Hysteria is set in that repressed Victorian era, and documents the invention of the first ever vibrator. The perpetrator is one Dr Mortimer Granville (Hugh Darcy), who gets a job assisting Dr Dalrymple (Jonathan Pryce) in alleviating hysteric women of their nervous symptoms by massaging their genital region and inducing ‘paroxysmal convulsions’ (that’s the posh med school term for ‘orgasms’ , by the way).
Soon, however, Dr Mortimer’s hand muscles are unable to keep up with his honorable profession (we empathise). He thus seeks the help of his friend, Lord Edmund St John Smythe (Rupert Everett), in developing an electrical massaging device for his patients. Voila, the vibrator! Oh, and he manages to find the time to successively fall in love with his boss’s lovely daughters: the staid Emily (Felicity Jones), and the feminist firebrand Charlotte (Maggie Gyllenhaal).
While imperfect in execution, Hysteria is a good-humoured effort that titillates both the humour and the imagination; the movie is filled with snicker-worthy moments, and its appeal comes both from its breezy approach as well as its clever contrasting of archaic medical ideas – such as ‘hysteria’ and ‘phrenology’ – with innovations that we now perceive as mundane: vibrators, telephones, and equality for women.
Not content with creating a saucy love story, Hysteria‘s director Tanya Wexler also seems to have socio-economic aspirations, as seen in the character of Charlotte, a proto-feminist, bicycle-straddling firebrand who spends her time and inheritance on helping the downtrodden. Unfortunately, this well-meaning message of equality gets muddied by the film’s broad strokes and clever humour. Likewise, the romantic aspect of the film comes across as both rushed and implausible, with little emotional development between Mortimer and Charlotte.
Ultimately, Hysteria is like slightly above average sex: it’s pleasant, slightly too frenetic…and there just isn’t all that much of a climax.
Summary: Good vibes, but not necessarily orgasmic.
RATING: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Raphael Lim