#psychological-drama

#psychological-drama

A French-German-Latvian production, showing in competition, is a remake of Claude Chabrol's classic "La Femme Infidèle" (1969), which was already remade as "Unfaithful" (2002) with Diane Lane. Zvyagintsev, with his chilly style (he has a habit of keeping his camera distant, so that even medium close-ups register as mild shocks), is not exactly a filmmaker who brings the heat. And in this case, that's a compliment.

Asghar Farhadi's confounding new film, Parallel Tales, takes place in a pair of apartments located across the street from each other in the 10th Arrondissement of Paris. One of them is home to Sylvie (Isabelle Huppert), a prickly author who is supposed to be getting ready to move out but has instead descended into such a semi-feral state while working on her latest novel that her niece, Laurence (India Hair), hires someone to help her out.

No one, including her, knows quite what to say, but everyone (including her parents and two brothers) tries their best to put on a brave and polite face. It is her mother, Gill (Charlotte Bradley), who keeps asking questions and commenting on how pale Hannah looks now that she's a vegetarian.

In the latest show from "Breaking Bad" creator Vince Gilligan, the crime genre gives way to a bewildering mix of science fiction and noir. Soaked in obvious inspirations from "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" to less obvious expressions of James Ward Byrkit's "Coherence," Gilligan's new Apple TV+ series begins with Best-Selling author Carol Sturka ( Rhea Seehorn) reading the latest novel of her best-selling book series to a crowd of fans.

Just describing the situation in which Linda (Rose Byrne) finds herself in Mary Bronstein's descent-into-hell motherhood drama If I Had Legs I'd Kick You is enough to provoke the state of heightened anxiety that the movie seeks to create in its audience. While her unhelpful husband (Christian Slater, mainly heard as a voice on the phone) is away on a long work trip, Linda finds herself single-parenting their chronically ill daughter (Delaney Quinn).

Lucija is a shy 16-year-old who is a member of her Catholic school's female choir; she joins the choir's special trip across the Italian border for a week in Cividale del Friuli.

Masha's motivations have become unclear as her connection to the guests diminishes, with her past trauma now less influential in the ongoing narrative.