cast that includes Huppert, Deneuve, Virginie Efira, Vincent Cassel, Pierre Niney, and Adam Bessa. While the official synopsis has not yet been released, anticipation is high given Farhadi’s acclaimed track record.
This film is Farhadi’s first project since A Hero, which garnered the Grand Prix at Cannes in 2021. Parallel Tales is also his second French-language endeavor, following The Past, which earned Bérénice Bejo the Best Actress award at Cannes in 2013. Farhadi’s films A Separation (2011) and The Salesman (2016) both won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
In Parallel Tales, Huppert portrays Sylvie, an author seeking inspiration for her new novel. She becomes intertwined in the lives of her neighbors, portrayed by Cassel, Efira, and Niney, when she enlists the help of young Adam (Bessa) in her daily routine. As the story unfolds, she discovers that the fictional world she has created may surpass her reality.
The film draws its inspiration "freely" from director Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Dekalog, specifically episode 6, which was later expanded into A Short Film About Love. Farhadi selected this episode as the foundation for a full-length feature.
Produced by Alexandre Mallet-Guy in collaboration with Farhadi and David Levine, Parallel Tales is an official French-Italian-Belgian co-production, involving Memento Production in France, Lucky Red in Italy, and Panache Productions as well as La Compagnie Cinématographique in Belgium. Anonymous Content also participates in the film’s production.
