The question of how far the term “gaslighting” can be applied to Netflix thriller Woman in cabin 10. On the scale of the perfect challenge from the 1944 film. Gas light (in which a conniving man manipulates his new wife into thinking she's crazy) and just uses the word to describe a common lie, it falls somewhere in the middle. But it is clearly intended to remind of such classics as Gas light and even more conspiracy-prone descendants—secrets such as Flight plan or Accidentwhere the search for a missing person is complicated by others claiming the person was never there. At this level Woman in cabin 10 it's a sloppy belly plop into a drink.
The film also borrows the “eat the rich” idea that has become de rigueur in many recent thrillers, albeit in a politely British way. You can tell journalist Laura Blacklock (Keira Knightley) doesn't look like her supposed upper-class counterparts because when she's invited aboard a yacht (described by a fellow journalist as “fucking big”) to cover a gala celebrating the founding of a cancer research charity owned by a wealthy couple, she never wears the right outfit. She comes on board wearing jeans, not knowing that she needs to take off her boots before boarding. She later overdid it in a sparkly dress for dinner.
It's unclear why Laura, the Guardian's stern reporter, is covering this puff pastry. The script tries to make her feel haunted by her recent experience of seeing a source killed for talking to her, only for her to reject the editor's offer of a break. She then turns around and advocates accepting this invitation from Richard Bullmer (Guy Pearce) and his dying wife Annie (Lisa Loven Kongsli), whose cancer has inspired the creation of an ambitious new charity. She seems to want to take some sort of working vacation, which seems like the worst proposal of both worlds. Just a few minutes in, the film manages the unusual trick of making Laura look like she's acting out of character before we even know her.
Once aboard the ship, Laura meets a number of mildly colorful passengers, including power figure Grace (Kaya Scodelario), rock star Danny (Paul Kaye) and handler Heidi (Hannah Waddingham). She is also stunned by the presence of her former photographer Ben (David Ajala) and, while trying to avoid him, meets a mysterious, unidentified blonde living in the cabin next to hers. One night, she hears the unmistakable sound of a fight, a scream and a splash, convincing her that her neighbor has fallen (or been thrown) overboard. But everyone else on the boat claims that cabin 10 is empty, and no one can remember the woman Laura describes.
It's the perfect premise for a locked-boat mystery, reminiscent of the aforementioned thrillers, as well as the Hercule Poirot stories recently brought back to theaters by Kenneth Branagh. (This one specifically reminds Death on the Nile.) Laura, however, lacks the reserved confidence in Poirot's budget. She's meant to be a seasoned reporter, but she rarely conducts investigations with strategic composure, instead scurrying around the boat demanding justice while her shipmates increasingly view her as unstable. However, she also becomes convinced that someone is trying to bring her down.
However, in a thriller like this, being understandable isn't necessarily the most interesting option. Watching Knightley, who is particularly good at playing tightly coiled characters, metaphorically bang her head against the wall doesn't make her a particularly interesting enigma. As a journalist, she has few tricks and tricks up her sleeve. Her behavior raises the cruel question of whether she really should share the blame for the death of her source.
If this question were part of the psychological canvas Woman in cabin 10the film can really cook. But director Simon Stone never succeeds in making his audience think that Laura might actually be crazy – she's just bad at her job. Stone also doesn't delve into her experience enough to make her an effective audience surrogate. Since most of the other characters are thin and unconvincing suspects, Scodelario is the only actor who seems to be having fun, seemingly channeling Cecily Strong. Gemma from Saturday Night Live — Filmmakers can only rely on their own style. As with many female-led thrillers adapted from novels (Girl on the train, Woman in the windowetc.), this style never taps into the neo-Hitchcockian daring that a director like Brian De Palma might have brought to this material. Greenish corridors and several spiraling shots of stairwells induce the same visual vertigo (or Dizziness) as we get it.
As a result, even the film's appealing breeziness—minus the lengthy end credits, it clocks in at about 85 minutes—feels underdeveloped. The entire story hinges on a twist that seems clever on paper but is completely far-fetched in practice. Once that hinge has swung, Stone ramps up the implied tension with assassination attempts, fights, chases, and confrontations. However, as these attempts at excitement appear, the film itself fizzles out. Nearest Woman in cabin 10 comes to class, the comments become increasingly bad cousins of almost every movie he remembers. To claim otherwise wouldn't be a gaslamp-level lie, just the standard over-promise of a streaming thriller.
Woman in cabin 10 It will premiere on Netflix on October 10.
