It Was Just an Accident

It Was Just an Accident

Year: 2025

Runtime: 103 mins

Language: Persian

Director: Jafar Panahi

Echo Score: 85

Budget: $6M

ThrillerDrama

While driving at night with his pregnant wife, Eghbal accidentally kills a dog and finds himself stranded. He seeks assistance at a garage run by Vahid, who mistakenly believes him to be the prison officer who previously tortured him. Vahid abducts Eghbal with the intent to bury him alive, but begins to question his certainty. To verify Eghbal’s identity, Vahid brings other former victims along, leading to a tense journey where they debate the morality of their actions and the true identity of their captive.

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It Was Just an Accident (2025) – Full Plot Summary & Ending Explained

Read the complete plot breakdown of It Was Just an Accident (2025), including all key story events, major twists, and the ending explained in detail. Discover what really happened—and what it all means.

A man with a prosthetic leg is driving his car at night with his wife and daughter when he accidentally hits and kills a dog. To repair his car, he visits a nearby garage where Salar notices him from the sound his prosthetic leg makes after he speaks to his mother on the phone. The next day, Vahid follows the man, kidnaps him, and attempts to bury him in the desert. He tells him that he recognized his voice and stumbling walk as that of Eghbal (nicknamed “peg leg”), his former tormentor in an Iranian prison. The man denies being Eghbal and begs Vahid not to kill him, saying that the scars on his leg are recent, unlike Eghbal’s.

Doubting the man’s identity, Vahid puts his unconscious body into the van and visits Salar at a bookshop. Salar refuses to help him identify the man but directs him to a woman named Shiva, a photographer in the middle of taking wedding photos of Goli and Ali, an engaged couple to be married the next day. Reluctant to help, Shiva recognizes the smell of the man as Eghbal but is unsure of his identity due to the fact that they were blindfolded during their torture/interrogations. Goli reveals that she was tortured by Eghbal but cannot confirm his identity either, so they seek out the help of Hamid, Shiva’s former partner, drugging their captive first and plugging his ears.

Hamid instantly identifies the man as Eghbal after touching his legs and insists on killing him right away, but Vahid and Shiva hold him back, as they wish to hear him testify first. At that time, a cellphone rings from the man’s body. Vahid picks it up and hears the man’s daughter, The Little Girl, who claims that her pregnant mother has fainted. The group visit the man’s house and drive his daughter with her mother to a hospital, where the mother gives birth to a son.

Hamid, Goli, and Ali grow frustrated and decide to leave Vahid and Shiva behind. The two then drive the man to a quiet location at night, tie him up to a tree, wake him up, and demand that he testify. The man first claims mistaken identity again, but then caves in and acknowledges that he is Eghbal, saying that his actions were justified for the good of the Iranian regime and that killing him would merely make him a martyr. Vahid and Shiva recount the torment they experienced in detail to Eghbal and tell him that his wife has given birth to a son. Shiva demands that Eghbal apologize and after a back-and-forth, he caves in and says that he is sorry, claiming that he was only trying to make a living. Vahid then sets Eghbal free and drives away with Shiva.

Later, Vahid and his mother prepare the van for his sister. A white car, similar to Eghbal’s car, is seen entering the area while Vahid enters the house to retrieve something. He suddenly stops in his tracks. The sound of Eghbal’s squeaky prosthetic leg is heard, slowly approaching.

Last Updated: December 06, 2025 at 16:32

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