The Divine Order

This "divine order" is one thing above all: a blatant injustice! Nora (Marie Leuenberger) lives with her husband (Max Simonischek), her two sons and grumpy father-in-law in a village in Appenzell, Switzerland. Of course, it's still her, who runs the "male household", the woman who isn't supposed to go to work and has to conform to her role as housewife and mother. The upheavals of the 1968 movement have left Nora's tranquil hometown in a mess - probably deliberately so, judging by the way the men here rule over the heads of the women. Nora alone is no longer prepared to accept this degradation. She campaigns for women's suffrage and infects the other demure village women with her commitment. Soon, there is not only a strike by the women, but also an exploration of their own female sexuality - and of course a wave of chauvinistic resistance from the startled men. Where there's gouging, there's chipping. However, Nora never wanted her family and the village community to be broken by her commitment. Interestingly, the headwind blows particularly hard in Nora's face from the female side of all people. In Switzerland, Petra Volpe's warm-hearted comedy about female solidarity and chauvinistic defensiveness evidently struck a nerve and enjoyed a sensational theatrical release. This is probably also due to a remarkable curiosity: In the Swiss Confederation, women's suffrage was only introduced in a referendum in 1971. In 1959, it had been rejected by the exclusively male electorate. The so-called marriage law systematically denied women access to many areas of life, including gainful employment. In Europe during the 1970s, Spain, under the dictator Franco, was perhaps as backward in terms of women's rights. Petra Volpe infuses her enigmatic film with plenty of charming 70s flair, unerring dialog and a great cast of sometimes gentle, sometimes combative "women's baggage".