The Hand That Rocks the Cradle is a 1992 American thriller film directed by Curtis Hanson and written by Amanda Silver. The film stars Annabella Sciorra, Rebecca De Mornay, Matt McCoy, Ernie Hudson, Julianne Moore and Madeline Zima. The plot follows the pregnant wife of a Seattle obstetrician who dies by suicide after he is accused of sexual misconduct by some of his patients. The shock leads the wife to miscarry, after which she poses as a nanny for one of her late husband's accusers and slowly begins to infiltrate the family. The film's title is taken from the 1865 poem by William Ross Wallace and there are several nods to the 1879 comic opera The Pirates of Penzance.