Minotaur

The marriage of successful entrepreneur Gleb and Galina has seen better days. The couple live with their son Serjoza in a beautiful house in a provincial Russian town. Galina, in particular, feels trapped, and this arouses Gleb’s suspicion; he suspects she is having an affair. He therefore enlists the help of his company’s head of security to keep tabs on his wife’s movements. Meanwhile, there are also business problems: as part of the mobilisation for the ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine, fourteen employees are to be sent to the front. To avoid jeopardising productivity, Gleb devises a ruse to get round this.

This blend of political thriller and drama by director Andrey Zvyagintsev, based on Claude Chabrol’s La femme infidèle (1969), is set in Russia but filmed in Latvia, as it is no longer possible for the outspoken Zvyagintsev to work (or live) in Russia. It was awarded the Grand Prix at Cannes.