Films involving Learning Difficulties

Learning Difficulties (Mental Retardation): Minor Films no photo.

Title	Hand That Rocks the Cradle, The (1992)
Alternative/Original Title
Disability	Learning difficulty General Asthma
Country	USA
Length	110
Genre	Thriller
Rating	4
Director	Curtis Hanson
Cast	Rebecca de Mornay Annabella Sciorra Matt McCoy Ernie Hudson
Notes	A pregnant woman visiting her doctor for a check-up is worried by the way he puts his hands on her. She complains and the consequence is that the doctor shoots himself. His wife who is also pregnant collapses has a miscarriage and also has a hysterectomy. The scene then jumps forward 6 months. The widow, Peyton, (Mornay) plans revenge on the woman, Claire, (Sciorra) who she sees as responsible for her miscarriage. So she applies for the job as nanny to Sciorra's baby. A rather odd touch here is that Sciorra wants a nanny not so she can go to work but because she wants to build a greenhouse. In the meantime she has employed a black handyman, Soloman, from the Better Day Society which helps the disabled. He comes first to fix a fence but they keep him on because they like him. Naturally Peyton doesn't get on with Soloman especially when he sees her breastfeeding Claire's baby. I'm not sure if the chronology fits here which would allow Peyton to have still the milk. Never mind this is all part of Peyton's fiendish plan and de Mornay is very good at being the charming, attractive nanny and the scheming murderess. She gets Soloman sacked by making false charges of child interference, her plan to kill Claire in her greenhouse kills Claire's friend who has just discovered who Peyton is, and she tries to seduce Claire's husband. From the beginning we've been introduced to Claire's asthma and seen how she quickly gets out of breath. Peyton takes advantage of this by empyting all her nebulisers and almost succeeds in killing her. The first time I saw this film I dismissed out of hand. The second time the different threads and characters were carefully worked out. And this being a film which mainly concentrates on the women in it the acting of de Mornay and Sciorra was up to it.

Back to Home Page