In Theaters

Hysteria

Movie Details

Hysteria
  • Genre: Comedy, Romance
  • Release Date: 2012-05-18 NY/LA
  • Running Time: 95 min.
  • Director: Tanya Wexler
  • Cast: Rupert Everett, Hugh Dancy, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Felicity Jones, Jonathan Pryce, Anna Chancellor, Gemma Jones, Tobias Menzies
  • Producers: Sarah Curtis, Judy Cairo, Tracey Becker
  • Writers: Stephen Dyer, Jonah Lisa Dyer, Howard Gensler
  • Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
  • Official Site: Hysteria Official Site

The origin story of a beloved bedroom gadget, Hysteria, set in London in the 1880s, proceeds as a tedious, clumsy diddle, constantly reminding viewers how much progress has been made since the Victorian era. "You may be unaware, but there is a social revolution underfoot!" suffragette and East End settlement-house volunteer Charlotte (Maggie Gyllenhaal) clamors in a typical harangue to her father, Dr. Robert Dalrymple (Jonathan Pryce), a specialist in women's medicine. To cure respectable ladies of the ailment of the title, the physician, as was the actual procedure at the time, deploys "vulvar massage" until the patient reached "satisfactory paroxysm." The irony, underscored repeatedly in this history-lesson-as-comedy is that these learned men of science believed the relief they provided was only physical, never sexual. To assist him in his extremely popular practice, Dalrymple hires Mortimer Granville (Hugh Dancy), an idealistic doctor--and real person, on whom this film is loosely based--who opens the film lecturing a leech-using supervisor on what germs are and who is roused by Gyllenhaal's firebrand. But so much repetitive motion gives Mortimer severe hand cramps, leading to the creation, with his Wildean, gadget-loving friend Edmund (Rupert Everett), of the vibrator. This device, known as "Granville's hammer," aptly suggests the bluntness of Hysteria.

Melissa Anderson
VOICE Daily Deals

Now Showing

Find capsule reviews, showtimes & tickets for all films in town.

Powered By VOICE Places

Now Trending

San Francisco Event Tickets

Box Office

  1. Star Trek Into Darkness, 70.2 mil, 83.7 mil
  2. Iron Man 3, 35.8 mil, 337.7 mil
  3. The Great Gatsby, 23.9 mil, 90.7 mil
  4. Pain & Gain, 3.2 mil, 46.7 mil
  5. The Croods, 3.0 mil, 177.0 mil
  6. 42, 2.8 mil, 88.8 mil
  7. Oblivion, 2.3 mil, 85.6 mil
  8. Mud, 2.2 mil, 11.7 mil
  9. Peeples, 2.2 mil, 7.9 mil
  10. The Big Wedding, 1.2 mil, 20.3 mil
Movie Title, Weekly Earnings, Total Earnings

Movie Trailers

©2013 SF Weekly, LP, All rights reserved.
Browse Voice Nation
  • Voice Places San Francisco / Bay Area

    Voice Places

    Find everything you're looking for in your city

  • Happy Hour App

    Happy Hour App

    Find the best happy hour deals in your city

  • Daily Deals

    Daily Deals

    Get today's exclusive deals at savings of anywhere from 50-90%

  • Best Of

    Best Of...

    Check out the hottest list of places and things to do around your city