Film

Hysteria

Name: Hysteria
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Released: 2011
Cast: Maggie Gyllenhaal, Hugh Dancy, Jonathan Pryce, Felicity Jones, Rupert Everett

Comedy
Light-hearted
Strange

A Victorian-era romantic comedy about the invention of the vibrator, told through the eyes of a progressive doctor and his unlikely partnership with a reluctant aristocrat. It's fizzy, deliberately anachronistic in its sensibilities, and deeply committed to the joke that history's most useful invention emerged from medical paternalism. For anyone who likes period comedy with genuine warmth underneath the cheekiness.

TMDb rating

3.4

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy gentle farce built on stiff Victorian manners, where the earnest scientific talk is the joke and the leads trade polite barbs with a straight face.

Skip it if you were hoping the bawdy subject would bite harder; the story stays light, and its romance and satire rarely push past a pleasant surface.

What it asks of you: A hundred easygoing minutes that hop from one polite set-piece to the next, light in tone and asking little more than a relaxed, attentive eye.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Bridgerton2020

Lush period romance with a modern sensibility, sharp banter, and genuine chemistry between leads. Like Hysteria, it understands that historical accuracy matters less than emotional truth and having fun.

But The show can feel overstuffed across seasons, and if you find the constant sexual tension exhausting rather than delightful, you'll check out.

The Favourite2018

Costumes, chaos, and lesbian desire in the court of Queen Anne. It's equally committed to period detail and subverting it, with the same wink-wink energy that Hysteria brings to medicine.

But The tonal shifts are jarring and intentional—it's willing to be ugly and grotesque in ways that might feel more unpleasant than funny.

Gentleman Jack2019

A lesbian landowner in 1832 Yorkshire navigates society, business, and desire with humor and genuine passion. Period romance that cares about its characters' actual lives, not just the will-they-won't-they.

But The pacing can meander, and if you need constant plot momentum, the domestic details will feel slow.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Hysteria

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Heartbeats2010

Both are about desire thwarted by social circumstances, but where Hysteria finds liberation through invention, Heartbeats finds poetry in the wound itself. One is optimistic, one is not, but both understand that desire is the engine of human connection.

A French-Canadian film about desire, obsession, and the pain of loving someone who doesn't love you back. It's romantic and devastating in equal measure, with a visual language that feels entirely fresh.

But The pacing is deliberately slow and the ending is genuinely sad—there's no comfort here, only the messy truth of wanting.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies2016

Jane Austen filtered through absurdist action-comedy, with the same anarchic energy and refusal to take period propriety seriously. It knows what it is and commits fully.

But The tonal whiplash between romance and gore doesn't always land; it can feel like two films awkwardly stitched together.

The Knick2014

Medical drama set in 1900 New York, gorgeously shot and populated with brilliant doctors doing impossible things. It takes the medical innovation angle seriously while maintaining dark wit.

But It's far grittier and more violent than Hysteria, and the hospital politics can feel repetitive across seasons.

A Thousand Acres1997

Michelle Pfeiffer and Jessica Lange in a darkly comic reimagining of King Lear set on an Iowa farm. Smart period-ish piece about power, desire, and women's agency in male-dominated spaces.

But The tonal shifts between comedy and tragedy are disorienting, and some viewers find the heavy subject matter at odds with the lighter moments.

She Loves Me2016

A warm, witty romance about two pen pals who don't realize they know each other. It's pure period charm with genuine emotional depth, and the banter is excellent.

But If you're looking for plot complexity or dramatic stakes, this is resolutely about the pleasure of watching two people fall in love. That's all it offers.

Crimson Peak2015

Gothic romance with Tom Hiddleston as a charming, dangerous aristocrat. Stunning production design and a genuine love story at its core, even as the atmosphere turns sinister.

But The plot becomes increasingly convoluted in the final act, and the supernatural elements feel tacked on rather than integral.

Midnight in Paris2011

A love letter to Paris and the romance of the past, with genuine laughs and a cast that seems to be having tremendous fun. Warmth and whimsy in equal measure.

But The nostalgia can feel cloying, and the message about accepting the present over romanticizing the past undermines the film's own enchantment.

Masters of Sex2013

Same era, same territory of medical science meeting human sexuality, but with the irony stripped away. Hysteria makes a comedy of women's sexual agency; Masters of Sex shows what it actually cost, and still costs, to study it honestly.

A prestige drama about the real-life sex researchers William Masters and Virginia Johnson, filmed with terrifying honesty about desire, medicine, and gender. Maggie Gyllenhaal's co-star Hugh Dancy leads this with extraordinary vulnerability.

But It's relentlessly serious and often uncomfortable—there are no jokes, and the sexual dysfunction and shame depicted can be genuinely difficult to watch.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire2019

Both are about women's desires and pleasures in eras that tried to deny them, but where Hysteria is playful and solution-oriented, this film is melancholic and resigned to loss. It's what Hysteria would become if it took itself entirely seriously and stopped laughing.

A French period film about an artist and her sitter falling in love over the course of a single summer in the 18th century. Achingly tender, visually sumptuous, and one of the finest portraits of desire ever filmed.

But Almost nothing happens; it's entirely interior and emotional. If you need plot or dialogue-driven narrative, this will feel glacial and frustrating.