Hysteria 2012

Set at the end of 1880, the film depicts the invention of the vibrator. Dr. Mortimer Granville is a young physician who has difficulty with his occupation due to constant arguments over modern medicine. He gets a job assisting Dr. Dalrymple, whose practice specializes in the treatment of “hysteria”, a popular diagnosis for women of that time. Medical practitioners like Dr. Dalrymple tried to manage hysteria by massaging the genital area, decently covered under a curtain, to elicit “paroxysmal convulsions”, without recognizing that they were inducing orgasms. Granville meets Dr. Dalrymple’s daughters, Emily, and her older sister Charlotte – a premodern feminist who runs a settlement house in a poor section of East London.

Granville seems to be good at massaging and getting a sizeable following, while at the same time, Dr. Dalrymple suggests he might eventually take over the business and marry Emily. One night after work, Charlotte comes in with her friend Fannie, who has broken her ankle. After he helps treat her, Dalrymple forbids Granville from offering any future assistance to Charlotte, hoping to dissuade her from her work in the slums. Meanwhile, the increased clientele at the practice is hard on Granville, and his hand musculature is unable to keep up with the task; an attack of cramp results in his dismissal. Fortunately, his friend, Lord Edmund St. John-Smythe, has developed an electrical feather duster, and its vibrations give Dr. Granville the idea of modifying the gadget for use as an electric massager. After successfully using it on the Dalrymple’s maid Molly, he persuades Dr. Dalrymple to try the device on his patients, resulting in massive success. Mortimer and Emily then become engaged, while Charlotte struggles with supporting the welfare house.

At the engagement party, Charlotte is arrested while protecting Fannie from a police officer. Emily and Dr. Dalrymple urge Granville to testify at her trial that she is hysterical in order to prevent her from being sent to prison. During the trial, the prosecutor recommends that Charlotte be sent to a sanatorium and be forced to undergo a hysterectomy. As Mortimer speaks, he explains that the symptoms of hysteria are too common to be regarded as a mental illness and that he himself believes that Charlotte is the most generous and caring person he knows. The judge agrees with Mortimer’s argument, and Charlotte is sentenced to just thirty days in prison for her assault on the policeman.

Emily decides to end her engagement with Granville after realising her only motive was to please her father. The vibrator now enters the stage as a medical device for to treat the condition, reducing treatment time while greatly increasing customer satisfaction. The royalties from its sale result in independent wealth for Granville, who has fallen in love with Charlotte. Pledging to use some of his wealth to establish a clinic at her settlement house, he proposes marriage to Charlotte and she accepts.