When the journalist Laura Blacklock (Keira Knightley) is awakened by muffled noises on a super yacht, she runs to her veranda in time to glimpse a body sinking into the sea. Or does she?
The thriller “The Woman in Cabin 10” — based on the novel by Ruth Ware and directed by Simon Stone — isn’t a simple whodunit. There’s a great deal afoot once Blacklock, a well-regarded but burned-out reporter, embarks on a feature about an invitation-only cruise to Norway.
A junket on the Aurora Borealis would seem to be off Laura’s investigative beat — and counter to her ethics — but she has an angle. Richard (Guy Pearce), a loving husband and billionaire, has requested that a few deep-pocketed friends join him and his ailing wife, Anne (Lisa Loven Kongsli), on the voyage. Hannah Waddinghamplays Heidi, a gallerist, and there’s also an aging rocker, a flirty influencer, a physician and a photographer who happens to be Laura’s ex. At the journey’s end, they plan to make a splashy announcement about a new cancer research foundation.
“It’s a human-interest piece for inhumane times,” Laura tells her skeptical editor (an underused Gugu Mbatha-Raw). The pitch doesn’t make it past the voyage’s first night.
When Laura insists that someone plunged into the sea, the gathered treat her as if she’s experiencing some sort of post-traumatic breakdown. While she has been haunted by the death of a source, we’re confident she’s onto something. But that doesn’t mean viewers won’t be increasingly exasperated by the ways the screenplay forces Knightley’s character into a clumsy, fretful investigation. A body isn’t the only thing that goes overboard here.
The Woman in Cabin 10
Rated R for some violence and language. Running time: 1 hour 32 minutes. Watch on Netflix.
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