Let me add a few notes to the comments above.
Since he was drunk and unhappy, Zaza aimed for the genitals instead of the thigh, perhaps it was a sarcastic dive, he was sarcastically expressing his non-existent gratitude in accepting and upholding an oath that he detested.
TemporaryOne-1's interpretation is more sophisticated than mine, and I really like it. I seem to remember that biblical scholars explain that in this context "thigh" is a euphemism for "genitals."
I see Zaza as saying something more raw. I think Zaza is saying something like this to his father: "You think that you own me because I came out of your penis. Let me complete my humiliation by paying homage to the part of your body that you think gives you the right to dominate my life (and in particular, my sexual life) by performing fellatio on you. Is not that the sort of submission you really want from me? Well, here it is."
Zaza is not happy about the relationship, but he acknowledges it and accepts it. He has been, and will be, well rewarded for sucking up to, or perhaps, as he suggests, sucking on, his parents. To continue the sucking theme, Zaza has not been weaned and continues to suck on the parental teat.
Zaza reminds me of someone living in Communist Eastern Europe in the 70s who cannot openly oppose the tyrannical regime, so he finds subtle, hidden ways that will not be understood by the regime to express how he really feels.
The moment that Zaza is married, his parents move on to their real agenda. They want grandchildren; that is what this is all about. (Well, that and control.) However they may have justified their objection to Judith, actually they insisted on a younger wife because she is likely to produce more grandchildren. Zaza's parents don't see him as a person; they see him as a means to pass their genes on to later generations. If it means denying Zaza the happiness and love that they were denied, then so be it. Zaza's happiness is just not a concern for them.
... That's why I think Zaza kept telling his girlfriend that he wanted to wait until after his doctorate was over to tell his parents (in the beginning of the movie) -- maybe he felt it would be easier then (the easy way out) to break free financially.
Zaza's way of dealing with his parents is to tune them out, tell them what they want to hear (or at least not argue with them), and then do what he wants to do. Whether it is habit or cowardice or self-interest, or all three, I don't know, but I am sure he has been doing this his entire life.
Zaza may have convinced himself that when he completes his degree he will get financial independence and marry Judith, but he is deceiving himself. I don't know what the job market for newly minted PhD's in philosophy is like in Israel, but I suspect that he is not going to be able to maintain the lifestyle that he is used to without his parent's support. When it comes down to it, Zaza is not going to give up both his parents and their support. In the meantime, he is telling Judith what she wants to hear which is the same tactic that he uses with his parents. I don't know if Zaza loves his parents more that he loves Judith, as she says. I don't have any conviction that he loves any of them. He certainly loves what his parents can provide more than what Judith can provide.
Judith is a good person, and the only major character in the film who is sympathetic. It is a shame that she fell for someone like Zaza who looks great on the surface but is hopelessly weak inside. The obvious way for Judith to get Zaza, and shut his parents up, is to get pregnant by him. Judith, however, wants his love, not just to trap him.
That said, this is a very sophisticated movie, and it resists easy judgments. The parents are partially shown in a sympathetic way, and the possibility that the parents might be right is left at least a little bit open. Maybe the relationship with Judith is based on sex and not much else. Maybe Zaza will ultimately be happier with the woman that he marries than he would have been with Judith. I don't know, but I do hope that Zaza will get the marriage that he deserves, and that the entire extended family will end up in the worst nursing home in Israel.
P.S. In support of the idea that the theme of procreation runs through
Late Marriage, let me note the following:
>>> The foreskin of an infant is featured prominently, if humorously, in the first part of the film. The "bouquet garni" seems to be a kind of love/fertility charm. The penis that it came from has its entire reproductive life ahead of it.
>>> In the middle of the film, there is a clear reference to the sin of Onan. Here it is the woman, and not the man, who causes the spilling of the seed. The love charm that the semen is used in destroys it.
>>> At the end of the film, we are back to male "reproductive organs," the father's, but they are no longer going to be used for reproduction and have to be replaced by the son's "reproductive organs."
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