This weekend, I watched the 2025 film It Was Just an Accident, written and directed by Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, a winner of Cannes’ Palme d’Or.

The movie opens with a brief prologue. A family is driving at night. They hit something on the road, which turns out to be a dog, and the dog dies. The daughter in the back seat is visibly upset. The mother consoles her by saying, “It was just an accident—Dad didn’t do it on purpose.”

Then the title appears, and the main story begins.

The film unfolds as a meditation on revenge, justice, and chance. We are introduced to various characters, and it gradually becomes a kind of road movie, punctuated by moments of dark comedy amid high stress and uncertainty. Eventually, the protagonist is forced to make a moral choice. I won’t give spoilers, but since finishing the movie, like a fish bone stuck in my throat, I keep coming back to one question.

Why did the director choose this title?

It is a glaring........

© Psychology Today