‘Minotaur’ Clip: Russian Director Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Oscar Hopeful
The film turns a family drama into a critique of mobilization, with 14 draftees demanded for the war and a 10-minute ovation at Cannes.
- Renowned Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev explores Russia's invasion of Ukraine in his new film "Minotaur," which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last May with a ten-minute ovation. The drama follows Gleb, a businessman forced by local authorities to supply draftees for the war.
- Zvyagintsev based the plot on Claude Chabrol's French classic "The Unfaithful Wife," overlaying contemporary themes with Greek mythology. Gleb's requirement to offer 14 employees to the state alludes to the ancient Athenian sacrifice of young people to the Minotaur.
- Actress Iris Lebedeva described the director's process as an "enormous puzzle, a moving mosaic" where every frame serves a specific purpose. The production, filmed in Riga, relies on Zvyagintsev's meticulous mise-en-scène to convey meaning through silence and visual composition.
- While Zvyagintsev insists "Minotaur" is a "love story" about family preservation, he stated clearly, "It is obvious which side I am on in 'Minotaur'—certainly not on the side of the people who unleashed this hell." The director works in exile.
- As the first independent feature film from a Russian director addressing the invasion, "Minotaur" highlights Zvyagintsev's unsparing portrayal of contemporary Russia. Film critic Anton Dolin noted the director remains committed to rigorous precision regardless of subject matter.
14 Articles
14 Articles
The public violence with which men are led to the battle bench of war is reflected in private: how exciting Andrei Svyagintsev's film "Minotaurus" by Putin's Russia tells.
‘Minotaur’ Clip: Russian Director Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Oscar Hopeful
EXCLUSIVE: Here’s a clip from Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev’s French-produced political thriller Minotaur. Minotaur premiered at Cannes, where it won the Grand Prix, and has since been selected for Telluride, Toronto, New York, and the BFI London Film Festival. The film taps into the mood in Zvyagintsev’s native Russia in 2022 as businessmen in a provincial city get to grips with the implications of their country’s invasion of Ukraine as…
The New Yorker profiles Andrey Zvyagintsev, the exiled Russian director of the Cannes Grand Prix-winning film ‘Minotaur’
The New Yorker has published a profile of the filmmaker Andrey Zvyagintsev by Joshua Yaffa, an American journalist who has written about Russia since the mid-2000s and is the author of “Between Two Fires: Truth, Ambition, and Compromise in Putin’s Russia.” Yaffa spoke with Zvyagintsev, as well as with his producers, his actors, and the film critics who study his work. Meduza summarizes Yaffa’s article.
Westfalenpost
In his award-winning film, the exile Russian Andreï Zviaguintsev tells the story of the Ukraine war that is ubiquitous in Russia: "Minotaurus.
In his award-winning film, the exile Russian Andreï Zviaguintsev tells the story of the Ukraine war that is ubiquitous in Russia: "Minotaurus.
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