The review discusses Andrey Zvyagintsev's new film "Minotaur," a Russian-language thriller about an unhappily married couple whose personal crisis unfolds against the backdrop of Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The film adapts a familiar infidelity narrative but distinguishes itself by placing individual moral failure within a context of state-sponsored violence and systemic dehumanisation, offering both political commentary and psychological insight into how militarism erodes human connection.

The film centres on Gleb, a corporate manager tasked with submitting employee names to be sent to the front lines, and his wife Galina, who is conducting an affair with a younger photographer. The reviewer compares it to earlier films on infidelity such as "The Unfaithful Wife" (1969) and "Unfaithful" (2002), but emphasises that Zvyagintsev's approach proves more compelling because personal betrayals become secondary to the larger dehumanisation of the state system. Strong performances from Dmitriy Mazurov and the ensemble cast capture the characters' psychological unravelling amidst isolation, paranoia and dissociation, with the film praised for its absorbing depiction of fractured family life and the casual brutality underlying their mundane reality.