3 October 2025
UN SIMPLE ACCIDENT ***1/2 (vo Farsi)
Iranian director Jafar Panahi’s latest prize-winning film (Palme d’Or winner at Cannes 2025) is one of his most openly anti-governmental works. He has been a longtime activist for the freedom of his people, has suffered multiple house arrests, prison terms and has long been prohibited from making anymore films. His first underground movie after that sentence was titled “This Is Not A Film”!
His filmography is full of tales of simple people resisting injustice, such as “The Circle”, “Offside”, “Crimson Gold”, or gentle ones such as “The White Balloon” and “Tehran Taxi”. He has managed to continue making his films clandestinely, smuggling them out of Iran, always favourites at top festivals and winning awards. And he insists that he will not leave his beloved Iran, despite any dangers awaiting him.
This latest starts off with a small accident. A family hits a dog on a dark road, which leads them to have the car repaired. There the garage owner thinks he has heard the distinct limp of his torturer in prison. Thus revenge becomes the driving force of this gripping film that delves into guilt, doubt, injustice and moral decisions that are both heated and hilarious as the film progresses. Panahi brings in various characters that become part of the agony of reliving past prison incidents as he builds the pace and the tension.
Opinions are divided about the ending – my take on it is that it’s about forgiveness, on all sides. That fits perfectly with Panahi’s gentle character.
A BIG BOLD BEAUTIFUL JOURNEY ***
The first thing you notice in this movie is Margot Robbie’s incredible beauty. The second is the dreaded feeling that this might be another corny romance, given the title, vivid colours and tone of the film.
The first is true throughout, the second turns into a deeper film than you expected, with surprising twists and turns, and some quite thoughtful dialogue that might hit a familiar nerve or two. This is a sort of dreamy road movie that brings two people together, pushing them towards a relationship that they both seem to be avoiding.
It’s definitely for romantics, and not for the cold critics that turn away from anything with feelings. It does take its time, but Robbie and Colin Farrell make a vulnerable couple as surprised and moved as we are by all that develops in this refreshing movie directed by the very artistic Korean/American Kogonada. I was enthralled, other critics not so much. You decide for yourself, depending on your baggage.
MOI, QUI T’AIMAIS *** (vo French)
Now here’s a fine film about one of France’s most famous couples, Yves Montand and Simone Signoret. She was a beautiful, beloved actress who made some 60 films starting in the 1940s, working with all the top directors and actors of France, and winning multiple international awards, including an Oscar for her role in “Room at the Top” in 1959. Montand also started in films in the 1940s (both were born in 1921), became a top dramatic actor, but was even more famous internationally as a debonaire French ‘chansonnier’, with such songs as “Les Feuilles Mortes” (from which the film gets its title), or “Sous le ciel de Paris”. They were not only stars but also intellectual left-wing activists.
Frequenting the same circles, the two were fated to meet and were married in 1951. With a loving but tumultuous marriage – due to his multiple affairs which broke her heart and caused her to drink and age prematurely – they remained bound to each other until her death in 1985. One of the biggest scandals was his brief affair with Marilyn Monroe in 1960 when they made the film “Let’s Make Love” together in Hollywood.
This is the story of the last years of their deep commitment, Montand’s twisted loyalty, their shared political ideals and their lifelong friends in the cinema world, such as Serge Reggiani and the Trintignants. It also covers her writing her memoir, “Nostalgia Isn’t What it Used to Be”.
Directed with great tenderness, discretion and atmosphere by the skilled Diane Kurys, it is slightly diminished by the miscasting of Roschdy Zem as Montand. Marina Fois is excellent as Signoret, though the makeup department could have given her more of Signoret’s ageing jowls. The film finally works as Zem is a very accomplished actor.
This is one to be seen, like “Monsieur Aznavour”, from the same era.
Superb **** Very Good *** Good ** Mediocre * Miserable – no stars
By Neptune
Neptune Ravar Ingwersen reviews film extensively for publications in Switzerland. She views 4 to 8 films a week and her aim is to sort the wheat from the chaff for readers.
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