---
title: "It Was Just an Accident: the reviews"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/it-was-just-an-accident/reviews"
title_page: "https://film.one/film/it-was-just-an-accident"
critics_score: 82
critics_reviews: 23
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# It Was Just an Accident (2025): what the critics said

Critics' score 82 from 23 reviews: 21 positive, 2 mixed, 0 negative.

The reviews lean strongly positive, and no critic writes the film off. Most describe it as a moral thriller about revenge that refuses to settle the question it raises, and most are struck by how Jafar Panahi keeps dark comedy and political anger in the same frame without one undercutting the other. Praise clusters on the writing: the ex-prisoners’ clashing temperaments, the road trip whose growing cast complicates the pursuit of justice, and the satire of officials with their hands out. Several also single out the long, static takes and Vahid Mobasseri’s performance.

The reservations are small and scattered rather than shared. The Observer finds the dialogue can go round in circles. Paste notes an occasional theatricality. The New Yorker thinks the coincidences feel like a fable and the moral argument abstract, though the account of trauma outweighs both. The Los Angeles Times suggests the central mystery hems in the drama. Nobody disagrees on the verdict; the argument is about how much the construction shows.

## Evening Standard — Nick Howells

Rating 5/5. 11 October 2025. Festival review. 

Howells calls the film devastatingly superb and a likely best film of the year. He praises its deft blend of comedy, revenge thriller and political horror, especially its measured craft and subtle final sting.

[Read the review](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/it-was-just-an-accident-review-london-film-festival-jafar-panahi-b1252433.html)

## Little White Lies — David Jenkins

Rating 4/5/5. 3 December 2025. 

Jenkins finds the film gripping, generous and powerful, while noting its unsettling shift toward an ambiguous stance on revenge. He praises Panahi’s finely calibrated storytelling and the way the road-trip’s expanding cast complicates the characters’ pursuit of justice.

[Read the review](https://lwlies.com/reviews/it-was-just-an-accident)

## Time Out — Phil de Semlyen

Rating 5/5. 20 May 2025. Festival review. 

The review presents Panahi’s film as a forceful, darkly funny success. It singles out the Coen-esque abduction tale and its cudgel-like impact.

[Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/a-simple-accident-review-2025)

## The AV Club — Natalia Keogan

Rating A-. 10 September 2025. 

Keogan finds the film tensely riveting and a radical condemnation of state repression. She praises its scathing humor, especially the scenes that expose the everyday normalization of corruption.

[Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/it-was-just-an-accident-review)

## Vulture — Bilge Ebiri

Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 17 October 2025. 

Ebiri finds the film extraordinarily powerful and endlessly fascinating. He particularly praises Panahi’s vivid, emotionally grounded characters and the film’s gripping treatment of revenge and uncertainty.

[Read the review](https://www.vulture.com/article/review-the-powerful-cannes-winner-it-was-just-an-accident.html)

## The Hollywood Reporter — Jordan Mintzer

Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 20 May 2025. Festival review. 

Mintzer finds the film a shrewdly crafted, powerful vengeance drama that condemns the lasting effects of abusive power. He singles out Panahi’s careful visual craft and the ensemble performances.

[Read the review](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/it-was-just-an-accident-review-jafar-panahi-iran-1236222539/)

## Variety — Peter Debruge

Rating Critics Pick. 20 May 2025. Festival review. 

Debruge praises the film as a powerful, furious moral dilemma that openly warns Iran’s oppressors. He singles out its mordant humor as an unexpected counterpoint to its anger.

[Read the review](https://variety.com/2025/film/reviews/it-was-just-an-accident-review-jafar-panahi-1236403835/)

## IndieWire — David Ehrlich

Rating B+. 13 October 2025. Festival review. 

Ehrlich praises the film as a tense, gripping moral thriller that resists easy answers about justice and revenge. He singles out Panahi’s careful handling of the ex-prisoners’ conflicting perspectives and the moral uncertainty surrounding their captive.

[Read the review](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/movies/it-was-just-an-accident-movie-review-jafar-panahi-1235124899/)

## Sight and Sound — BFI

Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 27 May 2025. Festival review. 

The review praises Panahi’s morally complex and politically charged revenge thriller as a confident, searing work. It singles out Vahid Mobasseri’s nuanced performance and the film’s understated storytelling for praise.

[Read the review](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/it-was-just-accident-jafar-panahi-explores-morality-violent-revenge-his-deserving-palme-dor-winner)

## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw

Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 3 December 2025. 

Bradshaw finds the film a tough, impressive serio-comic work that exposes the pain of tyranny. He praises its acid satire of Iranian officialdom’s appetite for bribes.

[Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/may/20/a-simple-accident-review-jafar-panahi-iran)

## Slant Magazine — Mark Hanson

Rating 3/4. 4 September 2025. Festival review. 

Hanson finds the film a sharply satiric, seriocomic morality play about how tyranny turns people into worse versions of themselves. He praises the characters’ vivid clashing temperaments and the film’s incisive depiction of corruption.

[Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/it-was-just-an-accident-review-jafar-panahi/)

## The New Yorker

Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 

The critic finds the film’s fable-like coincidences and moral abstractions outweighed by its forceful depiction of trauma. They single out the vivid details of lives shattered by political violence.

[Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/it-was-just-an-accident-10-20-25)

## The Observer — Wendy Ide

Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 5 December 2025. 

Ide finds the film a furious, forceful attack on the Iranian regime, though its dialogue can feel circular. She praises how its dense conversations give voice to stories the regime tried to suppress.

[Read the review](https://observer.co.uk/culture/film/article/it-was-just-an-accident-is-a-furious-attack-on-the-iranian-regime)

## Los Angeles Times — Tim Grierson

Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 16 October 2025. 

The review finds the film a compelling, carefully composed meditation on revenge and the possibility of moving on from oppression. It praises Panahi’s long takes and genre-fluid storytelling, while noting that the central mystery somewhat constrains the moral drama.

[Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2025-10-16/it-was-just-an-accident-review-jafar-panahi-iran-palme-d-or-cannes)

## Screen Daily — Wendy Ide

Fi1m's normalised score 65/100 (inferred from the text). 20 May 2025. 

The headline frames the film as a direct confrontation with Iran’s injustice system. The standfirst singles out a traffic accident as the catalyst for devastating events.

[Read the review](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/it-was-just-an-accident-review-jafar-panahi-confronts-the-iranian-injustice-system-head-on/5205314.article)

## The New York Times

Fi1m's normalised score 64/100 (inferred from the text). 15 October 2025. 

The page could not be accessed, so the critic’s verdict cannot be determined. No specific praise or complaint is available to report.

[Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/movies/it-was-just-an-accident-review.html)

## Collider — Ross Bonaime

Rating 9/10. 6 September 2025. 

Bonaime calls the film a tremendous work that could be Panahi’s masterpiece. He especially praises how Panahi balances absurd humor with deep pain and trauma.

[Read the review](https://collider.com/it-was-just-an-accident-review-jafar-panahi/)

## The Wrap

Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 20 May 2025. Festival review. 

The critic gives Panahi’s film a strongly positive verdict, calling it tougher and more confrontational than many of his earlier works. They praise its sharp blend of anger, humor, and humanism, especially in a climactic confrontation that lingers.

[Read the review](https://www.thewrap.com/it-was-just-an-accident-review-jafar-panahi/)

## Paste — Rory Doherty

Rating 8.6/10. 14 October 2025. 

Doherty finds the film suspenseful, humane, and consistently engaging, despite its occasional tendency toward theatricality. He praises Panahi’s precise dialogue and the way everyday interruptions complicate the characters’ debate over revenge.

[Read the review](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/it-was-just-an-accident/it-was-just-an-accident-review-jafar-panahi-iran-green-movement-prison-guard)

## Deadline — Pete Hammond

Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 20 May 2025. Festival review. 

Hammond finds the film a powerful, humane warning about unjust imprisonment and revenge. He singles out Panahi’s skillful shifts between absurd comedy and serious confrontation.

[Read the review](https://deadline.com/2025/05/it-was-just-an-accident-review-iranian-director-jafar-panahi-first-film-since-prison-time-cannes-film-festival-1236405501/)

## Eye for Film — Marko Stojiljkovic

Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 21 August 2025. 

The critic finds the film accessible and engaging, with its ethical drama, satire and dark humour carrying its message. They praise the long, static takes, noting that every camera move and cut serves the story.

[Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/it-was-just-an-accident-2025-film-review-by-marko-stojiljkovic)

## The Skinny — Ben Nicholson

Rating ★★★★. 1 December 2025. 

Nicholson praises Panahi’s politically charged, ethically complex revenge drama. He singles out its probing exploration of how survivors can pursue justice without surrendering their humanity.

[Read the review](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/new-releases/it-was-just-an-accident)

## The Playlist

Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 21 May 2025. Festival review. 

The headline presents the film as a layered revenge tale and signals a favorable verdict. It singles out the story’s layered approach to revenge for praise.

[Read the review](https://theplaylist.net/it-was-just-an-accident-review-jafar-panahi-crafts-a-sublimely-layered-revenge-tale-cannes-20250521/)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/it-was-just-an-accident.md