The 79th Cannes Film Festival (12-23 May) has unveiled the main competition line-up for its upcoming edition (see the news), with Minotaur, the latest feature by acclaimed Russian filmmaker Andrey Zvyagintsev, among the selected titles set to compete for the Palme d’Or.

Set against the backdrop of a provincial Russian town in 2022, the film follows Gleb, a successful businessman on the brink of laying off his employees, whose carefully constructed life begins to unravel when he discovers that his wife, Galina, is having an affair. As professional pressures intensify and his marriage fractures, the collapse of his once orderly world accelerates towards violence. The story is described as a political fable blending elements of crime thriller and tragedy.

The film stars Iris Lebedeva and Dmitriy Mazurov in the lead roles, alongside Varvara Shmykova, Juris Žagars (Troubled Minds, The Exalted), Anatoliy Beliy, Vladimir Friedman, Anastasia Mischenko and Yuriy Zavalnyouk.

Written by Zvyagintsev and Simon Lyashenko, Minotaur marks the director’s return to filmmaking nearly a decade after Loveless, which won the Jury Prize at Cannes in 2017. A regular on the Croisette, Zvyagintsev previously presented Leviathan, which picked up the Best Screenplay Award at Cannes, with both films receiving Academy Award nominations. His film Elena won the Special Jury Prize in Un Certain Regard, while The Banishment earned Konstantin Lavronenko the Best Actor Award at the French festival. His debut feature, The Return, won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.

Following a prolonged recovery after a severe bout of COVID-19, Zvyagintsev went into exile from Moscow to France, where he initially developed the unrealised project Jupiter, which was ultimately shelved owing to financing challenges. By early 2025, he had shifted focus to Minotaur, which sees him reunite with key long-time collaborators, including cinematographer Mikhail Krichman, production designers Andrey Ponkratov and Masha Slavina, and composers Evgueni and Sacha Galperine. Principal photography took place in Riga, Latvia, between September and late November 2025.

Minotaur is being produced by Nathanaël Karmitz for MK Productions (France), Charles Gillibert for CG Cinéma (France) and Zvyagintsev, in co-production with Razor Film Produktion in Germany and Forma Pro Films in Latvia, in association with Arte France Cinéma and Marco Peregos and Michael Cerenzie for LEAF Entertainment. Its international sales are handled by mk2 Films, while Mubi has acquired distribution rights for multiple territories, including North and Latin America, the UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Les Films du Losange will release the film in France on 14 October 2026.