The Woman in Cabin 10: A Thriller / Mystery That Falls Flat

Laura Blacklock, an investigative journalist, is recovering from a devastating professional experience: one of her sources died during an investigation she was working on, leaving her emotionally scarred by guilt and unresolved trauma. In an attempt to move on, Laura asks for a lighter assignment, far from the dramatic tones of her usual investigations.

For the protagonist of The Woman in Cabin 10, the opportunity comes in the form of an exclusive invitation: to cover the maiden voyage of the Aurora Borealis, a luxury yacht that will sail towards the Norwegian coast. The charity cruise is organized by wealthy entrepreneur Richard Bullmer, in honor of his wife Anne, who is suffering from a terminal illness. Aboard are many "rich people," from aging rock stars to trendy influencers, from tech magnates to ladies of the British elite, all ready to flaunt their opulence.

But what were supposed to be days of relaxation soon turn into a nightmare. One night, Laura is awakened by suspicious noises coming from cabin number 10, next to hers, and witnesses what appears to be a struggle followed by the sound of a fall into the water. Convinced she has witnessed a murder, the reporter alerts the crew and other guests on board, but there is no evidence of the alleged crime and no one seems to believe her story...

The Woman in Cabin 10 and all the others

We are faced with an adaptation of the eponymous bestselling novel, published in 2016 by British writer Ruth Ware and brought to the big screen for the occasion by Australian Simon Stone - already the author of more interesting works such as The Dig (2021). The film falls into the category of psychological thrillers where mystery lurks, fitting, like the book it's based on, into a narrative verve that owes much - if not everything - to the classics of Agatha Christie, modernized for an audience, be it readers or viewers, who now want a series of plot twists, with all due respect to plausibility.

And as predictable from the premises and the synopsis above, the result is an exercise in style as elegant in appearance as it is empty and absurd in substance. Someone will surely have thought, reading the plot, of the immortal Death on the Nile, but the ambition to pay homage to that archetypal cult has unfortunately, paradoxically, shipwrecked in a sea of assorted implausibilities. That exclusive location and the varied cast of suspect(ed)s are not enough, as the sense of paranoia and, in parallel, the tension are almost impalpable, with the screenplay getting lost in increasingly improbable and, even worse, uninteresting twists. The final result is instead an aggressively flat work, flimsy not only in its runtime - which barely reaches an hour and a half - but also in the handling of key events and related main characters, with the villain entrusted to a listless Guy Pearce first and foremost. 

Hunting for the truth

The key revelation arrives roughly halfway through the viewing, with the second half where the protagonist - a rather miscast Keira Knightley - tries in every way to bring the truth to light, finding herself in an increasingly dangerous situation. Even how the crime was perpetrated suffers from some illogicalities and contrivances, appearing unintentionally comical when all the cards are finally laid on the table. And what's more, the story is full of substantially useless figures, who serve no purpose other than to pad out the narrative.

Where one would expect frantic editing, particular angles, and cinematography that reflects the journalist's mental state, suspended at least initially in that limbo between reality and lies, one instead deals with a surprisingly static staging devoid of any inventiveness. Standardized directorial solutions mortify any possible artistic flair, right up to that final showdown, which is also devoid of suspense or emotion.
Making it all even more frustrating is the treatment of Laura's trauma, introduced through an initial dialogue and a brief flashback. This narrative device, often abused to exhaustion in its genre, serves here solely to provide a pretext for doubting her sanity, even if the audience will quickly put two and two together. 

The Woman in Cabin 10 proceeds on very rigid schemes: our protagonist discovers a clue, it is lost or questioned, she is more or less veiledly threatened, and so on, in a vicious circle that goes nowhere. The protagonist runs back and forth across the yacht questioning suspects who suspect nothing, in an investigation that proceeds by inertia towards what should be a shocking revelation but instead leaves one completely indifferent.