'How to Divorce During the War' - Opens in Theaters August 21 in NYC

 

In This Lithuanian Divorce

'How to Divorce During the War'

 Drama, Russia Invades Ukraine at the Worst Possible Time

Andrius Blaževičius turns a collapsing marriage, a refugee crisis and one deeply awkward family arrangement into a wry, compassionate drama.

Marija has picked a terrible day to ask for a divorce.

In Andrius Blaževičius’s"How to Divorce During the War", the successful Vilnius executive tells her husband, Vytas, that their marriage is over just one day before Russia invades Ukraine in 2022. Suddenly, their private crisis must compete with an international one.

Vytas, a struggling film director, moves back in with his Russophile parents — because apparently divorce was not uncomfortable enough. Marija, meanwhile, watches the war disrupt her business, home and carefully managed life as Ukrainian refugees arrive in Lithuania.

Starring Zygimante Elena Jakstaite and Marius Repsys, the 108-minute Lithuanian family drama follows the couple’s increasingly complicated separation and its effect on their observant young daughter, Dovile. As the real reason for the divorce emerges, both Marija and Vytas encounter new conflicts, strange opportunities and the realization that history does not pause for a midlife crisis.

Set against the Russia-Ukraine war and European refugee crisis, Blaževičius’s film finds dry humor inside heartbreak, political division and one spectacularly badly timed breakup.

The film is presented in Lithuanian, English, Ukrainian and Russian with English subtitles.

Opens in Theaters August 21 in NYC at IFC, and August 28 in LA at the Laemmle Royal. National Expansion to Follow 

"Smart, dryly humorous, and perfectly shot... like nothing else at Sundance... a reminder that the confusion you feel about balancing your everyday life with your

fear of the future is universal."

—Brian Tallerico, Roger Ebert.com 

"[A] subtly searing comedy... both empathetic and surgical."

—Guy Lodge, Variety

"A stinging satire... prepare to relate in a way that will almost assuredly

be too close for comfort."

—David Fear, Rolling Stone

"Neither cautionary tale nor Wikihow guide, … interrogates complacency and performativity in the attention age, with a lemon-squeeze of satire thrown in for that extra bite."

 —Olivia Pop, Cineuropa

WINNER: Best Director, World Cinema Dramatic Competition, Sundance, 2026