An hysterical magical history tour de force, HYSTERIA (M) deserves to create quite a buzz at the box office.
It single-handedly tells the story of the invention of the vibrator whilst exploding the myth of the catch-all complaint of hysteria which held women under the thumb in medical theory and theological discourse.
‘In the time of Victoria
There was no talk of clitoria
When table legs had to be covered
And women were chronically dud- lovered
Orgasms were paroxysms, Gloria!’.
HYSTERIA could have gone the way of Carry On or Merchant Ivory films. Thankfully, the filmmakers found a much more interesting way to go.
Picking up on a more modern definition of the word hysteria, “a burst of hilarity”, the film makers fashioned a movie that was funny, that tickled, that gave satisfaction.
Stephen and Jonah Lisa Dyer have fashioned a screenplay that is witty and wise, comic and poignant, beautifully rendered under Tanya Wexler’s deft direction.
Hugh Dancy plays newly minted medico, Mortimer Granville, a healer whose heeding of hygiene in hospitals goes against the established thinking of the day. His ‘germ theory’ is derided as poppycock and he is dismissed from duty.
The hostility of the hospitals hastens his employment in private practice with Dr. Dalrymple, London’s gynecological guru, whose manual massage has caused quite a considerable clientele of ‘hysterics’.
Dalrymple played with delicious duplicity by Jonathan Pryce has two daughters, the staid stay at home phrenologist, Emily,(Felicity Jones) and the firebrand feminist, Charlotte (Maggie Gyllenhall). These two raise the stakes in the rom com component of the film causing friction and faction between the young doctor and his more conservative employer.
Another key player who offers a delirious portrayal of a pixilated pioneer of progress is Rupert Everett, effortlessly ebullient and effervescent as Granville’s friend and benefactor, Edmund St. John-Smythe.
A rib-tickler if ever there was one!
© Richard Cotter
11th July, 2012
Sydney Movie Reviews- HYSTERIA, Tanya Wexler, Stephen Dyer, Jonah Lisa Dyer, Hugh Darcy, Jonathon Pryce, Maggie Gyllenhall, Rupert Everett, Sydney Arts Guide, Richard Cotter.
