Hysteria review

You'd think it'd be a tall order to make a film about vibrators that’s completely devoid of eroticism, but director Tanya Wexler has just about pulled it off.

Twee, feather-light and determinedly quaint, Hysteria centres on the mostly true story of an idealistic doctor (Hugh Dancy) who invents the first vibrator as a means of managing ‘hysterical’ (read: sexually frustrated) housewives.

Maggie Gyllenhaal’s feisty turn almost saves it, but it’s tough to imagine what the audience for this will be – too unsexy for a date movie, too much fingering for a see-with-your-mum movie.