Review of Hysteria (2011) by Garrett R — 07 Jul 2012

HYSTERIA is an enlightening and charming Victorian romantic comedy blended with a history lesson that takes liberties with the actual history of the development of the 'electric massager' (or as the film puts it before that point, electric feather duster!) in favor of a good story...and this risk works beautifully.

Less said about the story the better. The surprises that the story offers are just as hearty as the laughs, and as the story calls for natural dramatics the performances are completely natural and the humor is just that as well.

In tandem with its high-concept (or low-concept, depending on how you want to see it) premise of female sexuality in Victorian England is not so much a dramatic exploration that you'd see in a Keira Knightley-Joe Wright collaboration, but a light-hearted and proper-in-manner approach is given to the proceedings thanks to director Tanya Wexler.

HYSTERIA's high-brow setting of Victorian London circa 1873 juxtaposes the somewhat-taboo subject (for here and even now) beautifully, as HYSTERIA is a film that allows itself to have fun with the 'female hysteria' concept within its high-class British setting enough to elicit good-hearted laughs while also telling a fine story that has more to it than first meets the eye.

Maggie Gyllenhaal is a naturalist, a naturalist at acting that is as Charlotte. Her character's giving, Christian spirit and brash personality really jar in the right way with the picture's characters' behavioral patterns and tendencies of the time. Hugh Dancy is the epitome of mannerly British-proper as Mortimer Granville, an expert medicinal doctor whose venture into doctoring 'female hysteria' is as gut-bustingly-funny as it is realistic. And how he makes his mark in the story and on the story's singular object, the now-known and commonly used 'vibrator' among stimulated women is memorable stuff. HYSTERIA is as much a character piece as a romantic/sexual comedy, as you can tell.

Jonathan Pryce (or Elizabeth Swann's Governor father from POTC) is a delightful, wise and orderly doctor whose looking to pass on his clinic for 'female hysteria' to the right opportune partner. The opportune partner is a fellow looking for medical work, and the partner may or may not be fully ready for the venture. And Rupert Everett is quite funny in his understated role as Mortimer's rich inventor friend Edmund whose social life is zilch.

Director Tanya Wexler ably balances the look of Victorian London and the tone of the gritty realities of the times along with all the frivolities afoot in romantic-comedy mode. The subplot regarding Charlotte never jar with Mortimer's hilarious and realistic venture into the field of 'female hysteria', and when their paths converge does the story fully cohese and a pure message arises out of HYSTERIA: that men and women have the right to have healthy sex in their relationships.

While HYSTERIA does not break new ground as a Victorian London film, but it does as a Victorian London film that is a light-hearted and realistic romantic comedy with sexual content included. Just check the R-rating.