Farhadi's 'Histoire Parallèles' at Cannes 2026: A Dispersive Game of Mirrors

Asghar Farhadi presented his second French-language film 'Histoire Parallèles' in Competition at the 79th Cannes Film Festival. The film follows Sylvie, a writer in creative crisis who spies on her neighbors, who are sound effects creators for cinema. She hires young Adam, blurring fiction and reality. Farhadi cites the sixth episode of Krzysztof Kieślowski's 'Decalogue' as inspiration, shifting focus from voyeurism to sound as artificial construction. The film explores falsification and narrative manipulation but lacks the compactness of Farhadi's earlier works like 'The Salesman'. The cast includes Isabelle Huppert as Sylvie, Adam Bessa as Adam, and Vincent Cassel, Pierre Niney, and Virginie Efira in dual roles. Sound design—rain, storms, wind—creates a suffocating acoustic landscape. The review by Margherita Bordino on Artribune notes the film's elegance but diminished urgency.