It Was Just an Accident
20257.2movie
People
An unassuming mechanic is reminded of his time in an Iranian prison when he encounters a man he suspects to be his sadistic jailhouse captor.
An unassuming mechanic is reminded of his time in an Iranian prison when he encounters a man he suspects to be his sadistic jailhouse captor.
After years of imprisonment and travel bans in his native Iran, Jafar Panahi returns to Cannes with a furious but funny revenge thriller that takes aim at oppressive regimes and could scoop the Palme d'Or. One of the themes running through the competition films at this year's Cannes Film Festival is how hard it can be to battle your way to justice when the state is standing in your way. In Two Prosecutors, the bureaucracy in Stalin's USSR grinds truth to dust. In Eagles of the Republic, an Egyptian actor finds himself being directed by slimy officials, both at work and at home.
After winning the Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival, Jafar Panahi's It Was Just an Accident is one of 2025's best films.All of Panahi’s films feel deeply personal in their own ways, but It Was Just an Accident is on a completely different level. Panahi crafts a film that is both deeply funny and immensely dark in its subject matter, a balance that the writer-director handles with a deft hand without ever sacrificing either.
