Hysteria Movie Review
Maggie Gyllenhaal and Hugh Dancy star in the witty comedy drama ‘Hysteria’ about how little men knew then (and now?) about women. We still must be our own medical advocates.
Did you know that the majority of medical studies had no female participants?
- ‘Hysteria’ is an official selection of the Tribeca Film Festival 2012 and according to the opening “This story is based on true events. Really.”
Hysteria, also referred to as female hysteria was, up until the 19th century, used as a medical term to describe a whole host of what were thought of as female troubles like frigidity, melancholia and anxiety. Succinctly put, hysteria was any condition that the male-dominated world didn’t understand. Treatment was a “pelvic massage” which entailed “treating” a woman’s vulva until the point of “paroxysm.” Translation: digital manipulation until a woman reached orgasm.
Back then, as far as men knew, women didn’t have sexual desires so the pelvic massage was simply for muscle relaxation. Do you see where this is going? Yes, a romantic comedy brimming with tongue-in-cheek (or finger-in-the…) humor.
The movie is set in London in 1880 and stars Hugh Dancy as Dr. Mortimer Granville who has lost a series of hospital jobs due to his “preposterous” theory that germ avoidance can promote good health. Granville needs to find a job post haste. Enter Dr. Robert Dalrymple brilliantly played byJonathan Pryce. Dalrymple, a wealthy doc whose private practice treating women with hysteria is thriving, needs another set of hands, literally.
Maggie Gyllenhaal shines as a headstrong suffragette. She’s the older daughter of Dalrymple and repels Granville from the moment they meet. Plenty of foreshadowing clues you in that these two, with a fiery dislike for one another, will fall madly in love. Thank goodness because it’s the other sister, played by Felicity Jones, who first catches Granville’s eye and she is proper, demure, and a total bore.
Us “sistas” can be happy this was directed by a woman—Tanya Wexler—because if it weren’t for Gyllenhaal’s strong female role, the movie would’ve been too aggravating. Although it would have been time period appropriate to portray women as silly and not to be taken seriously, it would not have sat well with female audiences. It is doubtful that women could’ve seen much humor in paying good money to witness 100 minutes of overt 19th century sexism and the total absence of women’s rights—we’ve come a long way, baby.
In the end, Granville and his wealthy eccentric friend—played with charming flamboyance by Rupert Everett—accidentally invent the vibrator. It’s just in the knick of time too. Poor Granville has developed carpal tunnel from providing a plethora of patients with paroxysms.
It’s a light, fun romp for pure entertainment’s sake, and I say hands down to that!
Rated R. 100 minutes. Opens in theaters May 18, 2012.
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