Late Marriage

Late Marriage
Directed by	Dover Kosashvili
Produced by	Marek Rozenbaum Edgard Tenenbaum
Written by	Dover Kosashvili
Starring	Lior Ashkenazi Ronit Elkabetz Moni Moshonov Lili Kosashvili
Music by	Josef Bardanashvili
Cinematography	Daniel Schneor
Editing by	Yael Perlov
Release dates	17 May 2001
Running time	102 minutes
Country	Israel France
Language	Judaeo-Georgian Hebrew

Late Marriage (Hebrew: חתונה מאוחרת‎, Hatuna Meuheret) is a 2001 Israeli film directed by Dover Kosashvili. The film centers on Zaza (Lior Ashkenazi, in his breakthrough role^[1]), the 31-year-old child of tradition-minded Georgian Jewish immigrants who are anxiously trying to arrange a marriage for him. Unbeknownst to them, he is secretly dating a 34-year-old divorcée, Judith (Ronit Elkabetz). When his parents discover the relationship and violently intervene, Zaza must choose between his family traditions and his love.^[2]

Most of the main characters are Georgian-Israeli and the dialogue is partly in the Judaeo-Georgian language and partly in Hebrew.

The film was positively reviewed and was Israel's submission for Best Foreign Language Film at the 74th Academy Awards.

Synopsis

Zaza (Lior Ashkenazi) is a 31-year-old Georgian-Israeli PhD student at Tel Aviv University whose family is trying to arrange a marriage for him within the Georgian community. The film's beginning sees Zaza and his parents Yasha and Lili visiting the home of a possible match, who is still in high school. Zaza is clearly unenthusiastic and it is mentioned that he has seen dozens of prospective brides before this.

After dropping his parents off at their apartment building, Zaza drives to a pay phone and calls his girlfriend Judith (Ronit Elkabetz), a 34-year-old Moroccan-Israeli divorcée who he is dating without his parents' knowledge. After Judith's daughter Madona has gone to bed (Judith is unsuccessfully attempting to conceal the relationship from her), Zaza goes to her apartment and they have sex, in an explicit, naturalistic sequence.^[3]

Meanwhile, Zaza's parents find that they have left their housekey in Zaza's car and spend the night at the home of relatives Simon and Margalit. When Zaza doesn't answer repeated phone calls during the night, Yasha concludes that he is with Judith; apparently Yasha was aware of the relationship but Zaza had promised him that he would end it. Judith is unacceptable to Zaza's parents because she is divorced, has a child, and is older than Zaza. A number of Zaza's relatives stake out Judith's apartment building, planning to confront the couple and frighten Judith into leaving Zaza.

The next time Zaza visits Judith they do just this, barging into Judith's apartment and attempting to break up the relationship through polite argument, humiliation, and threats of violence, as Madona (who Judith has finally introduced to Zaza) watches, frightened. At one point Simon takes down a decorative sword hanging on Judith's wall and holds it to her throat. Zaza and Judith say little, and eventually Zaza unconvincingly tells Judith that the relationship is over and leaves with his family. Zaza returns shortly after and attempts to resume the evening where it left off, but Judith quietly tells him that she doesn't want to see him again. Back at his apartment, Zaza has a further confrontation with his parents.

Some time later Zaza's parents return to Judith's apartment building. When Judith comes home, Lili approaches her and gives Madona a teddy bear as a peace offering, while Yasha stays in the car. Inside the apartment, Lili asks Judith if she has seen Zaza. Judith initially says that she hasn't, but soon she tearfully admits that Zaza has been calling her and begging her to marry him. Judith has refused because Zaza's reaction when his family invaded her apartment made her realize that "he loves you more than me," and she has decided the relationship is bad for all concerned. Back in the car, Yasha asks Lili if she will accept Judith as a wife for Zaza. Lili, now more sympathetic toward Judith, tells him that they should wait and see if Zaza gets over her.

The next scene opens with Zaza and Yasha standing next to each other at urinals in a public restroom. It becomes clear that they are at Zaza's wedding reception, and Zaza is drunk. Zaza returns to the reception hall and gives a long, awkward, repetitive speech, while his new wife—who is not Judith—stands uncomfortably by his side. Eventually he tells the guests that he "has a woman more beautiful than my wife," and drags Simon onstage to ask him to confirm this. Simon defuses the situation by acting as though Zaza was referring to his mother, and Zaza plays along, embracing Lili when Simon brings her onstage. The film ends with Zaza and his bride dancing with the rest of his family.

Cast

• Lior Ashkenazi as Zaza
• Ronit Elkabetz as Judith
• Moni Moshonov as Yasha
• Lili Kosashvili as Lili
• Aya Steinovitz as Ilana
• Rosina Kambus as Magouly
• Simon Chen as Simon
• Sapir Kugman as Madona
• Dina Doron as Luba
• Leonid Kanevsky as Otary
• Livia Chachmon Ayaliy as Margalit
• Eli Turi as Bessik
• Maria Ovanov as Lali

Lili Kosashvili, who plays Zaza's mother Lili, is the director's mother.

Reception

The film was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival.^[4]

Late Marriage was positively received by critics. Metacritic, which calculates a score from zero to 100 from a film's reviews, gave it a score of 82, translating to "Universal acclaim."^[5] Late Marriage was placed at 88 on Slant Magazine's best films of the 2000s.^[6]

Awards

• Won the Ophir Award for "Best Film" in 2001
• The film was Israel's submission for the 74th Academy Award for Best Foreign Film (it was not nominated).

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Late Marriage.

• Late Marriage at the Internet Movie Database
• Late Marriage at allmovie