The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (film)

The Hand That Rocks the Cradle
The Hand That Rocks the Cradle
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Curtis Hanson
Written by	Amanda Silver
Produced by	David Madden
Starring	Annabella Sciorra; Rebecca De Mornay; Matt McCoy; Ernie Hudson; Julianne Moore; Madeline Zima
Cinematography	Robert Elswit
Edited by	John F. Link
Music by	Graeme Revell
Production; company	Interscope Pictures
Distributed by	Hollywood Pictures
Release dates	January 10, 1992
Running time	110 min
Country	United States
Language	English

The Hand That Rocks the Cradle is a 1992 thriller starring Rebecca De Mornay as a vengeful nanny out to destroy a naïve woman and steal her family. The film was directed by Curtis Hanson. The original music score was composed by Graeme Revell.

Synopsis

Annabella Sciorra stars as Claire Bartel, a woman who is pregnant with her second child. On a routine checkup, Claire is molested by her obstetrician, Dr. Victor Mott (played by John de Lancie). Claire tells her husband Michael (played by Matt McCoy) about being sexually violated and the couple decide to report to the authorities. More women come forward to corroborate the Bartels' story. Dr. Mott commits suicide in his home when he hears about the possibility of criminal indictments and with them, imprisonment as a sex offender.

Mrs. Mott (Rebecca De Mornay) is under considerable stress having suddenly lost her husband and facing the prospect of having her baby alone. When she learns that her husband's assets have been frozen and that she must move out of her husband's house, she miscarries her child with complications resulting in an emergency hysterectomy. Recovering in the hospital, Mrs. Mott sees Claire Bartel's picture on the local news. The program identifies Claire as the first woman to come forward with allegations against Dr. Mott.

Claire gives birth to a boy, Joey. The Bartels have hired Solomon (played by Ernie Hudson), a mentally handicapped worker to perform some handiwork around the house, such as building a new picket fence. One morning, Claire is running after her daughter Emma's (played by Madeline Zima) school bus because she forgot to give Emma her jacket. Luckily, the school bus is stopped by Mrs. Mott, now using the alias Peyton Flanders. Peyton asks Claire if she knows where the Bartels live, and Claire responds that she is Claire Bartel. Peyton says she'd heard that the Bartels were looking for a nanny, and Claire agrees to interview her on the spot.

Of course, Peyton turns out to be the perfect candidate for the Bartels' new nanny. She is hired after deliberately placing the back of one of Claire's earrings (which was constantly falling off) into baby Joey's mouth and feigning the baby's rescue from potentially choking.

The night Peyton moves in, she slips into Joey's room, apparently intending to smother him with a pillow. But after looking at him and thinking of the child she lost, she instead breast-feeds Joey, who, thereafter, will not take to his own mother's milk.

Claire and Michael then have a dinner date with friends Marlene (played by Julianne Moore) and Marty Craven (played by someone less important than Julianne Moore). Peyton notices a sexy red dress that Claire is wearing lying on the bed and unknown to Claire, she decides to ruin it by rubbing a perfume stain on it, forcing Claire to wear a far less attractive dress. Marlene tells Claire that she should never let another woman take such a powerful position within her home. She then utters the line, "The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world." The line is part of a poem by William Ross Wallace.

Meanwhile, Peyton lets Emma stay up late and watch Horror movies on the condition that she keeps it a secret. In return, Emma shares her own secret with Peyton: that she is being bullied by a kid at school named Roth and that if she told, she'd be "dead meat".

The next day, Peyton takes Joey out for a stroll in the park when a woman mistakes the child for her own and says that he has her eyes. Peyton plays along, of course.

Next, Peyton stops off at Emma's school and threatens Roth that if he doesn't leave Emma alone she'll "rip his fucking head off".

Peyton steals an important proposal of Michael's that was supposed to be sent via Federal Express from Claire's purse while they are at the botannical garden. She then goes into a bathroom and trashes the stall and the proposal. When Claire can't find the proposal, she has an asthma attack, and Peyton realizes she can use this to her advantage.

Later, Peyton catches Solomon looking at her while breast-feeding Joey. In order to get rid of him, Peyton plants a pair of Emma's panties in his utility cart and tells Claire that she has observed some behavior that seems inappropriate between Solomon and Emma. Claire finds the planted panties while looking for batteries for Joey's baby monitor, which Peyton says has "conked out". Solomon is subsequently fired (for allegedly "touching" Emma), and Emma asks Peyton what happened. Peyton tells her that "Mommy doesn't want him around anymore". Emma, who has grown close to Peyton during this time, responds with "I hate her."

Peyton suggests that Michael throws a surprise party for Claire's birthday, saying that Claire has not been "herself" lately, and was feeling down since losing the proposal. Michael agrees and Peyton suggests letting Marlene help plan the party, knowing that Michael and Marlene were each other's "first loves" (information that she gleaned from Emma).

Peyton steals Marlene's lighter out of her purse after Marlene and Claire have lunch. Later, Peyton plants it in Michael's coat pocket. When Michael meets Marlene for dinner to plan the surprise party, Peyton goads Claire on, saying, "I wonder where Michael is." Claire calls Michael's lab, but he, of course, is nowhere to be found.

Claire then finds Marlene's lighter in Michael's coat pocket when taking the coat to the cleaners. Claire rushes home and accuses Michael of infidelity, screaming that he's been "fucking Marlene" the whole time. As Peyton planned, she does this while her living room is full of people — it's her surprise party, which is now ruined.

After Peyton overhears Michael and Claire talking about taking a trip as a family (without Peyton), Peyton gets even more psychotic. She plans Claire's murder by waking up at dawn and propping open Claire's greenhouse ceiling with a shovel by the door.

Meanwhile, Marlene, a real estate agent, has discovered Dr. Mott's house listed for sale, and the windchimes hanging off the balcony just happen to be the same windchimes Peyton gave Claire upon her arrival at the Bartel house. Marlene, frantic, rushes over to the Bartel house to warn Claire. Peyton, having been unmasked as Dr. Mott's widow, tells Marlene that Claire is in the greenhouse. Marlene rushes out to the greenhouse and opens the door, sealing her doom as glass falls from the rigged greenhouse ceiling, killing her.

After emptying all of Claire's medicinal inhalers while Claire is at the botanical gardens, Peyton takes Joey for a walk. When Claire returns and sees Marlene's dead body, she has a severe asthma attack and collapses unconscious after calling the police.

After recuperating, Claire finds an urgent phone message from Marlene in the pocket of her jeans. She returns home to find that Peyton has redecorated baby Joey's room. Claire goes to Marlene's office and inquires as to what Marlene was doing on the morning of her death. She discovers the Mott house listing. Upon touring the house with the realtor she visits the nursery, which is identical to hers. She realizes that Peyton is Mrs. Mott.

Claire returns home and finds Michael and Peyton preparing dinner. Claire walks up to Peyton and punches her on the nose with great force, sending her flying. Claire tells Michael that Peyton is Dr. Mott's widow. Michael orders Peyton to leave the house at once.

Peyton re-enters the house and hits Michael with a shovel. He falls down the stairs and breaks his legs. After hitting Claire over the head, she finds Emma and asks where Joey is. Emma lies. Peyton goes to get him and Emma locks her in the room. Emma gets Joey and takes him to the attic, where she finds Solomon. Peyton bashes the door open with a fire poker. She hears the baby crying and goes up to the attic to discover Solomon helping Emma out of the window. Peyton orders Solomon to give Joey to her, but he refuses. Claire, armed with a kitchen knife, enters and tells Peyton to leave them alone. Peyton moves to hit Claire, who fakes an asthma attack. When Peyton turns back to Solomon, Claire pushes Peyton out a window and Peyton is fatally impaled on the fence beneath.

The fight having finished, Marlene then reincarnates as a newborn child and grows up to one day write a very long winded and meandering Wikipedia article about the film plot, which painstakingly details every scene except (curiously) the final scene. It was rumoured that Payton is responsible for the article lacking mention of the film's critical reception or production history (that tricky bitch).

DVD Release

The Hand That Rocks the Cradle was released on DVD on December 8, 1998. The film was presented in its original widescreen aspect ratio, approximately 1.85.1. The only special feature included on the DVD is the film's original Theatrical Trailer.

External links

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