The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (film)
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| The Hand That Rocks the Cradle | |
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| Directed by | Curtis Hanson |
| Produced by | David Madden Robert W. Cort Ted Field Rick Jaffa |
| Written by | Amanda Silver |
| Starring | Annabella Sciorra Rebecca De Mornay Matt McCoy Ernie Hudson Julianne Moore |
| Music by | Graeme Revell |
| Cinematography | Robert Elswit |
| Editing by | John F. Link |
| Distributed by | Hollywood Pictures Interscope Pictures |
| Release date(s) | January 10, 1992 |
| Running time | 110 min |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
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.
[edit] Synopsis
[edit] Introduction
Annabella Sciorra stars as Claire Bartel, a woman who at the beginning of the film is pregnant with her second child. Claire is molested by her obstetrician, Dr. Victor Mott (played by John de Lancie), on a routine checkup. After Claire tells her husband Michael (played by Matt McCoy) about being sexually violated, the couple decide to confront the authorities regarding the incident. More women come forward to corroborate the Bartels' story. Feeling that his career is over, Dr. Mott commits suicide in his home when he hears about the possibility of criminal indictments and with them, possible imprisonment as a sex offender. After Dr. Mott's funeral, Mrs. Mott (DeMornay) was under considerable stress having suddenly lost her husband and facing the prospect of having her baby alone. When she learns that all of her husband's assets have been frozen and that she must move out of her husband's house, she miscarries her child. While recovering in the hospital, Mrs. Mott sees Claire Bartel's picture on the local news, Claire having been identified as the first woman to come forward with allegations against Dr. Mott. Mrs. Mott then begins planning her revenge.
[edit] Six months later
Six months later, Claire has since given birth to her son, Joey. The Bartels have hired Solomon (played by Ernie Hudson), a mentally handicapped worker placed by the "Better Day Society" to perform some handiwork (for example, building a new picket fence) around the house. 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.
[edit] The Bartels' new nanny
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 immediately begins breast-feeding Joey. Soon thereafter Joey will not take to Claire's breast.
[edit] Peyton begins her sabotage
Claire and Michael then have a dinner date with friends Marlene (played by Julianne Moore) and Marty Craven. 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.
Claire supposedly misplaces an important proposal of Michael's that was supposed to be sent via Federal Express. What really happened is that Peyton stole it out of Claire's purse and destroyed it. When she can't find the proposal, she has an asthma attack, and Peyton realizes she can use this to her advantage.
[edit] Peyton sets up Solomon
Peyton catches Solomon looking at her while breast-feeding Joey. In order to get rid of him, Peyton plants a pair of Emma's underwear in his utility cart and tells Claire that it seems as though "someone was bothering Emma". Claire finds the underwear while looking for batteries for Joey's baby monitor, which Peyton says has "conked out". Which was obviously another one of Peyton's lies to shame Solomon and ban him from the family forever.
[edit] The surprise party
Peyton decides to throw a surprise party for Claire's birthday, given that Claire has not been "herself" lately. Michael agrees and Peyton suggests letting Marlene help plan the party, knowing that Michael and Marlene were each other's "first" (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, 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 sleeping with Marlene. As Peyton plans, she does this while her living room is full of people — it's her surprise party.
[edit] Marlene finds out the truth about Peyton
After Peyton overhears Michael and Claire talking about taking a trip as a family (read: without Peyton), Peyton gets even more psychotic. She plans Claire's murder by waking up at dawn and propping open Claire's greenhouse windows with a shovel.
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.
[edit] Claire collapses
Peyton then releases all the gas from Claire's inhalers while Claire is at the botanical gardens. She then takes Joey for a walk. When Claire returns and sees Marlene's dead body, she has a severe asthma attack and collapses unconscious.
[edit] Claire discovers the truth
After recuperating, Claire finds the urgent phone message from Marlene in the pocket of the jeans she was wearing the day Marlene was killed. Claire goes to Marlene's office and inquires as to what Marlene was doing on that morning. She discovers the Mott house listing and goes to the actual house, which is open. Upon touring the house with the realtor, she puts two and two together and realizes that Peyton is Mrs. Mott.
[edit] Claire confronts Peyton
She goes home to find Michael and Peyton making dinner. She decks Peyton and tells her to get out of the house. Michael tells Claire to calm down, upon which Claire retorts, "You don't know what she's capable of!"
[edit] Peyton comes back (finale)
While pretending to leave, Peyton re-enters the house and hits Michael with a shovel, causing him to fall and break his legs. Emma takes Joey to the attic, where a waiting Solomon is there to help. After striking Solomon with a fireplace poker several times, Peyton moves to hit Claire, upon which Claire fakes an asthma attack. When Peyton turns her back, Claire lunges at Peyton, throwing her out the window, where she lands on the roof and falls to her death, impaled by the picket fence that Solomon built.
[edit] Trivia
- The movie takes place in Tacoma, Washington.
- The MLS listing for Dr. Mott's house lists the actual address of that actual house in the Magnolia neighborhood of Seattle.
- Baby Joey is played by triplets — one boy and two girls.
- The character of Marlene Craven was one of Julianne Moore's first big-screen roles.
- The movie features heavily the burlesque opera HMS Pinafore. This was inspired by screenwriter Amanda Silver's father being over obsessed with it.
- The daughter, Emma, was named after producer Rick Jaffa and screenwriter Amanda Silver's dog. Baby Joey was named after their son.
- The plot of the film has been parodied by The Simpsons' episode It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Marge.
- Jim Carrey did a parody of The Hand That Rocks the Cradle on In Living Color.
- MAD Magazine did a parody entitled The Ham That Robs The Cradle.
- In the scene where Claire enters the driveway after finding out the truth about Peyton, Solomon's bike can be seen behind the rubbish bins giving us the clue that he is at the house.
