The Divine Order

The year 1971, a small village in Switzerland. Nora is a housewife with a husband and two sons. She wants to take a job. By law she needs her husband's permission and he refuses. At the same time a referendum is coming: whether women will be given the vote is to be decided, and only men will vote on it. Nora is not interested at first. Then she goes to a meeting and starts a campaign in her own village. The village is not ready for it; some of the women object too. Nora forms a group with a few others. Petra Volpe writes and directs. Marie Leuenberger plays Nora. It is a Swiss production. Its ground is real; women were given the vote at federal level in Switzerland in 1971, among the latest dates in Western Europe. In some cantons the local vote came much later, and the film touches on that too. Marie Leuenberger won best actress at the Tribeca Film Festival for the part. The film was submitted as Switzerland's entry for the Oscar. Its strongest side is the division inside the village; the reasons of those who object are shown as well. The narrative keeps a comic register, which stops the argument becoming didactic. Its limit is structure; the narrative proceeds in a conventional awakening shape and some supporting characters are functional. Who it is for: viewers who like historical social drama and European cinema. Who it is not for: the shape is familiar, the outcome known, and the narrative too tidy.