Go to Films |

LATE MARRIAGE


     

SYNOPSIS

 

QUOTES

 
 







Click here to visit Posteritati.com.

 

Late Marriage is a searing portrait of rigid cultural traditions and the tyrannical control they can exert over matters of the heart. Tragic and funny in equal parts, the film marks a highly impressive launch to director Dover Kosashvili's feature filmmaking career.

Handsome and intelligent, Zaza is working on his doctorate in philosophy in Tel Aviv. Yasha and Lili proudly consider their son an excellent catch, so they find it disconcerting that Zaza is still not married at 31. He humours his parents as they expound on the need for him to marry a young virgin and suffers as they take him to meet one "suitable" girl after another. But he is uninterested: In brazen disregard of his parents' strict Georgian tradition, Zaza is in love with the smoulderingly beautiful Judith, a 34-year-old Moroccan divorcee. The situation is a disaster in the eyes of Zaza's family and is made all the worse by the fact that Judith has a six-year-old daughter.

The film delineates the wrenching confrontation between love and familial duty and all the ugliness and desperation that arise from dogmatic adherence to tradition. In one particularly jarring scene, Zaza's extended family storms into Judith's apartment intending to force him to denounce the woman he loves. Yet the mood is not entirely oppressive; on the contrary, Late Marriage is an energetic and lively film, the result of dynamic scripting, editing and art direction. Ebullient moments follow fast on the heels of the most ferocious, deflating scenes, while excellent performances draw us in among the divided loyalties of a family at war with itself, making us laugh even as we cringe.

Late Marriage's spirit is robust throughout; its aesthetic restrained and modern. This is a film with a lot of heart and a lot on the line, a taut and honest exploration of cultural and familial obligations that demands to be seen. - Michèle Maheux from the Toronto Film Festival Program.

PRODUCTION TEAM

CAST

 

"Unfailingly incisive and memorably frank (its centerpiece is perhaps the most believable sex scene ever filmed), this story of a thirtyish Israeli torn between duty to his family and his love for a divorcee herlads the arrival of an exciting new talent." - Mike D'Angelo, Time Out New York

"Where to begin? How can I persuade you to see this film? How about a blurb? ONE OF THE YEAR'S BEST FILMS! It features what may be the single most believable sex scene ever captured on film." Mike D'Angelo, Time Out New York

"A Powerful Comedy." Stephen Holden, The New York Times

"A remarkable debut film which features one of the most affecting depictions of a love affair ever committed to film." Megan Turner, NY Post

"The best Israeli film to arrive here in years. A first rate first feature, as well as womething of a breathrough. You believer every moment." John Anderson, Newsday

"Smart, sexy and unsparing. LATE MARRIAGE is one event you won't want to miss." Elizabeth Weitzman, Daily News

"A taut, powerful comedy about family ties." Tom Gliatto, People

"Boasts the year's best sex scene." Andrew Johnston, US Weekly

"A Gem! A model of ungimmicky storytelling with astonishing performances." Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly

 
Date for DVD release subject to change.