Payback is in their grasp, but an Iranian psychological thriller offers no easy answers

“It Was Just an Accident” starts with a misdirection, and it won’t beryllium the last. For the film’s archetypal 8 minutes, we are embedded successful the beingness of Rashad (Ebrahim Azizi), an mean Iranian driving done the nighttime with his young girl and large wife.

Suddenly, the quiescent is shattered by a jolt of the car and an upsetting thud. Rashad rapidly realizes that, retired successful the mediate of nowhere, helium has deed a dog, and present his car is sputtering and stalled. In his desperation, helium manages to find a lonely repair shop. But Jafar Panahi’s incisive drama, which won the Palme d’Or astatine Cannes, isn’t truly astir Rashad. Soon, he’ll instrumentality a backseat to the film’s existent main characters. Turns out, Rashad is our villain. Well, maybe. Revenge tin beryllium a analyzable thing.

For the past 15 years, Panahi has astir apt spent sizeable clip reasoning astir the comparative merits of retribution. Twice imprisoned by the Iranian authorities during that play connected the laughable grounds that helium was conducting “propaganda against the state,” the celebrated 65-year-old writer-director has subsequently made respective films successful secret, defying a prohibition helium has slyly sidestepped and outright mocked. (The archetypal of those amerciable movies, released successful 2011 erstwhile it was sneaked retired of Iran connected a USB stick, cheekily bore the rubric “This Is Not a Film.”) Ever since, his enactment has grappled with his stifling caller world — helium besides was forbidden to permission the state for much than a decennary — via narratives that woody successful paranoia and oppression.

“It Was Just an Accident” tackles these themes arsenic straight arsenic immoderate of his post-imprisonment films, though not initially. When Rashad arrives astatine that repair shop, the communicative shifts perspective, introducing america to Vahid (Vahid Mobasseri), a mechanic who is startled erstwhile helium hears a acquainted squeak erstwhile Rashad starts pacing the floor. Vahid hasn’t acceptable eyes connected Rashad, but that distinctive dependable triggers traumatic memories: He someway knows this man. Not agelong after, Vahid kidnaps him.

Cut to a sedate Vahid has dug successful the godforsaken that helium throws the blindfolded, tied-up and terrified Rashad into. Vahid tells him helium knows his sanction isn’t Rashad. It’s Eghbal — oregon “Peg Leg,” a nickname successful grant of his prosthetic limb that squeaked whenever helium moved. This is the authorities lackey who tortured him years earlier. Vahid whitethorn person himself been blindfolded during those grueling interrogations, but he’ll ne'er hide that sound. And present Rashad indispensable die.

Despite his artificial leg, Rashad insists Vahid is mistaken, begging for his life. With his atrocious backmost and kidney issues, Vahid seems fundamentally breached — his imprisonment intelligibly did irreparable harm — and helium begins doubting himself. What if he’s captured an guiltless man? Knocking Rashad unconscious and stuffing him successful a trunk successful the backmost of his van, Vahid rapidly drives astir municipality tracking down others who were tortured by Peg Leg. They see Golrokh (Hadis Pakbaten), who’s nearing her wedding day, dressed successful her gown for photos; estranged erstwhile lovers Shiva (Mariam Afshari) and Hamid (Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr); and Golrokh’s fiancé Ali (Panahi’s nephew Majid), who was not detained but erroneously believes helium knows everything that his bride-to-be endured successful prison.

They marque for an unusual fraternity, unhappy to beryllium reminded of their shared horror. But nary of them is afloat assured that Rashad is Peg Leg — they ne'er saw his look — though Hamid swears helium recognizes his torturer’s foul breath. The others explicit misgivings astir sidesplitting idiosyncratic connected a hunch. The volcanic-tempered Hamid wants justness now.

In a movie afloat of heightened emotions and anxious uncertainty, “It Was Just an Accident” (which is France’s introduction for the planetary movie Oscar) glides betwixt genres, excessively slippery to beryllium nailed down. Panahi dabbles successful the roadworthy movie, the revenge thriller, adjacent the “getting the set backmost together” comedy. There’s besides a stray notation to “Waiting for Godot” and, conscionable similar Beckett’s classical play, Panahi’s movie is elemental, its each understated infinitesimal fraught with meaning. As helium has done frequently, the writer-director works with a mostly nonprofessional cast, which adds to the consciousness of mundane lives torn isolated by a brutal regime.

Panahi has a knack for tethering elemental narratives to larger governmental and societal issues. (His entertaining 2006 movie “Offside” was built astir immoderate determined young women trying to be a shot match, which is outlawed to them owed to Iran’s sex apartheid.) “It Was Just an Accident” compellingly challenges our surety of what we’re watching arsenic these characters statement what should beryllium done. Could the mild-mannered Rashad truly beryllium a torturer? Should Hamid’s righteous fury oregon Vahid’s rationality transportation the day? Eventually, Rashad isn’t conscionable invisible connected surface but besides immaterial, Panahi turning the kidnapping into thing acold trickier: a meditation connected however a country’s citizens tin ever determination connected from the cruelty that has been meted retired by those successful power. Killing Rashad won’t halt Iran’s regime, but possibly it tin supply acold comfort.

With its deft usage of agelong takes during scenes of sustained intensity, “It Was Just an Accident” is meticulously composed portion exuding an aerial of spontaneity. Perhaps inevitably, the motivation play is somewhat hemmed successful by its cardinal mystery: Either Rashad is Peg Leg oregon helium isn’t. But if “It Was Just an Accident” lacks the conceptual audacity of Panahi’s “This Is Not a Film” oregon 2022’s “No Bears,” the film’s straightforward communicative proves to beryllium conscionable different feint, disguising the writer-director’s choler and sorrow astatine his ain mistreatment and that of truthful galore Iranians.

Indeed, “It Was Just an Accident” could beryllium seen arsenic Panahi’s effort to enactment done his ain warring responses to his imprisonment, with antithetic characters giving dependable to his conflicted feelings. In owed course, audiences volition larn the information astir Rashad, starring to a final, ambiguous country that’s arsenic disturbing arsenic the dependable of a car striking a dog. Revenge tin beryllium a analyzable thing. So tin trying to crook the page.