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Cannes 2026: Oscar-winning director gathers Isabelle Huppert and Virginie Efira
Twelve years after the brilliant The Past, Iranian director Asghar Farhadi is returning to France to shoot his new feature. Entitled Parallel Tales, the film brings together some of the most bankable names in French cinema, from Isabelle Huppert to Virginie Efira, Pierre Niney, and Catherine Deneuve.
By Jordan Bako.
Published on 28 April 2025. Updated on 15 May 2026.
Parallel Tales, a film in official competition at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival
It will undoubtedly be one of the film set to make waves at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival… Parallel Tales by Asghar Farhadi will run in the official competition. Its premise? “In search of inspiration for her new novel, Sylvie begins spying on her neighbors across the street. When she hires young Adam to help with her daily life, she has no idea that he will upend both her life and work, until the fiction she had imagined begins to overtake their shared reality.” For the occasion, the Iranian director has brought together the very best of French cinema. A whole host of actors, each with increasingly packed schedules…
Virginie Efira and Isabelle Huppert in the cast
Isabelle Huppert and Virginie Efira will be starring in this upcoming feature. The two actresses had both presented films in Cannes last year. Indeed, Isabelle Huppert portrayed Liliane Bettencourt in The Richest Woman in the World, by Thierry Klifa. As for Virginie Efira, she shared the screen with Jodie Foster in Rebecca Zlotowski’s drama, A Private Life.
Pierre Niney will also join the cast of Parallel Tales, still riding the wave of his box-office triumph in The Count of Monte Cristo (12 million admissions worldwide). Alongside him, actor Vincent Cassel, who will also appear in Romain Gavras’s new feature Sacrifice.
Catherine Deneuve will make an appearance
Another exciting addition to the cast is Adam Bessa, in the role of a migrant who just came out of prison and dreams of becoming a writer. The French actor’s career has been on the rise since he won the award for Best Performance in the Un Certain Regard category for Harka (2022). Besides, icon Catherine Deneuve will make a guest appearance as an editor next to Isabelle Huppert.
Asghar Farhadi, a leading figure of Iranian cinema
Filming began last Fall in Paris and marks Asghar Farhadi’s major comeback in France. The acclaimed Iranian filmmaker previously directed the drama The Past (2013), starring Tahar Rahim and Bérénice Bejo. The latter won the award for Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival for her performance.
In a press release, we learn that Asghar Farhadi wanted to avoid giving postcard images of the French capital in order to deliver a more poetic vision of the city, like he did in The Past. “I wanted to look at Paris the way a Parisian would. Depending on where I’m staying, I often pass through Boulevard Saint-Martin. I’ve always loved the graphic quality of the place, with its two levels and railings, and I wanted to film there. Watching the movie, you get the impression there are two apartments with a boulevard between them. In reality, we shot in six different locations!”
A regular of major award ceremonies
Will his appearance in France for the Cannes Film Festival, where the film is in competition, prove successful? From the Berlinale to the Oscars, the director is no stranger to major international film ceremonies. In 2011, he notably won the César, the Golden Globe and the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film for the family drama A Separation. With a cast as promising as that of Parallel Tales and a richly layered screenplay exploring, among other themes, the power of fiction, Asghar Farhadi may well repeat the feat.
Parallel Tales by Asghar Farhadi does not have a release date yet. The film will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on May 14th, 2026.
