Comedy,Romance
United Kingdom,Luxembourg,France,Germany,Switzerland
Hysteria is a romantic comedy film directed by Tanya Wexler. The story takes place in London during the Victorian era, where female patients who were diagnosed with Hysteria, a mental illness with symptoms of anxiety and irritability, were often prescribed pelvic massages by male physicians with the aim of inducing orgasmic relief.
The movie focuses on young doctor Mortimer Granville (Hugh Dancy) who becomes frustrated with the continual failure of medical treatments and finds himself unemployed. He eventually lands a job with Dr. Robert Dalrymple (Jonathan Pryce), a specialist in Hysteria treatment. Granville finds himself working long hours manually stimulating women, and he soon develops sore hands called "Sims's Disease".
Granville meets Dalrymple's daughter, Charlotte (Maggie Gyllenhaal), a staunch suffragette and advocate for women's rights. She runs a settlement house that provides education and support to the poor and working-class women of London. Despite Charlotte's initial disapproval of Granville's profession, the two eventually fall in love.
Granville eventually invents the prototype of the electric vibrator, which he presents to his colleagues, causing controversy and scandal. But the device becomes popular and widely accepted in treating hysteria.
The film touches on themes of feminism and social change in Victorian England, portraying the growing struggle of women fighting for their own rights and independence. It also portrays a humorous take on the invention of the vibrator, which has become a symbol of female sexual liberation.
