What begins as a minor accident sets in motion a series of escalating consequences. A film by Jafar Panahi, starring Vahid Mobasseri, Maryam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, Hadis Pakbaten, Majid Panahi, Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr, Delnaz Najafi, Afssaneh Najmabadi, Omid Reza, and Georges Hashemzadeh.

At night, an unnamed man (Ebrahim Azizi) drives home with his pregnant wife (Afssaneh Najmabadi) and their daughter, Nilufar (Delnaz Najafi). He becomes visibly nervous when the young girl starts playing upbeat music from her tablet through the car speakers. The man quickly turns down the volume. When his daughter asks why, he replies that the sound disturbs people, implying they could get in trouble. The girl argues that they had to be careful at home because of the neighbors, but out here on the road there’s nobody around to hear them. She asks her mother to convince him to turn it back up. The mother sides with her daughter and encourages him to raise the volume. He’s hesitant at first but eventually gives in and turns the music back up.

Shortly after, the man’s car hits something on the road, presumably a stray dog. He pulls over and gets out to check. An injured dog lies beneath the car, whimpering until it dies. He drags the body to the roadside, returns to his car, and drives off. Nilufar says her father killed the dog. The man argues that he didn’t see it because it jumped out in front of the car. The mother says it was just an accident, explaining the road isn’t lit so these poor animals often get run over. She adds that God must’ve put it on their path for a reason. Nilufar responds that her father killed the dog and God has nothing to do with it.

Moments later, the car starts to rattle. The engine sputters and stalls. The man tries to restart it, but it sputters again and stops. He pops open the hood to see what’s wrong. A motorcycle returns to a nearby building, probably coming back from a job. The man asks the rider, Omid (Omid Reza), if there’s a garage around here, explaining that his car broke down and he has his family with him. Omid says the nearest one is two kilometers away. The man asks if he can call the garage to have them come here. Omid says he doesn’t have the garage’s phone number. As the man walks away to return to his car, Omid offers to take a look and see if he can repair it.

As Omid parks his motorcycle inside, his colleague Vahid is upstairs on the phone with Rahim. Vahid hears Omid come in and calls down to ask what’s going on. Omid tells him a family car broke down and he’s going to help them out. Vahid seems unbothered and returns to his phone call, telling Rahim to bring the van back because he needs it for an urgent delivery.

Upstairs, Vahid (Vahid Mobasseri) is startled when the lights suddenly come on. Annoyed, he heads toward the stairs and yells down, asking Omid if he turned on the light. He’s surprised to see the mother and her daughter downstairs instead. The mother apologizes, explaining she was looking for the bathroom light and flipped the wrong switch. Vahid tells her to turn it off and try the other one.

After Vahid finishes another call from his mother, the sound of squeaking footsteps grabs his attention. Curious, he peeks to see who it is, but he can’t see the man’s face clearly.  The man is looking for Vahid. Omid asked him to find the toolbox and said Vahid would know where it is. Vahid looks frightened, as if a memory has suddenly surfaced. When the man calls his name, Vahid stays silent. The man calls again several times. Vahid realizes he has no choice but to answer, otherwise it would look suspicious. He puts a finger in his mouth and responds, attempting to mask his voice, hoping the man won’t recognize him.

The man drives away after Omid finishes fixing the car. Vahid frantically rushes downstairs, grabs Omid’s bike key, and tells Omid to meet him when the van arrives. Vahid follows the man’s car to his home. He calls Omid with a location where they can swap the bike for the van. Vahid stakes out in the van until morning.

Vahid follows a tow truck transporting the man’s car to a garage in the city. When the man gets out and walks across the street, Vahid floors the gas pedal trying to run him over. He misses when the man suddenly turns around. Vahid pulls over and waits. Another chance comes when Vahid spots the man crossing the street in his side-view mirror. He makes a U-turn and pulls up near where the man is standing. Vahid quickly swings open the passenger door, striking the man and sending him sprawling to the pavement. Vahid climbs out and repeatedly strikes the man with a shovel. He abducts the unconscious man into his van and drives out to the desert where he plans to bury him alive.

In the desert, Vahid drags the tied-up man into the hole he just dug. The man struggles and writhes desperately. Eventually, Vahid pushes and rolls him into the hole. As Vahid starts shoveling sand over him, the man screams and pleads with him to stop. He has a family, he cries.

Vahid pauses and pulls out the man’s wallet. Inside is an ID card for Rashid Shahsavari. The man offers his bank card and PIN, assuming Vahid wants money. Vahid remains unmoved and continues shoveling sand into the hole. He’s certain the man he abducted is Eghbal, the Peg Leg. However, the man insists he’s never heard of that name. Vahid gets angry, convinced Eghbal is toying with him.

Vahid reveals that Eghbal was the sadistic interrogator who imprisoned him and other prisoners, blindfolding and torturing them. Eghbal probably thinks the prisoners can’t recognize him since they never saw his face. But Vahid and the others will never forget the sound of his footsteps. The squeak of that prosthetic leg has echoed in his ears for years.

The man claims he only lost his leg last year in an accident. He begs Vahid to look at the scars to prove they’re recent. Vahid climbs into the hole and pulls off the prosthetic leg. When Vahid sees the fresh red scars on the stump, he begins to doubt himself. Is it possible he got the wrong man?

Vahid loads the man into a wooden trunk in the back of his van and drives back to the city. He stops by a bookshop to meet Salar (Georges Hashemzadeh), one of his former fellow prisoners. Vahid shows Salar the ID card, telling him it belongs to Peg Leg. When Salar asks how he got it, Vahid explains that he finally found Peg Leg and hit him with his van. The man is now locked in the trunk. Vahid tells Salar he needs his help to confirm whether this man is actually Eghbal.

Vahid tries to convince Salar to help identify the man, pointing out that Eghbal took everything away from him: his dignity, his wife, his job. He urges Vahid to reconsider and think about the consequences of killing this man. When he fails to persuade Vahid to let go of his hatred and anger, Salar hands him a piece of paper. He tells Vahid to call the number and do exactly what she says.

Vahid calls the number Salar gave him. Shiva (Maryam Afshari) asks him to meet her where she works as a wedding photographer. At the venue, Vahid spots the bride Golrokh (Hadis Pakbaten) and recognizes her from when she was arrested with Shiva. Vahid asks Shiva to step outside but won’t say why. Shiva dismisses him and tells him to wait until she finishes work. Then she’ll talk to him. As Shiva turns to walk away, Vahid says he found Peg Leg. He tells her he was arrested two weeks after her, accused of collusion and propaganda against the regime. He needs her to confirm whether the man he abducted is really Peg Leg. Visibly disturbed and frustrated, Shiva says she can’t help him and asks him to leave. Vahid refuses and stays, watching her work. Eventually Shiva gives in and agrees to look at the man he captured.

Written and directed by Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, A SIMPLE ACCIDENT is a thriller following a mechanic who abducts and attempts to kill a man he suspects to be his former sadistic jailhouse interrogator. However, he begins to doubt if he has captured the right person. He must then embark on a mission to find fellow ex-prisoners who can confirm the man’s identity.

The premise is simple yet intriguing. We follow Vahid, an unassuming mechanic who has a chance encounter with a man he believes to be Eghbal, the tormentor from his wrongful imprisonment. Vahid’s dilemma is that he never actually saw his tormentor’s face. All he remembers is the distinct sound of a prosthetic leg.

The suspense lies in the ambiguity. No one can confirm whether the man Vahid has abducted is really Eghbal. As the film unfolds, both Vahid and the audience begin to wonder if he’s captured the wrong man. He can’t bring himself to kill someone when he’s not certain of their identity. What if this is just an innocent man who happens to have a prosthetic leg? And even if it is Eghbal, would killing him be justified revenge?

The film becomes a tense debate among the ex-prisoners as Vahid desperately seeks proof of the man’s identity. Each person experienced the torture differently, leading to arguments about what they remember. But they all face an impossible task. None of them ever saw Eghbal’s face.

UN SIMPLE ACCIDENT premiered at Festival de Cannes on 20 May 2025 in the main competition where it won the Palme d’Or. The film was theatrically released in France on 1 October.