The Divine Order

1h 36min | Director Petra Volpe | 2018 | In German with English subtitles | PAL

The Divine Order (German: Die göttliche Ordnung) is a 2017 Swiss comedy-drama film directed by Petra Volpe. It was selected as the Swiss entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards, but it was not nominated.

The film centres on Nora Ruckstuhl, a housewife and mother in a small village. She publicly advocates for women’s suffrage in Switzerland to be voted on in a 1971 referendum. In the early 1970s as black power, women’s liberation and the sexual revolution are overtaking America, Nora Ruckstuhl is a housewife living in a small Swiss farming village where she lives with her husband, Hans, their two sons, and her father-in-law. When Nora suggests that she might like to go back to work as she is bored of housework her husband suggests that they have another child.

Nora’s niece Hanna is despondent after her mother forbids her from seeing her much older boyfriend. She convinces Nora to let her see him one last time, but when they arrive in town Hanna runs off with her boyfriend. While wandering around downtown Nora meets some women demonstrating for women's suffrage. Reluctantly admitting that she is for the women’s right to vote she is given flyers and reading material including Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique.