How to Divorce During the War Review

How to Divorce During the War is a slow moving, serious drama that asks us to consider our response to chaos, both personal and global.

Director Andrius Blaževičius’ drama follows Dovilė and her parents, Vytas (Marius Repšys) and Marija (Žygimantė Elena Jakštaitė). The night before Russia invades Ukraine, Marija presents her desire for a divorce to Vytas, leaving this Lithuanian family spiraling as the nearby war makes them fear for their own safety.

Winner of the Directing Award: World Cinema Dramatic at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, Blaževičius uses quietly effective techniques to comment on ideas of protest, propaganda, and the pursuit of peace in his film. The use of empty, homey spaces in his compositions convey a certain coldness, as the drama unfolding around this family leaves them similarly cold. This bluntness is often matched by the dialogue (“I don’t think I love you anymore,” Marija says to Vytas in an intrusive extended sequence in their car). While there are occasionally some Kubrickian zoom-ins on these disgruntled characters, the approach of the camera is almost documentarian, silently dropping in and examining the characters objectively, much like the film’s opening sequence, showing Mytas getting ready on the morning his life will change. These directorial decisions make the film one of the most realistic of 2026.

Also channeling that realism are the actors. Both Repšys and Jakštaitė deliver, but Adomaitytė is the scene stealer here. Her straight expression when her character finally hears the dreaded news about her parents is heart wrenching. The audience gets the sense that she is putting on a brave face. The parents try to match their daughter’s bravery, but Blaževičius invasively reveals two shots of them crying in separate rooms.

In a way, this scene is exactly what How to Divorce During the War is about. How often do we try to fake normality when something crushing happens, either to us or in the world at large? Blaževičius walks us through the lives of these characters in an unbelievably tense time, and we see each of them trying (and failing) to cope. He even throws in some ironic humor to make his point, such as some uncomfortable dinner conversations between Vytas and his parents (who have fallen for the Russian propaganda surrounding the invasion), and a scene at a dance club where the DJ “dedicates” a song to Ukraine while the clubbers dance on, seemingly without a care in the world.

In a particularly touching moment, Marija tells her daughter that we need to “use words, not violence to set things straight.” While this is in the context of a fight at school, what an important message this is. The movie, when seen in this light, serves as a nice complement to other recent films (One Battle After Another, The Odyssey) pleading the next generation to fix the mistakes of previous ones. If Dovilė can learn this lesson in the wake of family trauma and a brutal war right next door, Blaževičius suggests, there may just be some hope. 

How to Divorce During the War is a serious drama, one that some Western viewers may have a struggle connecting to. It moves slowly, asking us to sit in the situations in which we find these characters. But the movie also begs us to not only pay attention to global issues, but also to consider our attitude and actions towards those issues. What will happen now? And what will our response be?

How to Divorce During the War will be released in select US theaters on August 21, 2026 and nationwide on August 28.