THE STORY – On a lavish yacht for an assignment, a journalist sees a passenger go overboard. But when no one believes her, she risks her life to uncover the truth.
THE CAST – Keira Knightley, Guy Pearce, Art Malik, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Kaya Scodelario, Daniel Ings & Hannah Waddingham
THE TEAM – Simon Stone (Director/Writer), Joe Shrapnel & Anna Waterhouse (Writers)
THE RUNNING TIME – 92 Minutes
Netflix’s “The Woman in Cabin 10” sets sail with an eerie elegance; a haunting string score swells over the image of a luxury superyacht sailing through Norway, a glass and steel parasite in the untouched natural landscape. It’s a striking metaphor for what’s to come: a murder mystery where greed, secrecy, and murder swirl beneath the surface. Directed by Simon Stone and adapted from Ruth Ware’s bestselling novel, this psychological thriller invites us to join journalist Laura “Lo” Blacklock (Keira Knightley, back in investigative mode after her acclaimed turn in “Black Doves”) as she boards a high-society cruise that promises serenity and ends in something far more sinister.
Knightley plays Lo with brittle poise. She’s a journalist who’s still haunted by a past tragedy and sees this assignment aboard the Aurora Borealis as an opportunity to get a break from everything. Instead, she’s plunged into a paranoia-laced mystery that starts with a scream and ends with a splash as a woman is thrown overboard from the next cabin. The twist? According to the ship’s manifest, that cabin was never occupied. Everyone, from the ultra-rich guests to the unnervingly composed crew, insists Lo is mistaken. The ship’s internet is mysteriously down. Security footage? Inexplicably offline. And soon, Lo finds herself isolated, ridiculed, and very possibly in danger.
Stone’s direction leans into the Hitchcockian as he ditches the cheeky tone of modern whodunnits for something moodier, even paranoid. The atmosphere is thick with unease, aided by watery sound design that makes you feel like you’re constantly submerged in uncertainty. The gleaming yacht, surrounded by breathtaking Norwegian fjords and endless ocean, becomes a gilded prison where Lo is the only one looking for the cracks. That setting is perhaps the film’s most compelling element, as the Aurora Borealis doesn’t just float in luxury: it leaks filth, like what’s going on inside the yacht is polluting the natural landscape around it.
And yet, “The Woman in Cabin 10” never fully rises to the standard set by its contemporaries in the “rich people murder mystery” subgenre. Where Rian Johnson’s “Knives Out” films and even older entries like “Gosford Park” revel in character and class critique, “Cabin 10” struggles to give its cast much to work with beyond archetypes. Guy Pearce’s billionaire Richard Bullmer is suitably ambiguous, but most passengers, like Kaya Scodelario’s social media influencer Grace, feel like deck furniture: present but underdeveloped. You would think that the surprising presence of Lo’s photojournalist ex Ben (David Ajala) would make things more interesting, but his presence is just there to cause frustration, while Hannah Waddingham’s snide gallerist Heidi provides dry commentary on Lo’s fashion sense but little else.
There’s no denying that Stone’s script, co-written by Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse, wants to say something about power, privilege, and the gaslighting of women who speak out. It nearly gets there, but maybe its shortcomings are due to the source material. And if so, why not improve on it? When Lo is labelled a “fruit loop” and dismissed as attention-seeking, it stings, particularly in today’s cultural climate. But where “Black Doves” gave Knightley a complex web of secrets and stakes, here, she’s let down by a character whose motivations rarely go deeper than “get to the truth.” Aside from her trauma and a string of failed relationships, Lo remains frustratingly one-note.
Still, there’s satisfaction in the slow unravelling of the mystery. The film keeps you guessing, planting just enough suspicion to keep theories swirling. But when answers finally arrive, they wobble under the weight of contrivance. Without giving too much away, the final twist requires such a suspension of disbelief that the story buckles. It’s a resolution that tries to be both shocking and profound, but instead feels borderline soap-operatic and disappointingly hollow.
Despite its flaws, the cast, while underused, is a powerhouse, especially Knightley, who remains magnetic. It’s just that “The Woman in Cabin 10” never manages to transcend its setup. For a film so concerned with buried secrets, it ends up a little too shallow, an elegant cruise that promises more than it delivers – stylish, suspenseful, but ultimately adrift. If you’re in the mood for a slow-burn mystery and don’t mind some narrative turbulence, you might still enjoy the voyage. But if you’re looking for sharp satire or rich character work, this feels like a first-class ticket to a very mid-tier mystery.
