When Netflix released The Woman in Cabin 10 on October 10, 2025, audiences were promised a twisty, atmospheric thriller starring Keira Knightley as journalist Laura "Lo" Blacklock. What they got was a film that blends sharp fashion, psychological suspense, and a classic whodunit set aboard a lavish superyacht—though not without its share of controversy and critique.
Set against the icy backdrop of the North Sea, the film follows Lo, a serious journalist for The Guardian whose recent trauma—witnessing the murder of a source—has left her shaken. According to Netflix, her editor, Rowan (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), encourages her to take a break by covering the maiden voyage of the Aurora Borealis, a luxury yacht headed for a Scandinavian gala. This cruise, commissioned by terminally ill Norwegian heiress Anne Lyngstad (Lisa Loven Kongsli) and her husband Richard Bullmer (Guy Pearce), is set to raise money for cancer research. The guest list is a who’s who of the wealthy and notorious: businessman Thomas Heatherley (David Morrissey), influencer Grace Phillips (Kaya Scodelario), tech mogul Adam Sutherland (Daniel Ings), rock star Danny Tyler (Paul Kaye), and Lo’s photographer ex-boyfriend Ben Morgan (David Ajala).
But what starts as a puff piece quickly spirals into a nightmare. As Knightley told Netflix, "She’s a very serious journalist who initially is incredibly embarrassed about going on a superyacht cruise and writing about these people, and then discovers that there’s more to the story than she thought." After a night of heavy drinking, Lo hears a struggle next door and witnesses a woman fall overboard from cabin 10. Yet, when she alerts the crew, she’s told the guest list shows no one was ever in cabin 10. The crew, led by Sigrid (Amanda Collin), insists everyone is accounted for, and the other guests begin to question Lo’s credibility, pointing to her drinking as a possible explanation.
Director Simon Stone, in an interview with Netflix, clarified that the film is not an unreliable-narrator story. "The audience doesn’t at any point question whether or not this person saw what they saw. You do agree completely with her, and you take it as fact. It’s her struggle against a conspiracy." The gaslighting intensifies—Lo is pushed into the yacht’s pool in an attempted drowning, and someone scrawls "STOP" on her spa-room mirror. The tension is palpable: trapped on a boat in the middle of the North Sea, with no way out, Lo is forced to investigate alone.
The heart of the mystery, as Netflix reveals, lies with Anne Lyngstad. Before the fateful night, Anne confides in Lo that she plans to disinherit her husband and donate her fortune to charity. In a chilling twist, Anne is soon replaced by Carrie (Gitte Witt), a doppelgänger discovered through facial recognition software by Richard’s tech-savvy friend. Carrie is hired to impersonate Anne, edit her will, and transfer control of the estate to Richard. The real Anne, it turns out, was murdered by her husband—thrown overboard in a desperate bid to retain the family’s wealth.
Lo’s determination to uncover the truth puts her in grave danger. She’s kidnapped by Carrie, who pleads with her to stop investigating. But Lo manages to escape, and with the help of Ben—who tragically doesn’t survive the ordeal—she exposes Richard at the gala. The final confrontation is dramatic: Richard tries to flee with "Anne" as his hostage, but Sigrid wounds him, and Lo delivers the finishing blow, ensuring justice is served.
The aftermath sees Anne’s fortune donated to charity, as intended, and Lo returning to her work, her story inspiring the next generation of journalists. As one intern tells her, "Anyone else would have made it all about him and what he did, but you managed to find the good in it. It really surprised me." Knightley herself admired Lo’s tenacity, saying, "Once Lo knows that something’s going on, she doesn’t take no for an answer. She just goes for it and goes for it and goes for it. She’s not embarrassed by it. Everybody thinks she’s crazy. She doesn’t care. She just keeps going."
But not everyone was swept away by the film’s intrigue. Prague Reporter was among those who criticized the film’s narrative structure, noting that key plot points are revealed too early, draining the story of suspense. The review lamented, "There’s one problem: 20 minutes into the movie, before the mystery angle has even surfaced, Anne informs Laura that she’s disinheriting her husband and giving all her money to charity. Well, gee whiz. Wonder where this is going?" The critic argued that the film punishes attentive viewers by making the solution obvious long before the protagonist catches up, leaving little left for audiences to puzzle over during the lengthy second act.
Despite narrative shortcomings, the film’s production values have drawn praise. The superyacht setting, played by the real-life Savannah, and Ben Davis’s evocative cinematography lend a sense of sleekness and elegance. The supporting cast, though underutilized, adds a sense of high society intrigue, even if their characters are mostly relegated to the background. Costume designer Eimer Ní Mhaoldomhnaigh and makeup designer Jenny Shircore faced the unique challenge of casting two actors—Kongsli and Witt—as Anne and Carrie, respectively, to sell the doppelgänger illusion. Shircore explained, "Because they were to have little or no hair, then two head shapes could be very, very dissimilar, and you’d know at once that it wasn’t the same person. So we spent a couple of days testing all these girls, putting bald caps on them just to see head shapes and what that does to the size of the face."
For fashion enthusiasts, Keira Knightley’s wardrobe as Laura Blacklock has become a talking point of its own. Outfits such as a Primark brown cable knit sweater vest (sadly no longer available), Adidas SL 72 sneakers, a Needle & Thread beige sequin midi dress, and a Missoni black ribbed knit maxi dress have inspired online guides for fans eager to replicate the film’s understated, modern style, according to Femestella. The costumes help ground Lo’s character, reflecting both her vulnerability and her resilience as she navigates the treacherous waters of privilege, power, and deception.
Based on Ruth Ware’s 2016 novel and adapted by Emma Frost, with further work by Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse, The Woman in Cabin 10 rides the wave of female-led psychological thrillers that have dominated popular fiction in recent years. Yet, as Prague Reporter points out, the film sometimes feels closer to other muddled adaptations like The Girl on the Train or The Woman in the Window—movies with all the right ingredients but lacking a coherent, suspenseful story at their core.
Nevertheless, for those seeking a stylish, atmospheric mystery with a strong central performance, The Woman in Cabin 10 offers plenty to discuss—whether it’s the film’s fashion, its commentary on power and identity, or its place in the ever-growing canon of Netflix thrillers.
