Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 17, 1992 TAG: 9201170372
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BERNARD WEINRAUB
DATELINE: HOLLYWOOD LENGTH: Medium
`CRADLE' IS A DRAMA FOR THE '90S
A happily married mother-to-be is sexually molested by her gynecologist during a physical examination. After the distraught woman complains to the authorities, the doctor commits suicide.In the turmoil that follows, his widow, who is also pregnant, suffers a miscarriage. Emotionally shattered and financially ruined, the widow is bent on revenge against the woman who she believes has destroyed her life. Months later, she hires herself out as a mother's helper to the unsuspecting victim.
And that is only the first 10 minutes of "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle."
Walt Disney Studios has been aggressively promoting the film, clearly hoping it will touch the same raw nerve that "Fatal Attraction" struck in the late 1980s with its tale of psychotic vengeance unleashed by casual infidelity.
While "Fatal Attraction" focused on marriage, sex and one-night stands, "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle" centers on issues more specific to the 1990s - children, careers and the way upscale families place trust in strangers to help them achieve the perfect life.
The suspense-thriller, which opens today at Salem Valley 8 and Tanglewood Mall Cinema in the Roanoke Valley and at New River Valley Mall, stars Annabella Sciorra as Claire, the molested patient, and Rebecca De Mornay as Peyton, the mother's helper from hell.
In some respects, the movie is part of a mini-genre of terror films about pregnancy and childbirth, the most famous being "Rosemary's Baby," Roman Polanski's 1968 thriller about a woman whose husband is involved with a witches' coven.
But "Cradle" is clearly a drama for the 1990s, designed to unhinge a vast thirtysomething audience whose lives often depend upon the hirelings who care for their children.
"Cradle" also echoes some of the themes in "Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women," the much-talked-about new book by Susan Faludi that examines how society has sought to undercut the achievements of feminism and make career women, mothers and single women guilt-ridden about their achievements.
Although "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle" is a low-budget thriller with no major stars, it has already stirred considerable talk in Hollywood and evoked strong reaction from preview audiences across the country.
"I simply had no idea how many buttons I was pushing when I wrote this, especially among women," said Amanda Silver, 28, a Yale graduate who wrote the screenplay as her master's thesis at film school.
"Some people say the film is sexist, that I was saying women should stay home and not hire nannies, which is really the last thing I would want to say," said Silver, who is the mother of a 7-month-old son.
"This film, I think, speaks to a lot of women's fears. And not just about the person watching your children. After all, you get on a plane and you don't know who's flying it. . . . There are so many places in your life that you're trusting strangers. And the most trenchant example is bringing someone into your home to care for your children."
While some may regard the film as a potent statement about domestic life in the '90s, others may see it as an unwelcome depiction of women, one that is, in a sense, typically Hollywood.
"What strikes me as interesting and upsetting is that the criminal here is the dead gynecologist, but the wife's rage is directed at another woman, who is just another victim," said Susan Faludi, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who wrote "Backlash," in an interview.
"There's something sort of classic about women ripping each other down over a crime that was committed by a man," she added. What's frustrating about Hollywood's depiction of women is that "they're either compliant, beautiful wives, and therefore the good woman; or you've got a seething monster, a witch, who inserts herself in the family manse and tries to destroy the family. It seems like we only have one film a year where women are actually allowed to be buddies and go to the mat for each other. Last year, it was `Thelma and Louise.' "
De Mornay, whose credits include "The Trip to Bountiful" (1985) and "Risky Business" (1983), said she initially was offered the role of "the good wife." She was not especially interested.
"But the script was hypnotic," she said. "I kept thinking . . . about the Peyton part. She was so chillingly deranged, a brilliant manipulator, one of the most three-dimensional villains I'd ever read.
"Let's face it," she added with a laugh, "it's a terrific part."