Minotaur Trailer Lands for Cannes Winner Eyeing Oscar Race
An exclusive trailer for Andrey Zvyagintsev's Minotaur has been released by The Hollywood Reporter on 14 September 2026.
The two-minute look is the first extended footage for a film already carrying weight. Minotaur won the Grand Prix, the second prize, at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival. It is now on the French shortlist for the international feature Oscar, the Academy Award for films made outside the United States in languages other than English.
The story is set in 2022. Dmitriy Mazurov plays Gleb, a company chief executive, and Iris Lebedeva plays his wife Galina. The marriage fractures when Gleb discovers Galina is unfaithful, while Russia's war in Ukraine presses in from the edges of their lives.
The script is adapted from Claude Chabrol's 1969 film The Unfaithful Wife. That same Chabrol story was previously reworked as Adrian Lyne's thriller Unfaithful. Zvyagintsev said he deliberately never watched Lyne's version so it would not colour his own adaptation.
The gap was long. Minotaur arrives after a nearly decade-long break between films for the director. Zvyagintsev told The Hollywood Reporter earlier in 2026 that he nearly died of long COVID and could not physically move for a full year.
The production also reflects a break in his career. It was shot in Latvia, the first time Zvyagintsev has made a film outside Russia. Cannes lists the production countries as France, Latvia and Germany, and gives a running time of 140 minutes. Zvyagintsev moved to France after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and has been a vocal critic of Russia's actions there.
Cannes has been central to his path before. His earlier features Leviathan and Loveless both won prizes at Cannes before their North American premieres at Telluride. Both went on to receive Oscar nominations as Russia's entries for the international feature category.
He returned to Cannes in 2026 with Minotaur in Competition, the festival's main line-up that competes for the Palme d'Or. The Hollywood Reporter had earlier described the film as a crime thriller and political fable. The festival confirmed the Grand Prix win on 19 May, according to Festival de Cannes.
What makes this stand out is the country switch. A film-maker twice nominated for Russia is now in contention for France. France has been weighing Minotaur as its submission for the 2027 international Oscar, Variety reported in August. The French selection committee will finalise its choice after a consultation period beginning on 16 September, according to Deadline.
