Hysteria Film Review: Moody Paranoid Thriller

Hysteria is a slow burn thriller about film industry racism that doesn’t stick the landing but thrills as a piece of atmosphere.

Elif is half-Turkish, (as is Lingnau herself), and ambitious, and eager-to-please. She spends her time quietly, standing in the back of a movie set or working with footage on a laptop. She looks. Hysteria is told through looks; it shifts and reappraises itself as Elif reacts, silently, mentally, to what she observes. 

The plot of Hysteria is set off when the director of the fictional movie, Yigit (Serkan Kaya), burns an actual Quran for a sequence. A group of Muslim men being used as extras in the movie object to the act of blasphemy, questioning the reasoning behind such verisimilitude. Yigit is immediately defensive, protesting that though he is not Muslim, as a Turk this is his story to tell, and it is being told in the name of political provocation, making any accusations of racism ridiculous.

The production is thrown into chaos. Threats are made on both sides. Elif is caught in the middle, surrounded by hidden agendas, gaslighting, aggressions both micro and macro, and the unexplained. Someone is sneaking into Elif’s apartment while she is asleep, but all that her laptop camera can capture is a pair of demonic white eyes. Things begin to disappear from Elif’s care; at first it’s small things, but it progresses to the film canisters containing the footage of the burning Quran. The prime suspect seems to be Elif and her supposed incompetence. 

While watching Hysteria, I was reminded of the movies of Alan J. Pakula, in particular Klute. Both films are permeated with a feeling of voyeurism. Characters are constantly checking over their shoulder, and as a viewer you feel you should be doing so as well. As a director, Büjükatalay displays a great handle on tone, creating a sense of unease and mystery as hand-held camera shots stare at the back of the character’s heads, rooms are swallowed up in shadows, Elif’s hands tremble, and a droning hum throbs over the soundtrack. It’s all very atmospheric. 

The problem is that the atmosphere is all just window-dressing. Scenes are unnerving when taken on their own, such as the appearance of the demonic white eyes on Elif’s computer screen, but the movie does a poor job establishing what the threat is beyond our heroine losing her job. Other characters are worrying about racism making Elif, our main character’s, concerns about her career seem rather pale in comparison. These relatively small stakes mitigate the impact of the suspense when looking back on the movie. In the 1970s filmmakers made thrillers in order to discuss the paranoid political climate, Büjükatalay uses the thriller genre as a cover for a discussion of racism and islamophobia in the entertainment industry. He never successfully blends together the two storytelling modes, using one to inform and enhance the other, which is a shame because he shows a talent for creating tension and atmosphere. 

While watching Hysteria I was captivated, taken away by the slow-burning tension and Lingnau’s mysterious performance. I am a fan of 70s paranoid thrillers and the aesthetic resemblance intrigued me. Hysteria conveys its ideas on entertainment industry racism with palpable anger and passion; the problems arise as it seems frustrated at having to be a “silly thriller” and not a “serious drama.”

Hysteria premiered at the Berlin Film Festival on February 15, 2025. Read our Berlin Film Festival reviews!