A polished mystery that floats on the surface
‘The Woman in Cabin 10’ is the sort of film that looks better than it feels. Directed by Simon Stone and adapted from Ruth Ware’s best-selling novel, the Netflix thriller arrives with all the ingredients of a gripping mystery—a confined setting, a protagonist who sees what no one else does, and a sense of paranoia that feeds off isolation. Yet while the premise is promising and gripping, and Keira Knightley brings conviction to her role, the film never fully transforms that tension into urgency. It glides across the surface, sleek and polished, but rarely dives deep enough to unsettle viewers.
A voyage into doubt and delusion
The story centers on Lo Blacklock (Keira Knightley), a travel journalist assigned to cover the maiden voyage of the Aurora Borealis, a lavish private yacht owned by British aristocrat Richard Bullmer (Guy Pearce). Bullmer’s ailing wife, Anne, an oil heiress undergoing cancer treatment, is also on board. But on her first night, Lo hears a scream, a thud, and what appears to be a body being thrown overboard from the next cabin. When she alerts the crew, she’s told there’s been no such incident. Cabin 10, they insist, is unoccupied. The passenger list is intact; no one is missing. What begins as confusion quickly turns into obsession as Lo tries to prove that she’s not imagining things. Her credibility erodes as the hours pass—she’s exhausted, medicated, and already regarded as fragile—and every attempt to seek the truth only isolates her further.
Atmosphere without emotional depth
Stone captures this paranoia effectively, at least at first. The film’s mood is chilly—an aesthetic built on mirrored corridors and quiet spaces that seem designed to reflect Lo’s own fractured state. The cinematography treats the Aurora as both paradise and prison and becomes a visual metaphor for control and surveillance. But the screenplay doesn’t always match the precision of the imagery. The tension rises too quickly, and the pacing feels hurried, as if the film is impatient to reach its next revelation. Important character details are skimmed over, and the mystery—though intriguing—starts to feel engineered rather than organic. The film wants to say something about class, power, and the silencing of women, but it never lingers long enough on any one idea to make it resonate.
Keira Knightley holds it together
Keira Knightley anchors the film with a restrained performance. She plays Lo as someone perpetually on the verge of breaking, her certainty laced with panic. There’s a weariness to her voice that makes her desperation believable even when the plot stretches credibility. Guy Pearce brings quiet menace as the yacht’s mysterious host, while Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Kaya Scodelario add texture to their limited roles. Hannah Waddingham’s crisp efficiency as the ship’s manager offers one of the film’s few moments of humor—her calm professionalism a sharp contrast to Lo’s unravelling nerves. The ensemble, though unevenly written, does enough to sustain a sense of suspicion. No one feels entirely trustworthy, which keeps the audience guessing even when the script falters.
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Elegant, controlled, yet emotionally detached
‘The Woman in Cabin 10’ is a film that knows how to look the part—elegant, claustrophobic, and tonally controlled—but struggles to hold that control to the end. It’s a thriller that plays its beats safely, relying on mood rather than menace. Still, for all its predictability, it remains an easy, watchable mystery—the kind you put on for its ambiance as much as its story. Knightley gives it dignity even when the narrative loses focus, and Stone ensures it never tips into melodrama. It may not linger after the credits roll, but while it lasts, it offers the small, guilty satisfaction of a thriller that knows how to keep you looking—even when you already know there’s nothing much to find. Rating: 2.5/5
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