Nila Kartika Wati
By Editorial Staff
Asghar Farhadi, the two-time Academy Award-winning Iranian auteur, has returned to the Palais des Festivals for the fifth time, cementing his status as a titan of contemporary world cinema. His tenth feature film, Parallel Tales, has arrived at the 79th Cannes Film Festival, offering a profound meditation on voyeurism, the ethics of storytelling, and the blurred lines between reality and fiction. Loosely inspired by the late Polish master Krzysztof Kieślowski’s 1988 Dekalog: Six—a seminal work examining the commandment “Thou shalt not commit adultery”—Parallel Tales represents a stylistic evolution for Farhadi, shifting from his signature neorealist roots into a more ethereal, meta-narrative landscape.
A Legacy Defined by Moral Complexity
Farhadi’s career has long been defined by the tension between individual morality and societal constraints. From the claustrophobic domestic drama of A Separation to the unsettling psychological layers of The Salesman, he has mastered the art of the “social thriller.”
However, his journey to Parallel Tales was far from linear. Five years ago, the director—who continues to reside with his family in Tehran—was approached to participate in a television adaptation of the entire Dekalog series. At the time, the prospect of episodic television did not align with his creative vision. Instead, he channeled his energy into A Hero (2021), a film that garnered the Cannes Grand Prix but simultaneously mired him in a high-profile legal battle over plagiarism.
The controversy centered on allegations that the film’s narrative—a real-life incident documented by one of his former students—was appropriated without credit. Ultimately, Farhadi was acquitted, with the court ruling that the underlying event was public domain. This experience, while undoubtedly grueling, seems to have left a subconscious imprint on his current work, as Parallel Tales itself navigates the fraught territory of ownership, inspiration, and the ownership of truth.
The Kieślowski Connection: An Evolution in Style
The genesis of Parallel Tales emerged when producers returned to Farhadi with a more flexible proposition: ignore the series format and instead use a single Dekalog episode as the foundational DNA for a feature film.
"I went back to thinking about it," Farhadi explained during a candid conversation on the roof terrace of the Marriott Hotel in Cannes. "I asked myself, ‘What’s the point of a remake?’ I’ve never done anything like that. If a film is good, if it still has impact, what is the point of repeating it? I decided to use the episode as a shell—a frame into which I could pour a story that felt more personal."
Farhadi selected Episode Six, A Short Story About Love, specifically for its exploration of solitude and the act of observation. In his reimagining, starring the legendary Isabelle Huppert, the narrative pivots around a character defined by her voyeurism. While the original Kieślowski film relied on the silent, observational nature of a telescope, Farhadi chose to expand the auditory landscape.
"In the original, there are no words, no sound," Farhadi noted. "I wondered: What if we brought sound into the story? What if sound became a primary, active element?" This led to the film’s unique framing device: the characters are foley artists, creating the sonic textures of a world they can only observe from a distance.
Chronology of an Auteur in Transition
Farhadi’s filmography reflects a filmmaker in constant dialogue with the international stage. His willingness to work outside of Iran—and outside his native Farsi—has been both a creative necessity and a political statement.
- 2013: The Past, shot in French and starring Bérénice Bejo, wins the Best Actress prize at Cannes, proving Farhadi’s ability to maintain his signature tension in a foreign language.
- 2017: Everybody Knows, a Spanish-language production featuring Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz, further demonstrates his capacity to translate human drama across cultural barriers.
- 2021: A Hero wins the Grand Prix at Cannes, accompanied by legal turmoil that forces the director to address the ethics of storytelling publicly.
- 2026: Parallel Tales debuts, marking his fifth competition entry and a departure from pure neorealism.
When asked about his preference for language, Farhadi is pragmatic yet resolute. "Of course, I’d rather work in my country, in my language, with the society I’m familiar with," he said. "But that doesn’t mean I lack the curiosity to challenge myself in less familiar contexts. However, I have been clear: I won’t work in Iran again as long as I have to ask for a government permit and cannot work with complete creative freedom."
The Power of Narrative in a Digital Age
A central theme in Parallel Tales is the danger of the narrative—how we are fed stories that dictate our perceptions of others. Farhadi argues that we live in an era where social media has turned us all into voyeurs.
"We are constantly peeping into everyone’s lives," he observed. "We fantasize about their reality, thinking we have knowledge of them, but we only have an image. We are living in a world of narratives, and we are told what to think through the stories we consume."
This meta-thematic approach is evident in the film’s structure. The first half is steeped in the fiction written by Huppert’s character—it is a construct, a deliberate artifice. As the film progresses, the style shifts, grounding itself in a reality that feels more reminiscent of Farhadi’s previous work. This transition was, he admits, organic rather than calculated. "You don’t make conscious decisions for every structural shift," he remarked. "You let the story drive you where it needs to go."
Implications for Global Cinema
The industry is watching Farhadi’s latest project with heightened interest, particularly following recent shifts in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ eligibility rules. By allowing major international festival prize winners to be eligible for the Best International Film Oscar, the Academy has opened the door for films like Parallel Tales to reach a broader, more diverse audience.
"It is a wise and important decision," Farhadi said of the rule change. "We have been fighting for this for a long time. In the long term, it will bring more visibility to vital, global films."
Future Directions: Beyond the Border
As for what lies ahead, the director remains characteristically guarded. "This baby has hardly been born," he said of Parallel Tales.
The question remains: Can a filmmaker who defines himself by his connection to Iran continue to make "Iranian" films while living in exile? When pressed on whether he might reconstruct Iranian environments in countries like Turkey or Georgia to facilitate a more traditional, home-grown story, his answer was nuanced.
"It would be expensive to reconstruct the locations," he acknowledged, "but I wouldn’t have a problem with it. If I wanted to make a purely Iranian film outside of Iran, I could. Would I do it? Maybe."
For now, Parallel Tales stands as a testament to Farhadi’s resilience. In a world where stories are stolen, misconstrued, and weaponized, Farhadi continues to craft cinema that asks the audience to look closer, listen harder, and, above all, question the truth of the narrative unfolding before them. Whether he is working in French, Spanish, or Farsi, his lens remains fixed on the universal, fragile, and often contradictory nature of the human heart.
Sagoh
Rifan Muazin
