However, Mortimer (Hugh Dancy) meets his match in the wildly independent and vivacious Charlotte Dalrymple, played by Maggie Gyllenhaal. The 34-year-old actress, who recently gave birth to a second baby girl, spoke to The Huffington Post about the film’s message, women’s rights and the kind of sex scenes that resonate. Just like Charlotte, Gyllenhaal is spirited, funny and a delight.

This movie is like Jane Austen with sex toys.
(Laughs) I think that’s what sort of works about it. It’s naturally funny. You have everyone in Victorian England being afraid to show an ankle and then at the same time there are doctors making women [have orgasms] in their offices. The fact that it actually happened is one of those things that’s naturally funny.

I did love that it touched on more serious topics, such as women’s rights.
The way I’ve been thinking about this is, it’s a romantic comedy; there’s lightness about it, there’s a clever pleasure about watching it. Can it hold a really heavy political agenda? No, but it can hold something.

Do you find it depressing that the movie talks about women’s rights over their bodies and over 100 years later we’re still talking about that?
I’m very involved in Planned Parenthood. I’m shocked at how politicized women’s rights over their bodies have become, particularly in this election again, more than 100 years later.

I went to an event a few months ago and usually I try not to talk to the paparazzi magazines. I feel like it’s the only power I have over them. I was doing some interviews and somebody asked me what I thought about Gaddafi and I looked down at the ground and saw they were from Hollywood Gossip Life or something like that and I thought, “You know what? I don’t want to talk about this here because it’s the wrong place.” The substance of what I think about, that is not going to be printed. But one thing I can say — that you can say to anybody and that anybody can get — is that women should have rights over their bodies. I can say it to anybody; I don’t care who hears it or how they write it. It’s not a political issue, as far as I’m concerned.

You seem to do quality projects. Do you ever get offered schlock?
I don’t know if they [don't] offer it to me because they think I won’t be interested or they’re not interested (Laughs). Sometimes, yes, I read things and think, “This is terrible, I couldn’t possibly do this.” I guess maybe because of the recession a lot of the big movie studios have been making movies not about anything and I’m not so interested in that and to be honest, they don’t seem to be so interested in me.

Charlotte is such a great role. She’s not just the “girlfriend” role.
It’s true that she’s the heart, the life. I think what was the most fun about it and the reason I decided to do the movie was I thought it doesn’t really serve this movie to have a really historically accurate portrayal of a Victorian suffragette; it’s not the point of this movie. The politics that Charlotte gets to talk about are extremely simple, expressed in a very simple way and I thought the way to make the movie better and make her more interesting is to have her be as wild as possible, like she could be from another planet. She just has to be so full of life that she’s going to burst. I thought that would be fun to try to do.

The movie opens with a montage of women having orgasms. Aren’t you glad you didn’t have to do that?
No, I didn’t have to do any vibrator stuff and wasn’t around when it was filmed, so I was surprised when I saw the film. I loved being surprised by the response of the audience. Everyone was kind of flushed or a little hysterical. We’re not used to, me included, seeing women have orgasms and use vibrators.

That’s what I’m interested in. I think the film is a really interesting way to explore the realities of sex from a woman’s point of view and if you can do that — when I’ve done it and when I’ve seen it — I think it’s so much more erotic than the kind of, “put on a Victoria’s Secret black demi-bra, be lit perfectly and arch your back” way. I mean that will do something for some people, but it’s not the same as watching a sex scene where you go, “Wow, these people are communicating and they’re actually having sex that reminds me of the way that I have sex.”

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Is it hard to balance work and motherhood?

“That’s constantly on my mind. When do I sacrifice? When do I ask the child to sacrifice? It’s really hard. I haven’t done that perfectly. I don’t think you really can. Peter said to me the other day, ‘How are either of us ever going to work?’ We haven’t quite figured out how this is going to work, but we will.”

Will you have more kids?

“I don’t know. I think I’ll start with two and see how it goes.”

Do you have a mom’s group in Brooklyn, where you live?

“Most of my girlfriends now have kids. I was pretty young when I had Ramona [28]. I was the first of most of my friends and now all of them have lapped me. I think for me this was the way to do it. We’ll see how it goes.”

Your new movie – about the invention of the vibrator – is a quirky choice. What attracted you to the movie?

“I was curious how that could make for a movie. Honestly, the script was really excellent. The movie was very much like it, quick-witted and well-crafted. And I really like [her character]. She’s a whirlwind. I thought the thing to do with her was to let her be from another planet, as wild as possible.”

You’ve filmed an HBO pilot based on Jonathan Franzen’s best seller The Corrections. Did you read it before?

“I am a book reader, [but] I didn’t read it until they asked me to. I have a hard time reading anything that isn’t fiction, including the news. It’s easier for me sometimes to listen to it.”

Do you have a pile of books next to your bed that you try to get through?

“I’ve been finishing all of them for some reason. Pregnant, I’ve just been reading so much. Usually, I have one book I’m slogging through. You know what it was? Peter was away shooting a movie in L.A. He would come back and forth, but I would have a lot of my nights free because I’d be too tired to go out and meet a friend, but not tired enough to go to sleep at 8 o’clock. So I’d do a lot of reading.”

Are you reading them in book form or do you have an iPad or book reader?

“I have an iPad that I read on, but if I’m not traveling, I really prefer reading in the real book form. I feel like I’m looking at my phone all day.”

Are you a TV watcher?

“Peter and I both got into Enlightened. I love Laura Dern and the weird mix of people on that show. You know what else I love? Downton Abbey. I’m obsessed.”

Do you have hidden talents?

“I make really good salad dressing. Lemon, vinegar, salt and pepper. I think I’ve really mastered it.”

Is this the life you had planned when you were younger and imagining your future?

“So much when you’re growing up of what you imagine really is fantasy. So much about getting older and living your life is about finding the reality inside that’s very, very different than the fantasy.”

Does your brother [actor Jake Gyllenhaal] feel like he should be [having kids]?

“You have to ask him. He was pretty young [24] when I started. I had Ramona when I was 28, I liked that actually, although there was so much I didn’t know which I guess is true whenever you do it.”

Are you committed to raising your family in New York?

“I’ve been here since I was 17. [She was born in New York but raised in Los Angeles.] And I came to college here [she has a bachelor’s in English from Columbia University]. I lived in such a different way then, and I thought I’d be here forever, and anybody who left was wimping out. But now I think, ‘Wow, what a different life we could have if we lived in Northern California or anywhere. I dream about living in Paris. But now our daughter’s in school, happy, really got a life. I wouldn’t say I’ve found our home that we’re going to be in forever; we’re still figuring it out.”

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Parenthood just became twice as nice for Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard.

The couple welcomed their second child, daughter Gloria Ray, on April 19 in New York City, a rep for Gyllenhaal tells the Daily News.

This is the second child for the “Hysteria” actress, 34, and the “Lovelace” actor, 41, who are already parents to daughter Ramona, 5. The couple, together since 2002, wed in Italy in 2009.

Pregnancy proved to be somewhat of a challenge for Gyllenhaal when it came time to be in the spotlight.

“I find it difficult to pretend you’re not pregnant, which I had to do,” she told USA Today in March. “I didn’t let anyone know until three and a half months this time.

“I went to film festivals. I’m throwing up in the bathroom and having to keep pretzels in my purse, and having to fit into dresses.”

Sarsgaard, on the other hand, had other concerns on his mind. Namely, how he was going to prepare Ramona for their growing family.

“I’ve seen kids with siblings — I don’t have any siblings, so I don’t know — but they generally go for about five minutes, ‘Oh, cool! Anyway, what are we going to do now? Can we return it?’” he told reporters in February. “I think it gets boring quickly, at first, and it takes a while for them to bond.”

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Gallery Links:
Movie Productions > 2011 – Hysteria > Promotional Stills

“We keep calling it the thinking woman’s romantic comedy,” says Wexler, “but it’s supposed to be fun. A lot of people ask what’s the message in the movie? It’s supposed to be fun. It doesn’t take a doctor to do it.” Determined to bring light-heartedness to the set, Wexler gifted every arriving cast and crew member with a vibrator. “You could tell some of the crew guys were confused about what to do with it,” she says with a laugh. “I told them to give it to their wives.”

Hysteria screens at next week’s Tribeca Film Festival and opens in select theaters on May 18.

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Gallery Links:
Photoshoots from 2010 > Shoot 010
Photoshoots from 2008 > Shoot 002 (Updated 1)
Photoshotos from 2002 > Shoot 010 (Updated 3)
Unknown Years > Shoot 001 (Updated 3)
Unknown Years > Shoot 013
Unknown Years > Shoot 014
Unknown Years > Shoot 015

Gallery Links:
Candids from 2012 > 05.04.12 – Out For A Stroll With Jake In New York City

The actress is expecting a second daughter later this year. She’ll join big sister Ramona, 5.

“I’m so pregnant,” says Gyllenhaal, 34, while promoting her May release Hysteria. “This is a great, loose, black outfit — I had to take my shoes off.”

Gyllenhaal attended various premieres while secretly expecting her second child, not an easy feat for her.

“I find it difficult to pretend you’re not pregnant, which I had to do. I didn’t let anyone know until three and a half months this time. I went to film festivals. I’m throwing up in the bathroom and having to keep pretzels in my purse, and having to fit into dresses,” she says.

Gyllenhaal and hubby Peter Sarsgaard don’t plan on selling any baby photos, and Gyllenhaal won’t reveal her due date to preserve her privacy and not tip off the press.

“I hope they don’t make an issue of it this time,” says Gyllenhaal. “I have to think about that stuff.”

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