Overview
- The film was presented in competition at the Festival de Cannes on Tuesday, May 19, and festival critics singled out its explicit political charge and strong Palme d’Or prospects.
- Minotaure is a loose adaptation of Claude Chabrol’s La Femme infidèle that places a domestic thriller in September 2022 against the mobilization that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
- Zviaguintsev shot the film in Riga with a Russian cast and crew because he judged the project impossible under Russian censorship, which forbids calling the conflict a “war” and tightly controls film distribution.
- The director, who says he remained in France after a severe post‑Sputnik vaccine illness, expects Minotaure will not receive a Russian distribution certificate but believes piracy will allow Russians to see it and plans a French theatrical release in October 2026.
- Reviews stress the film’s moral and social critique of a corrupt, pro‑Kremlin bourgeoisie, with some critics praising its clarity and others debating its stylistic approach, and observers note the project builds on Zviaguintsev’s Cannes‑award pedigree.