A French-German-Latvian film remakes Claude Chabrol’s 1969 story of infidelity, previously adapted as Unfaithful. The director uses a chilly, distant camera and careful attention to landscape and architecture, beginning with a modernist home and meticulously designed interiors. A wealthy executive, Gleb, faces wartime demands as employees leave or work remotely and Moscow requires him to meet a military registration quota, forcing him to decide which staff members are expendable. His wife, Galina, maintains a comfortable bourgeois routine with implied escape options, but she lies about an appointment and is revealed to be having an affair with a younger photographer. The film links personal betrayal to broader pressures and looming militarization.
"A French-German-Latvian production, showing in competition, is a remake of Claude Chabrol's classic "La Femme Infidèle" (1969), which was already remade as "Unfaithful" (2002) with Diane Lane. Zvyagintsev, with his chilly style (he has a habit of keeping his camera distant, so that even medium close-ups register as mild shocks), is not exactly a filmmaker who brings the heat. And in this case, that's a compliment."
"Now living in Paris and no longer working in Russia, Zvyagintsev, who because of health challenges hadn't made a film since 2017, begins "Minotaur" with the same attention to landscape and architecture that he brought to "Leviathan." He introduces us to a glacially modernist home near the water. Every kitchen surface seems meticulously designed; the family members seem more concerned with their cellphone conversations than with one another."
"The protagonist, Gleb (Dmitriy Mazurov), is a well-heeled chief executive. The time is near the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Gleb's employees are departing in droves or working remotely, and Moscow has given Gleb a military registration quota that he needs to meet. In other words, he must decide which staff members are literally expendable."
"At the same time, he and his wife, Galina (Iris Lebedeva), lead stable bourgeois lives, filled with fine dining and, it's implied, the means to flee should the impact of the war ever come to their doorstep. (Militaristic billboards loom in the background of several shots.) Galina tells Gleb that she has an appointment at the salon, but when he calls to check up on her, he learns that she lied. It turns out she is having an affair with Anton (Yuriy Zavalnyouk), a handsome 33-year-old photographer who has the soft t"
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