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Minotaur

Minotaur - image - a film by Andrey Zvyagintsev
Minotaur - image - a film by Andrey Zvyagintsev
Minotaur - image - a film by Andrey Zvyagintsev
Minotaur - image - a film by Andrey Zvyagintsev
Minotaur - image - a film by Andrey Zvyagintsev
OFFICIAL SELECTION - 2026 MELBOURNE & NEW ZEALAND FILM FESTIVALS
Minotaur - poster - a film by Andrey Zvyagintsev
The film of the year. Colossal. Staggering. Zvyagintzev brilliantly transposes Chabrol's The Unfaithful Wife onto modern Russia, freighting a familiar adultery plot with blithe and immense new weight.
David Ehrlich
INDIEWIRE
Substantial, clear-sighted, magnificently acted and shot. A stunning Russian parable of Putinesque violence, denial and delusion. The personal is fused with the political in a thrilling way.
Majestic. A darkly funny reflection on corruption and betrayal in Putin’s Russia. Functions as both a classical, supremely well-made domestic thriller, and as a bristling state-of-the-nation takedown, identifying Putin’s principles of entitlement, intimidation and denial in places both obvious and more quietly coded.
The icily exacting power of Zvyagintsev's filmmaking is undeniable — and it sucks you in like a vortex. Andrey Zvyagintsev, welcome back. We missed, and we need you.
Director: Andrey Zvyagintsev
Cast: Dmitriy Mazurov, Iris Lebedeva
Duration: 141mins
Country of Origin: France
CTC
The film of the year. Colossal. Staggering. Zvyagintzev brilliantly transposes Chabrol's The Unfaithful Wife onto modern Russia, freighting a familiar adultery plot with blithe and immense new weight.
David Ehrlich
INDIEWIRE
Substantial, clear-sighted, magnificently acted and shot. A stunning Russian parable of Putinesque violence, denial and delusion. The personal is fused with the political in a thrilling way.
Majestic. A darkly funny reflection on corruption and betrayal in Putin’s Russia. Functions as both a classical, supremely well-made domestic thriller, and as a bristling state-of-the-nation takedown, identifying Putin’s principles of entitlement, intimidation and denial in places both obvious and more quietly coded.
The icily exacting power of Zvyagintsev's filmmaking is undeniable — and it sucks you in like a vortex. Andrey Zvyagintsev, welcome back. We missed, and we need you.

GRAND PRIX WINNER - 2026 CANNES INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
WINNER – 2026 SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL – Sydney Film Prize for Best Film In Competition
OFFICIAL SELECTION - 2026 MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL (Headliners)
OFFICIAL SELECTION - 2026 NEW ZEALAND INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
OFFICIAL SELECTION - 2026 TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL (Special Presentation)
OFFICIAL SELECTION - 2026 NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL (Main Slate)

From master director Andrey Zvyagintsev (Leviathan, Elena, Loveless), the powerful new drama MINOTAUR traces the emotional and moral collapse of a Russian businessman under the strain of personal and political upheaval.

Provincial Russia, 2022. In the immediate aftermath of his nation’s invasion of Ukraine, wealthy company CEO Gleb (Dmitriy Mazurov) is compelled to support the war machine, tasked with “volunteering” men from his own workforce for conscription. As the demands of the state close in, so too does his private life begin to fracture. His growing suspicion that his wife Galina (Iris Lebedeva) is having an affair with a young artist is soon confirmed, sending his carefully constructed world into a rapid descent.

Marking his first feature in close to a decade, the now-exiled Zvyagintsev reunites with longtime collaborators cinematographer Mikhail Krichman and production designer Andrey Ponkratov, on a work that stands as a potent continuation of his incisive exploration of power. Both a merciless thriller for our present times and a formidable artistic achievement, MINOTAUR emerges as a pièce de résistance in more ways than one.

Minotaur - poster - a film by Andrey Zvyagintsev
OFFICIAL SELECTION - 2026 MELBOURNE & NEW ZEALAND FILM FESTIVALS
NEW ZEALAND PREMIERE - 2026 NEW ZEALAND FILM FESTIVAL
VICTORIAN PREMIERE - 2026 MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL