Vengeance is hardly swift in It Was Just An Accident, Iranian master Jafar Panahi’s tensely riveting meditation on vigilante justice. Inspired by the filmmaker’s most recent political imprisonment—which saw him detained for seven months in 2022 after demanding the release of fellow directors Mohammad Rasoulof and Mostafa Aleahmad—the taut, thrilling, Palme d’Or-winning film follows a group of former detainees who debate whether they should execute a man they believe was once their captor. While It Was Just An Accident employs a strictly narrative structure, a departure for Panahi’s nearly 15-year preference for non-fiction hybridity, the questions about restitution and rebellion are steeped in intensely personal reflection.Â
It Was Just An Accident opens, naturally, with an accident. Eghbal (Ebrahim Azizi) runs over a stray dog as it darts across a dark country road, much to the horror of his young daughter (Delmaz Najafi), who just moments before was giddily bouncing around to pop music. “What will be will be,” assures her mother (Afssaneh Najmabadi), a statement made all the more eerie when the car’s engine gives out from the impact seconds later. But, as luck would seem to have it, the family has broken down just steps from an auto-body garage. Eghbal gets out of the car, visibly limping, the sound of his footsteps immediately draining the blood from mechanic Vahid’s (Vahid Mobasseri) face. Vahid retreats into the corners of the shop, stealing brief glances at Eghbal while remaining unseen.Â
The next day, Vahid uses a co-worker’s van to stalk Eghbal. When the perfect moment strikes, he ambushes the man, ties him up, and drives him to the middle of the desert. Only now does Vahid reveal their connection: He declares that Eghbal once kept him blindfolded and imprisoned, subjecting him to brutal torture as retaliation for “collusion” against the state.Â
“I’d know the squeak of your artificial leg anywhere,” Vahid snarls after digging a makeshift grave for Eghbal, whom the prisoners dubbed “Peg Leg.” However, at the last second, Vashid is plagued with doubt. He resolves that before killing the man, he must be completely certain that he’s actually enacting revenge and not merely murdering a stranger in a blind rage.Â
Salar (Georges Hashemzadeh), Vahid’s friend and former cellmate, points him towards other survivors of Peg Leg’s wrath, among them the fiery wedding photographer Shiva (Mariam Afshari), her soon-to-be-wed clients Goli (Hadis Pakbaten) and Ali (Majid Panahi) and impulsive wild card Hamid (Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr). One by one, they are all possessed by a primal rage at the mention of Peg Leg, but they struggle to settle on a plan of action for taking restitution. While driving around Tehran over the course of a single day, they recount the indignities of beatings, forced confessions, psychological degradation, sexual assault, and public humiliation that they were subjected to by Peg Leg. As the film progresses, it becomes evident that openly confronting this trauma may provide as much catharsis as taking an eye for an eye. But can appealing to morality actively hinder one’s survival under a ruthlessly repressive regime?
In spite of the unrelenting anxiety it produces, It Was Just An Accident contains a scathing sense of humor. As the group grapples with recurring doubts about Eghbal’s identity and bicker over their proposed murder plans, they encounter outside forces that only reinforce the inherent injustice of the world they inhabit. During one particularly explosive disagreement, they pull the van into a parking garage only to rouse the suspicion of two security guards. They flimsily justify their presence—Shiva attests to the marvelous city view atop the structure, instinctively posing an increasingly disheveled Goli and Ali—but the guards don’t really care if what they’re getting up to is technically illegal. They shamelessly demand a bribe to get lost; when everyone claims they’re short on cash, one of the guards conveniently pulls a card reader out of his pocket. This straightforward punchline points to the normalcy of corruption—and, perhaps, the futility of seeking justice in such a landscape—but Panahi takes it even further, eventually entangling Eghbal’s family and the conspirators of his death in an extended interaction that produces an unexpectedly tender levity (and several more card readers).Â
While the film’s climactic confrontation may initially communicate a message of pacifism, it would be foolish to assume that an artist who has defied the orders of the state at every opportunity would align himself with tepidity. Throughout his career, Panahi has been subjected to bans on filmmaking and traveling as well as multiple arrests; not only does he persist as a creative, but he uses this attempted institutional censorship as satirical fodder for his work. While he doesn’t appear as a loose version of himself in It Was Just An Accident, as he has in all of his work since 2011’s This Is Not A Film (the first project he was forced to create in secret), these characters are undoubtedly inspired by people that Panahi encountered in prison. By narrativizing the collective mistreatment of political dissidents—both those he personally forged bonds with and the countless others persecuted by the Iranian state—the fearless filmmaker crafts his most radical condemnation of the forces that have long attempted to silence him.
Director: Jafar Panahi
Writer: Jafar Panahi
Starring: Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, Hadis Pakbaten, Majid Panahi, Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr, Delnaz Najafi, Afssaneh Najmabadi, Georges Hashemzadeh
Release Date: September 9, 2025 (TIFF)
