Mexican filmmaker Michelle Garza Cervera is no stranger to depicting the madness of motherhood. Her 2022 feature debut, Huesera: The Bone Woman, centers on a pregnant woodworker who experiences increasingly disturbing visions of a faceless, mangled woman as her due date approaches. Convinced that she is simply cracking under the pressure of impending parenthood, the majority of her family and friends respond to her frantic pleas for help with a dismissive attitude. Aside from the supernatural slant and Spanish language, Cervera’s sophomore feature has a similar premise, expanding on a story previously committed to screen in 1992. Cervera’s take on The Hand That Rocks The Cradle, originally directed by Curtis Hanson from a screenplay by Amanda Silver, makes some much-needed amendments for our current cultural climate, but the core of the successful domestic thriller remains intact.
While working at a tenants’ rights event, “ready to pop” expectant mother Caitlyn (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) briefly encounters Polly (Maika Monroe), a young woman worried about an imminent rent hike being enforced by her landlord. Though the advice Caitlyn gives her is clinical and cursory, it’s clear she makes quite the impression on Polly, who reintroduces herself when she sees Caitlyn and her family at a local Los Angeles farmers market several months later. In tow are Caitlyn’s husband Miguel (Raúl Castillo), their 10-year-old daughter Emma (Mileiah Vega), and baby Josie (Lola and Nora Contreras).
While this second encounter is even briefer than the first, Polly drops a hint about needing work; as fate would have it, Miguel has been suggesting that Caitlyn hire a nanny. So Polly enters the family home, immediately forming a connection with the precocious yet fickle Emma. The bulk of her nannying duties, however, lie in tending to Josie, whose daily regimen has been carefully calibrated to avoid ingesting microplastics, sugar, and other adverse yet omnipresent additives.
Despite assurances that she will follow Caitlyn’s strict guidelines, Polly immediately breaks every rule: She allows the girls to eat sickly sweet frosting, feeds Josie store-bought formula instead of her mother’s steady supply of pre-pumped breastmilk, and even gives Emma a wildly irresponsible (and explosive) gift. Although Caitlyn is unsettled by Polly’s deviation from her clearly articulated instructions, Miguel is quick to come to their nanny’s defense, in part because Caitlyn previously suffered from postpartum psychosis after Emma’s birth. Fearing that her mounting distrust of Polly (supported only by anecdotal “evidence”) is indicative of an imminent mental breakdown, Miguel encourages his wife to let her grievances go. Only Caitlyn’s best friend and co-worker Stewart (Martin Starr in a small but potent supporting role) also senses something suspicious about Polly’s general vibe, causing him to dig up some shocking revelations about both women’s traumatic past.
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