Histoires parallèles

Where is the line between imagination and theft? Asghar Farhadi has long had a talent for exploring moral quandaries, and in his latest film, he turns that ethical gaze upon the act of creativity itself. Centred on Sylvie (Isabelle Huppert), a writer nearing the end of her career, HISTOIRES PARALLÈLES blurs the lines between fiction and life, as her newest short story begins to have unanticipated consequences in the real world. Looking for inspiration, she spies on the employees of a foley studio across the street, imagining a love triangle that may or may not exist. Against her better judgement, Sylvie hires Adam (Adam Bessa), a young man with a shady past, as a new assistant. Soon, he too becomes fixated on the lives of Sylvie’s neighbours, becoming dangerously obsessed with Virginie Efira’s character —Anna in the fiction, Nita in real life. Farhadi’s film is freely adapted from Krzysztof Kieślowski’s DEKALOG, SZEŚĆ (1990), itself a story of voyeurism and misperception. But HISTOIRES PARALLÈLES also draws clear inspiration from Alfred Hitchcock, Georges Simenon and the traditions of French art cinema, interrogating the means by which film becomes an imitation of life. (Michael Sicinski)

In the presence of Isabelle Huppert (on the 25th of October) and Massoumeh Lahidji (on the 29th of October).

Asghar Farhadi: DANCING IN THE DUST (2003), BEAUTIFUL CITY (2004), FIRE- WORKS WEDNESDAY (2006), ABOUT ELLY (2009), A SEPARATION (2011), THE PAST (2013), THE SALESMAN (2016), EVERYBODY KNOWS (2018), A HERO (2021)