BLU-RAY
REVIEW: HYSTERIA
9/16/12
OVERVIEW: In an age of invention, one man set out to find a medical cure for what ails women … and accidentally electrified our love lives forever. Coming to Blu-rayTM and DVD September 18th from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, HYSTERIA is a lighthearted, romantic comedy that tells the surprising story of the birth of the electro-mechanical vibrator at the very peak of Victorian prudishness. Hugh Dancy (Adam, Confessions of a Shopaholic, The Jane Austen Book Club) and Academy Award® nominee Maggie Gyllenhaal (Best Supporting Actress, Crazy Heart, 2009) lead an accomplished cast, including Jonathan Pryce (Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Evita), Felicity Jones (Like Crazy, Brideshead Revisited), Rupert Everett (My Best Friend’s Wedding, The Importance of Being Earnest) and Ashley Jensen (TV’s “Ugly Betty”) and in this charming yet irreverent untold tale of discovery. Special features on the Blu-ray and DVD include deleted scenes, commentary with Director Tanya Wexler, a Q&A with Tanya Wexler, Hugh Dancy and Jonathan Pryce, as well as two additional featurettes, including a behind-the-scenes look at the making of HYSTERIA.
SYNOPSIS:
HYSTERIA is a romantic comedy wrapped around the surprising story of the first electro-mechanical vibrator, invented by happenstance at a time when the very peak of Victorian prudishness coincided with the dawn of the electrical age.
London. 1880. Dr. Mortimer Granville (Dancy) is torn between the “proper” doctor’s staid and static world of success and acceptance and a more progressive and fulfilling, but frowned upon, experience. Tossed out for his forward-thinking ideas by the medical establishment, Granville finds a position with Dr. Robert
Dalrymple, a highly respected and successful doctor, with a very popular private practice specializing in treating women diagnosed with Hysteria. Indeed, the good doctor’s waiting room is never quiet.
In his new position, Dalrymple finds Granville a proper suitor for his beloved daughter Emily, the epitome of “English virtue and womanliness,” with her lovely face, demure manner and artistic and intellectual accomplishments, but it is the elder daughter Charlotte
(Gyllenhaal), a firebrand social reformer, arguing passionately for women’s rights to be educated, vote, and live independent lives that secretly excites him. Although Granville is somewhat shocked by Charlotte’s lack of propriety, he feels kinship with her conviction to help those in need. They snipe at each other’s views, but he earns her grudging respect when he treats a poor settlement house woman with a broken ankle.
“Hysteria” is a tale of a cautious man (Dancy) and a liberated woman (Gyllenhaal) brought together by the wonders of friction.
BLU-RAY:
The film is
presented in 1080P widescreen in a 2.35:1 aspect ration
preserving its theatrical format. The picture is just
flawless. Not only the picture looks great in
this release, also the sound it is good, a 5.1 DTS-HD Master
Audio (48kHz/24bit) in English that provides a
good complement to the picture. It also includes Hindi
subtitles.
VIDEO:
2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen 1080P
AUDIO:
English 5.1 DTS-HD Master
Audio Dolby Digital
Subtitles - English
Hindi
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Deleted scenes
Commentary with Director Tanya Wexler
An Evening with Tanya Wexler, Hugh Dancy and Jonathan Pryce
Featurettes:
o Hysteria: Behind the Scenes
o Passion & Power: The Technology of Orgasm
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