R | 1h 32m | Drama, Mystery, Thriller, Suspense | 2025
Meatier than your average Agatha Christie flick, but lacking (on purpose and in a good way) the sardonic wit of Rian Johnson’s “Knives Out” franchise, “The Woman in Cabin 10” (“Cabin 10”) is an interesting hybrid of both styles. It’s based on the novel of the same name by Ruth Ware and is directed by Simon Stone, who cowrote the screenplay with Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse.
Aurora Borealis
Laura “Lo” Blacklock (Keira Knightley) is a successful, highly respected, but world-weary journalist working for an unnamed glossy magazine based in London. After returning home from an emotionally draining assignment, Lo receives an invitation for the maiden voyage aboard the luxury yacht Aurora Borealis. It is owned by a Norwegian humanitarian foundation overseen by Anne Bullmer (Lisa Loven Kongsli) and her British husband, Richard (Guy Pearce).
The invitation was sent to Lo by Anne, who is in failing health. Anne intimates that she might have some big news to reveal the following day during their lengthy scheduled interview.
No One Is Missing
Lo quickly notifies the ship’s security team. Their response is swift. She repeats her claims several times, and after a thorough search of the ship, all passengers and crew members are accounted for. It is implied that Lo didn’t see what she thinks she saw, but she is adamant and won’t let it go.The following morning, the dozen or so other guests—most of them eccentric, high society types—start distancing themselves from Lo. Leading the charge is Anne’s physician Robert Mehta (Art Malik). He suggests that the trauma from Lo’s previous assignment is messing with her perception of things.
The lone exception is Ben Howard (David Ajala). He’s a renowned photographer who frequently works for the Bullmers and is also Lo’s most recent ex-boyfriend. We can’t initially tell if Ben’s concern for Lo is genuine, or if he’s doing so in an attempt to rekindle their romance.
Messy Truths
As someone who makes her living revealing often messy truths, Lo doubles and then triples down. At about the 50-minute mark, it becomes clear that her dogged persistence is being frowned upon. Suggestions for Lo to stop—some subtle, some not so much—begin to escalate.This is the point where the filmmakers do something I’ve never seen in a murder mystery. With more than 30 minutes to go, not only is the identity of the mystery dead woman revealed but so is her murderer. As framed by Stone, this isn’t a cheap-trick subterfuge or a distracting, misdirected red herring. There’s no doubt as to what really happened.
Being that the story is set on a ship at sea, this ratchets up the tension considerably. There are only so many options available for anyone to avoid detection or capture. There are other challenges to figure out: Who is trying to shut her up, who is gaslighting her, or who might be unaware of any kind of conspiracy and could be able to come to her rescue.
For Knightley, the Lo character is thematically adjacent to that of the nonfictional reporter Loretta McLaughlin, whom she portrayed in the highly overlooked 2023 true crime thriller “Boston Strangler.” She also played British linguist Katharine Gun. This character was integral to exposing a 2003 scandal at the United Nations in “Official Secrets” from 2019.
Back and Forth
After making her mark as a teen ingénue in “Bend It Like Beckham” (2002), Knightley established herself as an action leading lady in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise. Since then, she’s bounced back and forth between commercial and art-house projects on both the big and small screens and has never failed to keep taking on roles in challenging projects.Her role as an assassin in the ongoing Netflix action thriller series “Black Doves” might just be the best thing she’s ever done.
For Stone, “Cabin 10” is a welcomed progression from “The Daughter” (2015) and “The Dig” (2021), both well-made, low-key, character-driven dramas.
“Cabin 10” doesn’t reinvent the murder mystery wheel, but it does offer up an inventive twist on a genre that too often seems to be devoid of original thought.
