Hysteria (2011)

This is a very enjoyable film, which I recommend, but with one reservation.  If you want to avoid discussing sexual satisfaction, do not watch this movie with a broad audience.  At least be aware that any discussion of the movie will inevitably drift into the arena of how poorly female sexuality was understood.  The very real history is that “female genital manipulation” was a medically employed technique for centuries—and it was not envisioned as a remedy for lack of sexual satisfaction.  Hard to believe (although almost every movie out of Hollywood with a sex scene ignores foreplay as well as safe sex, so maybe we aren’t as far along as we would like to think).

The story is about Mortimer Granville (aptly played by the ever charming Hugh Dancy), who has a private practice that consists of treating hysteria by bringing women to orgasm manually in an office based setting.  The story in the movie, which diverges from what really happened, is that he is so successful that he develops some sort of carpal tunnel syndrome and becomes unable to perform professionally.  In the movie version of the true story, Granville’s benefactor develops a devise that he envisions as a mechanical feather duster, but Granville modifies as a vibrator, and the rest is history—the most successful sex toy to date. 

The unwelcome voice of reason in the story is Charlotte Dalrymple (Maggie Gylenhaal) who states what seems obvious.  The Emperor has no clothes.  Women are sexually frustrated by inept lovers or the inability to self-satisfy, and that is the number one issue.  A medical intervention is both unwarranted and a less than satisfactory solution.  The vibrator gave Victorian women control over their destiny, even if they had a poor understanding of how they came to be in that situation—and that is a very good thing indeed.