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Switzerland · 2017
1h 36m
Director Petra Biondina Volpe
Starring Marie Leuenberger, Maximilian Simonischek, Marta Zoffoli, Bettina Stucky
Genre Comedy, Drama
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Nora is a young housewife and mother living in a quaint little village with her husband and their two sons. The Swiss countryside is untouched by the major social upheavals the movement of 1968 has brought about. Nora’s life is not effected either; she is a quiet person who is liked by everybody – until she starts to publicly fight for women’s suffrage, which the men are due to vote on in a ballot on February 7, 1971.
The New York Times by Ben Kenigsberg
The Divine Order effectively illustrates how peer pressure can influence the political process. Collective silence, whether it’s from women unwilling to publicly press for their rights or men afraid to voice agreement with their wives for fear of looking weak around co-workers, proves more of an obstacle than any opponent. That message gives Ms. Volpe’s lark a timely edge.
The Hollywood Reporter by Boyd van Hoeij
The Divine Order (Die Goettliche Ordnung) is an entertaining, if largely predictable, story of an individual swept up in the tide of history.
The Divine Order is as milquetoast as these things get, but Volpe’s film finds real value by emphasizing process over politics, by glossing over the eventual vote in favor of knuckling down on how one act of courage can spark a blaze that’s big enough to burn the whole system to the ground.
The film's performances and narrative flounder to strike the right balance between comedy and drama.
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) by Julia Cooper
The Divine Order plays up the fun of feminist empowerment with its anthems (You Don't Own Me, Respect), and lightens the tension with a modern-woman makeover for Nora.
Though the film’s feel-good construction undercuts its ability to surprise, Petra Volpe’s cine-history lesson remains a mainstream crowd-pleaser adept at inspiring and amusing in equal measure.
Though the story has a predictable ebb and flow, the film includes some stunning moments
Los Angeles Times by Sheri Linden
Within the story's sometimes too-neat outline, Volpe lets most of her characters breathe.
Volpe’s specificity with each characterization, including many of the men, humanizes what would otherwise be an issue-driven movie, and lends it an immediacy and resonance that fuels audience sympathies, not to mention understanding.
Screen International by Wendy Ide
A gentle, unassuming picture, it does have a satisfying, feelgood trajectory and empathetic central performance from Marie Leuenberger.
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