A hilarious comedy about how the vibrator was invented in Victorian England

Starring Maggie Gyllenhaal, Hugh Dancy, Jonathan Pryce, and Rupert Everett

Our story begins in London in the 1880s, the pinnacle of Victorian prudishness. Though they don’t yet know it, the city’s tightly corseted women are about to start picking up some good vibrations. Mortimer Granville (Hugh Dancy) is a brilliant young doctor whose life changes when he meets Dr. Robert Dalrymple (Jonathan Pryce), London’s “foremost specialist in women’s medicine.” That lofty title means that Dalrymple is an expert in “hysteria,” a malaise diagnosed so liberally that Dalrymple hypothesizes at least half the city’s women are sufferers. To ease these patients’ stress, he has developed a form of therapy that involves the careful manual stimulation of a certain female body part. Hysteria tells the true story of how, aided by a goofy pal with a fascination for gadgets (Rupert Everett), young Granville came to invent the first vibrator. Key to this was his association with Dalrymple’s very different daughters: the well-spoken Emily (Felicity Jones) and the outspoken Charlotte (Maggie Gyllenhaal). The result inadvertently contributed to women’s sexual independence and the coming women’s movement. Shot in a London gorgeously dressed in nineteenth-century garb, Hysteria is a witty and sweet comedy. Featuring swift direction from Tanya Wexler and pithy performances from its cast, it is, as it should be, a pleasure. (2011, UK, 100 min., color, 35mm • Director: Tanya Wexler • Writers: Stephen Dyer & Jonah Lisa Dyer • Cast: Maggie Gyllenhaal, Hugh Dancy, Jonathan Pryce, Rupert Everett, Felicity Jones • 2011 Toronto International Film Festival)

“Jane Austen with a vibrator! A total joy from start to finish. A terrific movie!” -Rex Reed, NY Observer