Hysteria is (or should I say, WAS) a curious medical condition diagnosed back in the 18th and 19th century particularly in women for any of various un-explainable and un-manageable emotional distress. This was thought to have been caused by some unclear problem connected to the uterus. Surgical removal of the uterus was thus prescribed as a treatment to this catch-all diagnosis, hence this procedure was properly called a Hysterectomy.
I did not expect this movie to tackle this archaic medical meaning of Hysteria, but it did. It also showed us the therapeutic procedure doctors did in those days to manage women with hysteria. I could not believe that these women actually paid to have doctors do THAT! You have to watch the movie to see what I mean. And when one such doctor, Dr. Mortimer Granville (Hugh Dancy), developed a crampy hand because of what he was doing, he actually invented something that could do the deed for him. This was the amusing part of the film.
However, this disease only provided the backdrop for a story of women's liberation of another sense. Maggie Gyllenhaal plays the thoroughly modern Ms. Charlotte Dalrymple, who was so ahead of her day when it comes to what women can do. Even her father, the prominent doctor of female hysteria of the day, Dr. Robert Dalrymple (Jonathan Price) could understand what was wrong with her! Her sister Emily (Felicity Jones) on the other hand, was the stereotypical Victorian female. This societal aspect gives the movie a broader meaning and more serious context. Rupert Everett is also there as Dr. Granville's inventor-friend who also had a hand in the birth of a "therapeutic" contraption that exists up to today in a vastly different context.
Because of the rather uncomfortable sexual nature of the hysteria therapy shown here, this movie is certainly not for everyone's sensibilities. If you can see beyond that however, the depiction of Victorian mores is highly interesting and provocative, especially in this particular subject matter that is generally unknown. The acting and execution of the screenplay is appropriately genteel and civilized despite the potentially raunchy topic. That said though, I still could not believe that this movie was actually based on true events.
I did not expect this movie to tackle this archaic medical meaning of Hysteria, but it did. It also showed us the therapeutic procedure doctors did in those days to manage women with hysteria. I could not believe that these women actually paid to have doctors do THAT! You have to watch the movie to see what I mean. And when one such doctor, Dr. Mortimer Granville (Hugh Dancy), developed a crampy hand because of what he was doing, he actually invented something that could do the deed for him. This was the amusing part of the film.
However, this disease only provided the backdrop for a story of women's liberation of another sense. Maggie Gyllenhaal plays the thoroughly modern Ms. Charlotte Dalrymple, who was so ahead of her day when it comes to what women can do. Even her father, the prominent doctor of female hysteria of the day, Dr. Robert Dalrymple (Jonathan Price) could understand what was wrong with her! Her sister Emily (Felicity Jones) on the other hand, was the stereotypical Victorian female. This societal aspect gives the movie a broader meaning and more serious context. Rupert Everett is also there as Dr. Granville's inventor-friend who also had a hand in the birth of a "therapeutic" contraption that exists up to today in a vastly different context.
Because of the rather uncomfortable sexual nature of the hysteria therapy shown here, this movie is certainly not for everyone's sensibilities. If you can see beyond that however, the depiction of Victorian mores is highly interesting and provocative, especially in this particular subject matter that is generally unknown. The acting and execution of the screenplay is appropriately genteel and civilized despite the potentially raunchy topic. That said though, I still could not believe that this movie was actually based on true events.