Hysteria is a 2011 British period biographical romantic comedy film directed by Tanya Wexler. It stars Hugh Dancy and Maggie Gyllenhaal, with Felicity Jones, Jonathan Pryce, and Rupert Everett appearing in key supporting roles. The film, set in the Victorian era, shows how the medical management of hysteria led to the invention of the vibrator. Plot Set at the end of 1880, the film depicts the invention of the vibrator. Dr. Mortimer Granville (Hugh Dancy) is a young physician who has difficulty with his occupation due to constant arguments over modern medicine. He gets a job assisting Dr. Dalrymple (Jonathan Pryce), 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 (Felicity Jones), and her older sister Charlotte (Maggie Gyllenhaal), a premodern feminist who runs a settlement house in a poor section of London. Granville seems to be good at massaging, 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 (Ashley Jensen), 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 (Rupert Everett), 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 (Sheridan Smith), 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