An extremely luxurious yacht, a handful of very rich men and women, the quiet of privacy that only money can provide, an assault journalist invited on site and a mystery that agitates those present. These could easily be the premises of any detective story of any era. In addition to the inexplicable underlying torment, however, something deeper and psychological also takes place, ed It is precisely with these narrative premises that the main story of The Woman in Cabin Number 10 opens. Taking advantage of the appeal of a cast with familiar faces, first of all Keira Knightley, the feature film draws you into a story that is as minimal and claustrophobic as it is classic and old.

Directed by Simon Stone, based on the mystery of the same name by Ruth Ware and available on Netflix from 10 October 2025, The woman in cabin number 10 attracts for the simplicity of an unresolved issue that impacts on multiple frontsto then land in the dimension of the detective story of human investigation with rather simple foundations. In the play of shadows at its center it is in fact possible to see many references to very similar works, even distant ones in time, thus setting ourselves the arduous task of making a difference by following our own path (if you are passionate about thrillers, we refer you to our review of Untamed).

In the wrong place at the right time

In a rarefied and suffocating atmosphere of luxury and mystery, The woman in cabin number 10 leads the viewer into the smooth corridors of a yacht where appearance merges with deception. At the center of the story is Laura Blacklock (played by Keira Knightley), a well-known assault journalist, called to document a charity cruise organized by an elite group of people who have known each other for a long time.

An assignment which, on paper, should be pure routine work, almost an opportunity to relax away from the context in which she usually moves: polite interviews, occasional smiles and the promise of an elegant article on wealth and philanthropy. But behind the gala lights, The woman in cabin number 10 hides something dark that gradually creeps into the calm waters of the sea.

During a night that breaks the muffled rhythm of the journey, Laura witnesses an event that no one seems to want to recognise: a figure pushed into the darkness, a body suddenly and without any reason disappeared among the waves. From that moment, the security of the world around her begins to crumble.

Every attempt to seek confirmation crashes against a wall of ambiguous smiles and composed denials. Nobody saw anything, nobody was missing. Doubt, violently insinuated into the mind of the protagonist of The woman from cabin number 10, it first becomes constant torment and uncertainty, and later an apparent tangible threat.

Nothing new on the horizon

While captivating with a mystery between the psychological and the mortal, The woman in cabin number 10 fails to make her mark just when she begins to explain and unfold her most logical reasons. As events continue, in fact, we go from doubtful to easily readable in a very short time, also thanks to the lack of originality at the center of a story in images which, unfortunately, feels like it has already been seen from its premises.

As if that wasn't enough, all the characters do not remain impressed on the small screen, precisely because of the little space dedicated to each one in terms of writing and of the choice to attempt a minimal in-depth analysis only of the protagonist's immediate past history.

Such an approach transforms the characters who continually gravitate around the mystery of The woman from cabin number 10 in dancing faces without thickness, in indistinct spots designed only to increase a tension that deflates as soon as we reach the most explanatory phase of the feature film.

Going beyond the central events of the film, even from a formal point of view, the woman in cabin number 10 proves to be rather simpleif not exactly detached and "framed" in a linear and repetitive directorial way, hand in hand with an environmental aesthetic with an initially oppressive and then only uninspired edge.

In this particular tension, Stone is committed to building a psychological thriller that plays with perception and the fragility of the human mindquestioning the viewer on the border between reality and suggestion, without managing to inspire too much amazement in the end.

The woman in cabin number 10 then presents itself as a tale of isolation and obsessionin which the protagonist fights not only to reveal a denied crime, but to preserve her identity in an environment that seems to want to erase her or, in any case, silence her in some way. A journey into the mind and into the abyss, where the truth floats precariously like a wreck waiting to be found.

So when the credits roll and the mystery cruise comes to an end, The woman in cabin number 10 leaves the feeling of having witnessed an elegant but predictable journeylike a champagne toast watered down by too much ice. There are waves, there are suspicions, there is even the paranoia that grows at night among the shiny corridors of the yacht - but that flash is missing, that thrust capable of truly making you tremble.

Simon Stone orchestrates with skill, Keira Knightley does her part with her usual tormented grace, but in the end the film simply navigates safe waters, carefully avoiding any storms. And in a genre that thrives on vertigo and surprise, staying afloat is not enough: it would take, at least once, the courage to capsize the boat.