The Divine Order

The Divine Order 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 advocated for women's suffrage in Switzerland to be voted on in a 1971 referendum. Plot 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. Nora continues to press the issue of wanting to work, but her husband shoots it down more forcefully. She also learns that Hanna has been detained in Zurich and her father has allowed her to be committed to a juvenile detention facility. Emboldened by these two events, Nora publicly declares that she is for women's suffrage at a meeting at her women's club. Her statement draws the attention of Vroni, an older woman who claims she was always for women's suffrage. Vroni insists that the two of them hold an event to show their support for women's suffrage. As her husband is away serving in the military for two weeks Nora reluctantly agrees.