The Woman in Cabin 10 Review: Keira Knightley’s Engrossing Performance Can’t Mask Simon Stone’s Waterlogged Murder Mystery
Murder and gaslighting take centre stage in The Woman in Cabin 10, adapted from Ruth Ware’s 2016 novel of the same name. The woman in question refers to the ailing Anne Bullmer (Lisa Loven Kongsli), a shipping heiress who suffers from late-stage leukaemia. The first 20 minutes are dedicated to establishing Laura “Lo” Blacklock (Keira Knightley, marking her latest journey to play another journalist role after Hulu’s Boston Strangler two years ago), an investigative journalist who was recently traumatised by an incident that killed her source, which has something to do with an exposé.
Despite the tragedy, she returns to work as usual and requests her editor (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) to let her cover a report about the maiden voyage of the luxury cruise ship, Aurora Borealis. The voyage is set for Norway as Anne and her husband Richard (Guy Pearce) are hosting a charity gala with a few VIPs onboard alongside Lo and Ben Morgan (David Ajala). The latter, who works as a photographer, is the last person Lo expects to see him due to their past.
That aside, it is supposed to be a walk-in-the-park assignment for Lo, where she can keep herself busy from overthinking about the incident, and not to mention, boarding the luxury cruise ship means she can also treat it as a vacation. When Anne personally wants to meet Lo in her cabin for a favour, everything seems fine at first.
But it isn’t until Lo overhears someone scuffling one night and by the time she hurries to her balcony, she witnesses a floating body in the ocean waters and a blood-stained handprint on the glass wall. Here is where the plot thickens as everyone onboard is alerted about the incident, but the conclusion from the investigation isn’t what Lo expected it to be. One of the ship’s crew insists “there was never a guest staying in [Cabin 10]” and that the “cabin was always empty“.
How is this possible? She remembers she bumped into a nervous-looking blonde woman in Cabin 10 earlier. And yet, no one is reported missing and even no trace of evidence to back up whatever Lo claims to have witnessed with her own eyes. This allows the movie to explore the possibility that Lo might be imagining things since her post-traumatic stress still haunts her every now and then. Or it could be she’s telling the truth all along, but there’s a sinister conspiracy happening aboard the ship. For a while there, I was intrigued by the story and, more importantly, Keira Knightley’s engaging performance, whose persistent character remains convinced that there’s a murder on the ship.
Such a premise immediately reminds me of Death on the Nile, and like Kenneth Branagh’s 2022 murder mystery, director Simon Stone took a cue from the Agatha Christie-style whodunit structure. The suspects? It could be anyone onboard the ship, from Richard Bullmer to VIP guests like influencer Grace Phillips (Kaya Scodelario), art gallery owner Dame Heidi (Hannah Waddingham), tech mogul Lars (Christopher Rygh), and bleached-blonde playboy Adam Sutherland (Daniel Ings). Or the murder has to do with one of the ship’s crew and Anne’s family doctor, Robert Mehta (Art Malik).
Unfortunately, as the story goes, the mystery grows tedious. This is especially during the increasingly underwhelming second half, especially after the promising earlier half with plenty of effective suspense and intrigue. Once the movie eventually reveals the culprit and the motive, I was expecting Stone to raise the stakes higher. Too bad what I have here is an erratic slog leading to a disappointingly limp third act. It’s a missed opportunity in what could have been a thrilling murder mystery.
The Woman in Cabin 10 is currently streaming on Netflix.
