Pineapple with ham on toast and a sprinkle of second-wave feminism in Pierre Monnard’s feel-good biopic Hello Betty

Every year Dublin International Film Festival selects a different country for their section “Country in Focus” to showcase new films, retrospectives and Irish co-productions, bringing more light to worldwide projects that might not have had the chance to shine for Irish audiences yet.

This year the spotlight was on Switzerland with a program including a retrospective of acclaimed director Lionel Baier and filmmakers Chris Niemeyer and Jonas Ulrich in attendance for discussions of their new work.

Among those films was Pierre Monnard’s Hello Betty, which screening was followed by a Q+A with producer Peter Reichenbach, sharing his own memories of the national icon that is Betty Bossi and who, prior to the screening, had gifted DIFF’s director Gráinne Humphreys a symbolic Betty apron.

The film is set in 50s Switzerland where Emmi Creola, a gifted copywriter, in an attempt to oppose her male dominated workplace invents one of world’s first "influencers" in the face of the fictional housewife character Betty Bossi that turns to be Switzerland’s top culinary icon. As Betty captures the hearts of a whole nation, Emmi’s personal life is at stake as she struggles to balance her public persona with her role as a wife and mother.

You don’t need to be Swiss to be touched by the story of Betty and Emmi as it showcases conventional struggles that are relevant everywhere today as much as they were back in the 50s Switzerland such as work-life balance as a professional woman and at what point the female ambition could be condemned by society as a sin.

Ironically, the figure of Betty Bossi is Emmi’s antipode. Manufactured as the perfect homemaker - even at times disheveled, still effortlessly stylish, endlessly nurturing and accomplished, and ever so wholly content she represents an unattainable archetype, juxtaposing Bossi’s polished image with Emmi’s increasingly chaotic reality. Hello Betty features a compelling nuanced performance from Sarah Spale in the title role who skillfully captures Emmi’s earnest aspiration in her prudent demeanor that gradually flourishes. The cast is jammed by solid performances, but a standout is Rabea Egg, who plays Maxi, an unruly young woman that often grounds Emmi and challenges her actions as to how actually progressive the creation of Betty Bossi could be if the message is still a woman convincing other women what they need is to keep being content in the kitchen. Contrary to the patriarchal conditioning that puts women against each other, Hello Betty explicitly shows the assembling of a supportive female-driven team that is behind the success of Betty Bossi that further proves a singular “perfect” woman is illusory and chasing this flawless statute is as damaging now as it was in the 1950s. Importantly, the narrative resists reducing Emmi’s husband Ernst to a one-dimensional antagonist. Instead, he is depicted as a flawed but recognisably human partner, caught between societal expectation and insecurity.

One of the film’s highlights lies in its thoughtful production design, which meticulously recreates the texture and ambiance of the 1950s. Whether we find ourselves in the brightly lit studio set by the end of the film, in the neatly ordered office spaces, or inside the Emmi’s

family home, every environment feels carefully constructed to reflect the period with authenticity, colour and detail. The narrative is visually enriched through it as well, as Emmi’s professional life begins to flourish, the interiors of the Creola home subtly unravel. Rooms grow more cluttered and less orderly, mirroring her internal strain and the widening gap between ambition and domestic responsibility.

Hello Betty is less about food than it is about the struggles and expectations women face daily just by simply existing. The narrative certainly follows a well-known, almost too formulaic, structure of a biopic, and at times tries to tackle too many themes at once, such as subtexts of immigration issues, which are ultimately only scratched at the surface. But its charming aesthetic and heartfelt message that a life balance can be attained with the right caring support system leaves this Swiss indie production about their beloved and more than a simple culinary figure, a treat for the eyes and the soul.