Andrey Zvyagintsev returns with political thriller Minotaur

Director Andrey Zvyagintsev has returned to cinema after nine years with his new film, “Minotaur”. The film, which won the Grand Prix at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival and the Cannes Soundtrack Award, is a political noir set in 2022 Russia during the onset of military mobilization for the war in Ukraine.

Loosely inspired by Claude Chabrol’s “Une femme infidèle”, the story follows Gleb, a successful company director in a provincial Russian city. As Gleb grapples with suspicions of his wife Galina’s infidelity, his professional life is destabilized by the demand to provide employees for military mobilization. The narrative explores how personal jealousy and betrayal intersect with the broader pressures of state power and the moral choices forced upon individuals during wartime.

The film features Dmitriy Mazurov as Gleb and Iris Lebedeva as Galina, with music composed by Evgueni and Sacha Galperine. Zvyagintsev, currently in exile, uses the film to examine the cracks within a seemingly stable family and society under political duress.