The Woman in Cabin 10
Synopsis: A journalist covering an event on a luxury yacht becomes convinced that she’s seen a body thrown overboard.
Ah, the pleasure of spending 90 minutes fill in the blank. 90 minutes having sex? 90 minutes of coffee and gossip? How about 90 minutes of movie-ing?
It is a thrill to learn that a new movie is just 90 minutes long. I cannot muster the resolve to watch 3+ hours of The Brutalist no matter how convincing Adrien Brody is as a post-WWII Hungarian architect. Instead, in that time, I can watch Hayao Miyazaki’s superb My Neighbor Totoro and the ridiculous holiday rom com I Believe in Santa.
The Woman in Cabin 10 hits the sweet spot between too short to feel involved and too long of a commitment. The movie is based on the same-titled book by Ruth Ware. Her suspenseful novels usually involve an intelligent woman who already has to deal with depressing British circumstances like the weather and the cost of Jammie Dodger biscuits at Waitrose, then she’s subjected to the further trouble of someone looking to murder her.
Keira Knightley plays Laura, a journalist for The Guardian. If you didn’t already know, it’s a serious paper, not a rag. The fact is underscored by the way Keira strides into the office steely-eyed, her angular jaw set. Her boss, Rowan, calls Keira into her office. Said boss is played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw, who is in the movie for about five minutes. But this is enough time to ask Keira how she is doing after her last life-endangering investigative reporting assignment and is she ready to go back into the field? Keira says something about how she’d rather die than stop following stories and, btw, her love life sucks.
Surprisingly, Keira wants to accept an invitation to cover a society event, the launching of a new cancer foundation. It’s funded by the very rich couple, Anne and Richard Bullmer. They will be hosting several other richies on their nearly ship-sized luxury yacht as it cruises from England to Norway. Once docking, there will be a big gala.
Richard (Guy Pearce) makes a point of showing what a nice guy he is, even though he is fabulously wealthy. Regal-looking Annie (Lisa Loven Kongsli) is suffering from terminal cancer. She is determined that her new foundation will help other people who are afflicted with the disease.
Once the boat has set sail, Annie sits down for an interview with Keira. Annie coughs and apologizes that she doesn’t have much stamina anymore. And, wow, what a great interview. Keira doesn’t ask her one question. She just looks awkward as the ill woman sketches out the basics of the charity.
I think Keira had other things on her mind. Shortly after boarding the boat, she is surprised to catch a glimpse of her ex-boyfriend, Ben (David Ajala). Ben is a photographer and has been hired to commemorate the happenings. She ducks into a room to avoid him. Oops! There is a woman just getting out of the shower. Sorry! Keira rushes out.
Before long, she runs into Ben. I mean, hard to ignore each other when there are only like, six other guests onboard. They agree to let bygones be bygones. Ben acknowledges that he was sh***y to her during the breakup. She chuckles when he reminds her that she had called him a sell-out. Presumably, Keira would’ve respected him more if he was a war photographer vs giving in to the moral repugnance inherent in being an events photographer.
That night at dinner our middle-class friend makes a fool of herself by wearing an evening gown when the rest of the guests understood that the dress code was rich people’s version of dressy casual. She actually looked stunning, so she should’ve ignored their snickers. They’re just jealous, Keira!
Later, back in the comfort of her own room, settling into bed, she’s unnerved by the sounds of an argument in the room next to her: cabin 10! First, she hears yelling (wuh?), then a thud (uh-oh), and finally, a splash (Wtf?!!). Keira goes flying out of the room, screaming for security. The crew swings into action, looking for a man –or woman–overboard.
I’d be freaked out too. Everyone is awake as the crew rush to account for every passenger and crew member. “What about the woman in cabin 10?” she stammers breathlessly. The captain looks confused. There is no guest in cabin 10. Her eyes get wide as she takes in the array of people around her. Richard frowns. “I’m not imaging things!” she screams.
Now, in the book, the character Laura definitely got scared, but she seemed to be outwardly keeping her cool. Not Keira as Laura. She freaks out and stays freaking out all the way to Norway…
In the middle of the night, she clambers off her deck onto cabin 10’s deck, losing a shoe in the process. Oh no! These were the special shoes they gave her when she boarded. Either Richard and Anne don’t want anyone scuffing up the teak wood floors or there are trackers implanted within the special yacht shoes.
Keira quietly tears apart cabin 10 like an addict misremembering where they put their stash. Eureka! There is long blond hair in the shower drain. The woman she saw in the room on the first day had long blond hair! She gathers the hair-eww- and after getting back to her room, puts it in a plastic bag and caches it. I know she is trying to solve a mystery, but she seems bananas as she obsesses over where to hide the bag of hair. She keeps shifting it from place to place. Maybe it was a mistake to put it in a jacket pocket because the jacket goes missing.
Keira frantically tracks down a maid who tells her that all of her clothes have been laundered as some sort of special and wholly unnecessary service. She attracts further attention when she sprints down to the laundry room, rifling through machine after machine looking for the hair bag as a small group looks on.
Keira’s ex suggests she have some spa treatments to calm her nerves. Yes, there is a big spa. I told you these people were rich. Looking like she’s undergoing torture, she submits to a volcanic ash body mask. Later, she showers off the muck, looking like she’s keeping up her guard in a prison shower. AKKK! Someone has written STOP on the steamy shower’s door. I mean, it could mean STOP stressing, not STOP investigating, but she is like a full-on madwoman just 24 hours after the event from cabin 10. She bolts out of the shower, throws on a towel, and sets to accusing staff and guests alike of writing on the glass shower door. Who did it?! she shrieks. My god, is this what she learned in journalism classes?
So, yes, Keira is a treasure in The Woman in Cabin Ten. I read the book, so I knew that at some point, her character would recover herself and give Keira a chance to set her face into a look of steely resolve and solve the mystery of what the f*** happened to the woman in cabin 10.
Movie Loon 