The 2025 Cannes Film Festival concluded with Iranian director Jafar Panahi receiving the Palme d’Or for It Was Just an Accident, a film produced without official permission in Iran. This year’s festival prominently featured films that critically examined the institution of the family, challenging traditional values.
Panahi’s Award-Winning Collaboration
Reports indicate that the French company Les Films Pelléas produced It Was Just an Accident. This company had previously collaborated with Panahi on his earlier film, “No Bears,” which secured the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.
Contradictory Portrayals of the Family
While Iranian culture is renowned for its emphasis on family-centric values, empathy, respect, and intergenerational support—where the family is seen as both a social institution and an emotional sanctuary, a root for individual and collective identity—some Iranian films showcased at international festivals present a contrasting image of this cultural cornerstone.
“It Was Just an Accident”: A Tale of Distrust and Vengeance
It Was Just an Accident, which marks the second Iranian film to win the Palme d’Or, depicts a nighttime collision involving a man named Eghbal and his family with a stray dog. This incident triggers a chain of events, with the film’s central themes revolving around suspicion, violence, and personal revenge.
“Woman and Child”: A Challenging View of Motherhood
Another film in the competition, Saeed Roustaee’s “Woman and Child,” offers a critical perspective on motherhood within a patriarchal society. Although the narrative focuses on a mother’s sacrifice, its core message highlights divisions, distrust, and a departure from tradition. In this film, the family is not a refuge but an obstacle that the protagonist must overcome to save herself.
A Broader Trend of Family Critique
These two films are merely pieces of a larger puzzle. The 2025 Cannes Film Festival featured other works touching on the theme of family, yet most of them critiqued the institution rather than portraying a compassionate view. According to a critic from the Los Angeles Times, many films in the competition “wounded” viewers, making for a festival “harsher than ever”—a collection of bleak and heavy films that could hardly be called family movies.
Cannes Reflects Global Cinema Trends
The Cannes Film Festival generally reflects the prevailing currents in world cinema—a current where the family is either absent or under duress. Last year’s Palme d’Or also went to a film that many critics believed aimed to normalize prostitution.
From: iusnews