Parallel Tales features fine acting and sure-handed directing from a filmmaker who knows better. That doesn't make it any better of a film, but it does remind me that this is more than likely an odd misstep than anything else. Everyone involved has been, and will be, better.
The main issue why Parallel Tales doesn't work is twofold: first, it's way too long, and second, it's just not very interesting as a story. Our protagonists are either bored bourgeois artistes with little to do except snidely observe the routines of mere mortals, or downtrodden caricatures who exist to make the aforementioned into better people. It hits the double whammy of dire tropes within the first few minutes, and never recovers.
Isabelle Huppert plays Sylvie, a writer struggling to craft her latest book. She lives alone in an apartment littered with work and bad memories, while her daughter, Laurence (India Hair), visits occasionally for help. One day, Laurence encounters Adam (Adam Bessa), a homeless immigrant, who stops pickpockets from stealing her wallet. Laurence arranges for Adam to work for Sylvie – why is a mystery – and the two unexpectedly bond, and soon Adam, too, writes about the lives of others.
Around this flimsy and hopelessly conventional narrative is another, even flimsier one. It is the story that Sylvie writes that perhaps happened, but most likely didn't. In it, a sound designer, Pierre (Vincent Cassel), and his assistant, Christophe (Pierre Niney), both fall for Anna (Virginie Efira), a flighty but brilliant producer who works with the duo. This love triangle unfolds across the picture, both as the story Sylvie tells and another, more convoluted, one in real life.
Is any of this interesting? No, it really isn't. Instead, Parallel Tales is effective only in the moments where it suggests completely different stories that take place in the periphery. We begin with Adam waking up in an immigrant shelter, and follow his meticulous routines as he avoids a broken system, looking for a reason to get rid of him. Then, Adam disappears from the story for a good half hour, only to emerge as a servant for a rich Parisian, where his entire personality relies on bettering Sylvie's rancid attitude.
What makes all of this so baffling is that writer/director Asghar Farhadi has built his career from nuanced and textured character portraits. His films are peppered with incredible characters, each one with believable motives and conflicting personalities. To date, they have been anything but simplistic or boring. Yet somehow Parallel Tales manages to be both.
Yet even the dire writing and lifeless story can't keep talented actors from imbuing it with some energy. Huppert is a screen icon for a reason, Bessa is one of the most promising new talents around, Cassel could make a phone book interesting, and Niney has charisma to spare. They are not the problem.
In fact, watch how much Bessa does with his limited part, slowly building confidence in his movements as he grows more accustomed to his new surroundings. Cassel, who can craft believable characters with a single tick, is heartbreaking as a man who knows his prime has passed, but refuses to embrace that which comes next.
But it's great acting in the service of a nothing story, just as Farhadi's steady directing and beautiful blocking do nothing to hide the fact that there's nothing to bite into. The whole film is like a masterfully crafted eclaire, fluffy and light, and potentially delightful at first bite, but then nothing but empty calories without any payoff.
