Hysteria

Set in Victorian England, a forward thinking physician teams up with a charismatic advocate for women to treat a cluster of private complaints that society keeps quiet. What starts as a discreet medical approach evolves into a public discussion about female health, privacy, and the boundaries of science. Their unorthodox methods attract doctors, journalists and the class conscious public, turning a clinical experiment into a cultural issue. The evolving partnership tests professional ethics and personal loy loyalties as ambition, romance and propriety collide. The film stays buoyant and witty while hinting that a single idea can shift how medicine is practiced and how women are understood in a changing world.

Directed by Tanya Wexler and written by Jonah Lisa Dyer, Stephen Dyer, and Howard Gensler, Hysteria arrives as a period comedy romance that plays with historical debates about female health and medical invention. The production blends lavish interiors, brisk banter, and careful period detail to keep the tone playful while probing serious ideas. Starring Maggie Gyllenhaal and Hugh Dancy, the film grounds its humor in strong performances and a sense of era specific social tension.

Critics greeted the film with mixed reviews, praising the performances of Maggie Gyllenhaal and Hugh Dancy, and noting the film's buoyant tempo. Viewers are invited to reflect on how gender, class, and power shape medicine, while the romance plot gives the story a human center. The satirical edge lands in smart jabs at propriety and progress.

The movie sparked conversations about the history of female sexuality and medical care, offering a lighthearted entry into a topic that has often been discussed in hushed tones. By pairing humor with social history, it helped audiences see how cultural norms reshape scientific inquiry and patient experience in the late Victorian era.

There are no major awards listed for Hysteria, and the film did not register significant nominations in the major circuits. It found a place among genre offerings and festival lineups, but did not become a standout awards favorite.