It Was Just an Accident (2025)
There's a moment early in It Was Just an Accident where you catch yourself laughing, and then almost immediately feel guilty for it. That tonal shift, from dry, deadpan comedy to something far darker and more suffocating, is exactly what Jafar Panahi pulls off in his 2025 film, and it's a tightrope walk that very few directors could manage. I've always been consistently impressed with Iranian cinema, and this is a brilliant, defiant reminder of why.
The premise grabs you by the collar from the off. An unassuming mechanic finds himself suddenly plunged back into the trauma of his time in an Iranian prison when he encounters a man he suspects to be his sadistic jailhouse captor. What follows is a slow, deliberate unwinding of memory, guilt, and moral complexity, all shot entirely without a permit. That fact alone makes the film remarkable before you've even sat down to watch it. It was later submitted by France to the Academy Awards, and having seen it, I can say with confidence that it thoroughly deserves that recognition.
That opening touch of comedy is brilliantly judged. It captures the old saying perfectly: if I didn't laugh, I'd be crying. There's a raw, almost absurdist quality to it that slowly gives way to something genuinely harrowing, a story that clearly echoes Panahi's own real-life experiences with the Iranian regime. Knowing what this director has personally endured lends the film an additional layer of weight that's impossible to shake.
I'll be honest with you: this is a slow film. Long, drawn-out scenes, dialogue that is dense and unrelenting, characters who talk and argue and circle each other for extended stretches. If you're coming in hoping for a taut, propulsive thriller, you'll probably bounce off it. But there is something genuinely impressive about how much these actors carry on their shoulders. The sheer volume of heavy dialogue they had to internalise and deliver with such naturalism gives the whole thing a raw, almost theatrical authenticity. It feels lived-in, because in a very real sense, it is.
And all of that deliberate, patient build-up earns its keep. The climax, and I won't say a word about what happens, hits with a force that recontextualises everything you've just watched. It's the kind of ending that sits in your chest for days. Panahi trusts his audience to sit with the discomfort, to wrestle with the profound moral questions he's raising rather than having them neatly resolved. That trust is rare, and it's exactly what makes this such a rewarding experience in spite of (or perhaps because of) its demands.
I loved The Salesman for similar reasons, that same willingness to let moral ambiguity hang in the air, unresolved and uncomfortable. It Was Just an Accident sits comfortably alongside it as essential modern Iranian cinema. And much like Salaam Cinema, there's a quality here that blurs the line between filmmaking as art and filmmaking as an act of personal necessity.
Panahi has crafted something brave and deeply personal, a film that refuses to be silenced just as its director refuses to be silenced. The pacing will test some viewers, and I won't pretend otherwise. But the emotional payload it delivers, and the brilliant performances holding it all together, more than justify every slow, heavy scene that precedes it. This is one of those rare films that lingers. Long after the screen fades to black, I found myself still sitting with it.
Three and a half stars.
Rating: ★★★½ | Year: 2025 | Watched: 2026-07-08
Where to watch
Watch in the UK
Stream: MUBI · MUBI Amazon Channel
Rent: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video
Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi
Watch in the US
Stream: Hulu
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Buy: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Physical: Amazon US
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