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| “ | Anyone can have an accident. | „ |
| ~ Mrs. Mott under the name Peyton Flanders. |
Mrs. Mott (also known by her fake name Peyton Flanders) is the main antagonist of the 1992 psychological thriller film The Hand That Rocks the Cradle. She is a vengeful widow who poses as a live-in nanny in order to kill the woman she blames for her husband's death and steal her family.
She is portrayed by Rebecca De Mornay, who also played Natalie Koffin in Mother's Day, Dorothy Walker in Jessica Jones, Tessa McKellan in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and Milady de Winter in the 1993 film adaptation of The Three Musketeers.
Biography
After losing her obstetrician husband, money, home, and baby and undergoing an emergency hysterectomy, Mott learns about Claire Bartel, the woman who filed a complaint about being sexually molested by her husband, which had driven him to commit suicide. Overwhelmed by grief and rage, Mrs. Mott plots revenge on Claire.
She poses as a nanny, under the pseudonym of "Peyton Flanders", and is soon hired by the Bartel family after she make a highly favorable impression. She breast feeds their baby son Joey, talks Claire's daughter Emma into keeping secrets from her mother to turn her against her, and hits on Claire's husband Michael, all in her attempts to ruin Claire's life and steal her family away. Mrs. Mott later convinces Claire that Michael might be having an affair with his ex-partner, Marlene Craven, and sets them up to look like they are meeting with each other in secret.
Later on, Solomon, a fence builder and friend of the family, accidentally spots Mott breastfeeding Claire's baby while she's out, to which Mott aggressively insults him and tells him to keep his mouth shut. Knowing he could be a liability, she later has Solomon fired after planting Emma's underwear in his tool wagon. Meanwhile, Marlene discovers the same wind chimes on the Motts' house, does research on Dr. Mott and notices a photograph of him next to "Peyton." She then goes to the library and while on a microfiche, discovers from a newspaper article that "Peyton" is really Dr. Mott's widow.
Marlene rushes to Claire's home to warn her about Mott, but Mrs. Mott is there and Marlene reveals she's aware of who she really is. Realizing that Marlene can expose her true identity, Mrs. Mott lures her into Claire's greenhouse. As Marlene enters, she is killed by falling glass which had been rigged by Mott earlier in order to kill Claire. Mrs. Mott then empties all of Claire's inhalers, as Claire is heavily asthmatic; when Claire finds Marlene's body, she almost dies after suffering an asthma attack. Mrs. Mott attempts to engage in seductive behavior toward Michael while Claire is in the hospital, but she appears to be annoyed when he rejects her advances.
Claire catches on to the truth of "Peyton's" true identity and returns home to confront her, punching her in the face before firing her. Mrs. Mott says she and Michael were having an affair, but Michael rebukes it; when Mrs. Mott recalls his telling her there was only one woman for him, Michael replies that he meant Claire.
Mott leaves peacefully, but returns to the house that night to take Emma and Joey for herself, and kill Claire and Michael. She knocks Michael out with a shovel and attempts to beat Claire to death, but Solomon arrives to rescue the kids from Mott's clutches. Mrs. Mott attacks him but is then confronted by Claire, and they engage in a fight. Claire fakes another asthma attack in order to appear weakened, whereupon Mott taunts her, boasting about her exaggerated affection for Michael and the children. After being surprised by Claire, Mott is distracted by Solomon, Claire then quickly pushes Mott through the attic window, and Mott crashes down onto the lower rooftop before landing on the garden fence, impaling and killing her as a result.
Gallery
Trivia
- The title of the movie comes from William Ross Wallace's poem with the words "The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world".