Seeking out the

5000 greatest films

in a century of cinema

Hysteria

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Directed by Tanya Wexler
Produced by Tracey Becker, Judy Cairo, and Sarah Curtis
Screenplay & screen story by Stephen Dyer and Jonah Lisa Dyer Original story by Howard Gensler
With: Hugh Dancy, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jonathan Pryce, Felicity Jones, Rupert Everett, Ashley Jensen, Sheridan Smith, Gemma Jones, Malcolm Rennie, Kim Criswell, Georgie Glen, Elisabet Johannesdottir, Linda Woodhall, Kim Selby, Anna Chancellor, and Tobias Menzies
Cinematography: Sean Bobbitt
Editing: Jon Gregory
Music: Gast Waltzing
Runtime: 100 min
Release Date: 14 December 2011
Aspect Ratio: 2.35 : 1
Color: Color

Hysteria is another saucy period piece about sex, designed to make septuagenarians giggle at its naughtiness. It’s a perfectly watchable film about the invention of the vibrator, but its attempts at humor, feminist subtext and historical perspective come off as pandering and simpleminded. The cast is fine, especially Gyllenhaal, but a much better film could have been made from this story--and an even better play.