107. The Divine Order (Die göttliche Ordnung); movie review Sibylle Brunner

THE DIVINE ORDER
Cert 12A
96 mins
BBFC advice: Contains moderate sex, sex references, nudity, language

The wife of a very close pal is Swiss. She is wonderful - funny, friendly, feisty and very intelligent and if she had lived in her homeland until 1971 she would not have had the vote!
I am not a total dimwit when it comes to world politics (I have a degree in European Studies) but I honestly did not know how far behind the Swiss were in terms of women's emancipation.
On International Women's Day, it was most apt that Mrs W and I should watch Petra Volpe's The Divine Order which is set in the run-up to the referendum on women's suffrage.
Volpe juxtaposes the backwardness of Switzerland with the cultural revolution which was sweeping the planet in the late 60s and early 70s.
Suffragette meets Made in Dagenham in a Swiss village where a bored, usually quiet housewife, Nora (Marie Leuenberger), is swept along by the campaign for women's liberation.
But The Divine Order is certainly not a po-faced historical essay - there is plenty of pathos and humour and the women's journey is far from straightforward.
Indeed, the barriers they face are probably the most shocking element to me because the film is set in my lifetime.
Most of the men in the village are portrayed as chauvinists, especially Nora's father-in-law (Peter Freiburghaus) who abuses the men in his family for not stamping down when their women have the temerity to show some spirit.
The latter is particularly demonstrated by Nora's teenage niece (Ella Rumpf) who falls in love with an older boy.
Indeed, the greatest spark in The Divine Order comes from the women giving men the run around and showing up their hypocrisy and hopelessness.
It adds the complexity of Nora's husband (Maximilian Simonischek) being on her side but embarrassed by her antics and it throws in a wonderful comedy thread with the performance of Sibylle Brunner as the caustic veteran campaigner.
The Divine Order is entertaining and enlightening and I am just about getting over that it is based on the truth.

Reasons to watch: Entertaining and enlightening recollection of Swiss emancipation
Reasons to avoid: Is probably a little too frothy

Laughs: Five
Jumps: None
Vomit: None
Nudity: Magazine photos
Overall rating: 8/10

Director's quote - Petra Volpe - "I first researched for a long time, to hear as many voices as possible and to examine the subject from a variety of perspectives. Only then did I develop the characters piece by piece. All are inspired by women that I met in the course of my research."

The big question - Why did it take so long for women to win the vote?

 

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