‘Parallel Tales’ Review: Isabelle Huppert Is a French Novelist Spying on the Apartment Across the Street in Asghar Farhadi’s Weirdly Muddled Voyeuristic Head Game

Variety | 15.05.2026 02:04
Sylvie (Isabelle Huppert), the pivotal figure in Asghar Farhadi’s “Parallel Tales,” is a French novelist whose better days are behind her. She lives in a stately old Paris apartment that’s starting to fray at the seams, and her whole vibe is that of an analog crank. When she goes into writing mode, she lights up a cigarette, puts on her stodgy spectacles and sits down at her ancient Olivetti electric typewriter, which is clearly the same machine she’s been using for decades.