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Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev’s “Minotaur” examines mobilization and moral compromises against the backdrop of the Russia-Ukraine war. The drama is set to reach screens nearly five years after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine and won the Grand Prix at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
The film has been selected as Russia’s entry in the Best International Feature Film category for the 2027 Oscars. Its plot centers on Gleb, the owner of a logistics company, who is ordered by the local mayor to send 14 employees for military service.
The film depicts moral choices in wartime
Unwilling to send his existing employees to the front, Gleb hires new drivers by promising them high salaries, then sends them to war. The film also depicts conscripts boarding a bus for the front, a father saying goodbye to his teenage son and another mother’s grief. In a later scene, a photograph of a conscript killed in action is displayed on a roadside billboard as that of a war hero.
Zvyagintsev told Reuters that, as a Russian director, he could not ignore the war. “How can a director who lived there, was born there and speaks only Russian not talk about the main event of recent years — perhaps the most important one?” he said.
Project transformed from French thriller into war drama
The 62-year-old Zvyagintsev is known internationally for “Leviathan” and “Loveless.” He left Russia in 2021 and now lives in France.
“Minotaur” was initially planned as a remake of Claude Chabrol’s 1969 thriller “The Unfaithful Wife,” about a husband who suspects his wife of infidelity. But after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the project changed substantially: a French suburb was replaced with a bleak Russian city, and a family conflict was recast against the backdrop of war.
Because filming in Russia was not possible, the movie was shot in Latvia. It is not scheduled for an official release in Russia.
Zvyagintsev said he doubted the film would directly change public opinion about the war, but added that art could influence audiences over time. “Propaganda is like a heavy hammer, pliers, a vise. It is a very crude tool. Art works through nuance. This soft power has an effect over a long period,” the director said.
Director designated a “foreign agent” in Russia
Critics have described “Minotaur” as one of Zvyagintsev’s most direct films about Russia’s political and moral condition. The director said, however, that his aim was not to deliver a simple political message, but to portray people facing difficult choices.
“All we can do is tell the story as we see it and find the human being amid unbearable compromises,” he said.
Russian authorities designated Zvyagintsev a “foreign agent” in August. The status is applied in Russia to individuals and organizations alleged to receive foreign support or engage in activities considered contrary to the country’s interests.
“Minotaur” will be released in French cinemas on October 14.
