Azerbaijani car mechanic Vahid still bears the scars of his past when he was imprisoned and interrogated blindfolded by Iranian authorities. One day, after a road accident, a man named Eghbal enters his workshop with a creaking prosthetic leg. Vahid is struck by a chilling thought: could this be one of his former torturers? As suspicion turns to obsession, he begins to contemplate revenge. Panahi critiques the callousness and the hollow ideological utopianism of the autocratic regime in Iran while also calling into question moral utopias of freedom, justice, and revenge. After years of censorship and imprisonment, award-winning filmmaker Jafar Panahi’s unforgettable thriller won the Palme d’Or (Best Film) at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival.

This screening is presented in partnership with The Schwarzman Centre as part of their ‘Laughing at Utopia: Utopia & Satire Film Series’. The screening will be introduced by Oxford University speaker from the TORCH Humour Network, exploring its particular take on utopian dreams, social order and their comic undoing.

Reviews

Panahi holds this tonal range expertly as laughs give away to a probing, philosophical third act that upends expectations in quietly thrilling style.’
★★★★★
Philip De Semlyen, The Times

‘It’s another very impressive serio-comic film from one of the most distinctive and courageous figures in world cinema.’
★★★★
Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian