La main qui berce l'enfant

The Hand That Rocks The Cradle is a very solid thriller thanks to naturalism and realism. This is one of the best thrillers ever made, and it's just too bad it did not get the attention and praise it deserves. For one thing, we've seen many thrillers that lacked realism while some were not thrilling at all.

HTRTC has it all. A solid story, solid cast, good directing and best of all, a high level of realism. The story can actually happen to any family in America, or anywhere in the world. The cast is great, and even though there's basically no "big name phenomenon" (well, Julian Moore's now very popular but not yet here) in this film, the performances are very good. In fact, great! Rebecca De Mornay, who's young and very beautiful in this film, has the best performance as the smart-beautiful-deadly Peyton. She's very convincing as both wife and nanny, as well as temptress and killer!

Take note of some of the "sinful scenes" in this movie. Some scenes can be very disturbing (not disgusting) but if you're matured enough, then you'll get over this movie well. The "sinful scenes" do make a wake-up call in your family life. Heck, better watch out for those evil nannies!

I highly recommend watching this movie, even though it does not have any big superstardom at all. No special effects, no high tech gimmicks, no big super stars, just a great story to watch. What are you waiting for? Put your Hand on the Cradle and Rock!

This is a chilling movie to spend a day or night with. Mrs. Moss (Rebecca De Mornay) seeks revenge on Claire Bartel (Annabella Sciorra) for reporting her husband Dr. Moss for sexual harassment, which lead to the doctor's suicide and precipitating Moss' miscarriage. She poses as nanny Peyton for the Bartel family, with the intention of raising hell.

Rebecca De Mornay gave an outrageously evil performance. The plot is solid and fast-paced; the only problem I have is the method Claire used to interview Peyton for the nanny position. She only asked Peyton, "How did you become to be a nanny?" leaving out relevant questions like health, personal background, prior jobs, resumes, way with kids, etc. Other than that, I enjoyed watching this movie and especially liked Julianne Moore's character, with her making smart, acid wit remarks. I especially liked her line "You have a Harvard education, make something up."

Overall, a great mystery movie with some good action mixed in.

Grade A

This domestic thriller was a box-office hit despite its mid-level marquee pull and is entertaining and delivers plenty of suspense and shocks along the way. A vengeful widow who has lost her husband to a suicide and suffers a miscarriage plans to get even with the woman who caused the trouble by filing a sexual molestation suit against her husband. Rebecca de Mornay is the evil nanny who plots her revenge with relish, her satisfaction obvious as her plans begin to bear fruit. The nanny is not swayed by the innocence of the young girl or the newborn baby she is hired to care for and intends to destroy the entire family. Naturally, the parents are clueless as to what is going on until much later, while de Mornay methodically turns the household into her own domain, holding it in a grip of fear. Annabella Sciorra is the wife and mother who confronts de Mornay in the final moments. Graeme Revell contributes a nice music score.

When people see horror movies that really effect them, they lock themselves away. Now someone can pick the lock. This is a fairly good movie that really hits home. I admit it is extremely similar to "Fatal Attraction" but I like this movie better. This time it seems Peyton is a little more evil than Alex and she has a better motive. Peyton is a nanny, she is to take care of Emily and Joe, she has different plans in mind. The acting is pretty good, the characters are well developed and it is a nice, cozy little horror you care rely on when nothing is on TV. I have to say in a way, it reminds me of "Rosemary's Baby". This time though, it is the one who rocks the cradle that is corrupt.

The Hand that Rocks the Cradle is the cornerstone of the trashy chick flick sub-genre. Many films since have used the same formula that makes this one a success, and most have failed. The reason this film is almost a resounding success has nothing to do with the plot or characters, however, it's the way that director Curtis Hanson handles it. The man who would go on to find acclaim with the astounding L.A. Confidential directs with the utmost still, and while there are few absolutely shocking sequences in this film; you would be forgiven for thinking otherwise due to the way that Hanson handles every scene. The movie leaves a lot of room for suspense, and every instant is made the best of by the director. The plot seems rather routine these days (and it probably did back in 1992), as we see a good all-American family hire the 'perfect' babysitter. She's not quite so perfect, however, and as we watch her pull down the family she's supposed to be helping from within, this becomes abundantly clear.

One thing that makes this film hard to like for some people is the fact that almost every motivation in the film is extremely unlikely. Would you hire a babysitter who apparently 'just knew' you wanted one? Wouldn't you become suspicious when everything started going wrong after you hired her? The list goes on, it really does, and it would seem that writer Amanda Silver just wanted to portray certain plots and didn't care too much how the characters fit into them. It's also obvious that the script was written by a woman throughout, with many of the sequences being more aimed towards women. None of these bad points really harm it though, because it's so well handled that it's hard not to just sit back and enjoy yourself. The centrepiece when it comes to the stagy set pieces is definitely the one with the greenhouse, which is both psychologically pleasing and suspense filled. The acting is just fine, with Rebecca De Mornay slotting into the deranged psycho role nicely. The best thing about this film for me is definitely the way that the babysitter manipulates the children and engineers situations to her advantage. This may be trash at the end of the day, but it's fiendishly done!