The Divine Order (Die
göttliche Ordnung)
(Switzerland, 96 min.)
Written and directed by Petra Volpe
Starring:
Marie Leuenberger, Maximilian Simonischek, Rachel Braunschweig, Sibylle
Brunner, Marta Zoffoli
 |
| Marie Leuenberger stars as Nora in The Divine Order. Films We Like |
The women of The Divine
Order sure know how to get the votes. This charming Swiss comedy from
writer/director Petra Volpe is a fun addition to the canon of films about the
women’s movement. Coming out and hitting the campaign trail as Switzerland’s
Best Foreign Language Film Oscar bid in an industry championing similar urgency
for more women in key creative roles, Volpe’s timely comedy offers an open and
engaging discussion about equality, opportunity, and respect.
The unrest among the women begins with Nora (Marie Leuenberger), a dutiful wife and mother who becomes frustrated with the confinements and routines of her life. She tends the household, which consists of not only her family lead by her husband Hans (Maximilian Simonischek), but also her father-in-law, brother-in-law and his wife and daughter. It’s a big and busy home. Nora does little besides cooking and cleaning.
Nora dreams of the world outside the family home and longs
to travel, as noted by her bedtime storytelling with her two sons. Instead of
cracking open books, she spins a globe and creates tales about exotic destinations.
These escapist dreams inspire her to apply for a job at a local travel agency,
but there’s just one catch: Swiss law requires the husband’s permission in
order for a woman to take a job. Hans, naturally, forbids it.
Led by Leuenberger’s spirited and easygoing performance, the
women of the town cautiously become allies with Nora as she leads awareness
campaigns about the upcoming referendum on women’s right to vote. Her allies
include the hearty old Vroni (Sibylle Brunner), who lost her beloved pub when
her husband died and left her without any claim to the establishment to which
she devoted her life. Nora’s sister-in-law Theresa (Rachel Braunschweig) joins
the call after sitting passively by her husband’s side while he sent their
rebellious daughter away for dating an older man. The trio finds an ally in the
town’s saucy new pizza maker Graziella (Marta Zoffoli), who offers an object of
curiosity for the women having kicked her husband to the curb without any
reservations for life as a single woman.
The women surge with the spirit of new wave feminism and
Graziella inspires Nora to begin expanding her horizon with simple pleasures
like haircuts and form fitting close that highlight her femininity, rather than
hide it. Through campaigns, rallies, and late night meetings in the pub, the
women of the town collective gather the agency that's been dormant for years. They
find ample resistance from the men in who detest pesky women’s lib types and
attribute the perceived inferiority of women to God’s given word. Volpe does a respectable job of creating fair male characters while privileging the women of the film, avoid stock types and ensuring that the conservative patriarchy is more of a collective fault than an individual one. The Divine Order casts the
biggest foil for Nora in the form of another woman: the town’s resident
spinster Mrs. Dr. Wipf (don’t ask where the “Mrs.” comes from), played by Therese
Affolter. This frumpy antagonist plays mother hen to the women and embodies
that hard internalisation of the status quo that endures in these small towns.
When communities and minds are so closed and rigid, nothing changes without
perspective.
A trip to Zurich brings Nora and her crew within the greater
women’s movement. The faster pace of city life leads them to a hilarious info
session with a Swedish hippie who educates the women about their sexuality,
offering anatomy lessons and encouraging them to become better acquainted with their
vaginas and open themselves through orgasm. Nora’s like a bashful schoolgirl
having never seen herself or “been there,” which adds a stiff challenge for her
Hans, who already finds Nora’s political life emasculating.
The Divine Order
might tickle the funny bone with its tale of Swiss homemakers going on strike
in order to rally support for women’s right to vote, but the film finds an
unexpected depth in the hipness of its setting. It’s 1971 when the drama begins
in this small and snowy anonymous Swiss town, and one can’t help but do a
double take at seeing such archaic arguments in such a relatively contemporary
setting. The traditional Swiss town and the beautiful landscape highlight the
small community as one of isolation and conservatism. The members of the town
have been neutral for far too long
The Divine Order doesn’t
rewrite the book on films about the women’s movement, but it’s a fun and
utterly winning crowd pleaser. Driven by a fantastic ensemble cast, particularly
Leuenberger’s compelling lead and the strong supporting sidekicks of Brunner, Braunschweig,
and Zoffoli, The Divine Order
privileges the lives and experiences of women with a buoyant and unabashedly
celebratory air.
The Divine Order is playing in Toronto at Cineplex Yonge and Dundas.