Based on Ruth Ware’s bestselling thriller of the same name, “The Woman in Cabin 10” (2025) is a hasty reflection of a conventionally simplistic murder mystery. With a plethora of predictably hackneyed plot twists, the Simon Stone directorial relies heavily on Keira Knightley’s committed central performance and Ben Davis’ sharp lens on pristine Scandinavian landscapes. The Netflix original centers around a journalist convinced to have witnessed a murder on a luxury yacht, despite evidence suggesting otherwise. Undoubtedly an intriguing premise. The ‘mystery’ that follows, not so much.
The Woman in Cabin 10 (2025) ‘Netflix’ Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
Laura Blacklock (Keira Knightley), an acclaimed journalist who specializes in championing the causes of downtrodden women, rejoins work after her last traumatic assignment. An assignment where her subject was killed. With encouragement from her editor, Laura accepts a billionaire’s invitation to join an elite group of people on a luxurious sailing trip, for an apparent fundraiser. After boarding the yacht, Laura gets the chance to meet the rest of the invitees. All rich, all eccentric in their own way. Well, all but one. Ben (David Ajala) who is Laura’s ex-boyfriend and a photographer.
However, the evening is not complete without meeting the party’s hosts: Anne (Lisa Loven Kongsli) and Richard Bullmer (Guy Pearce). Anne is a terminal patient, and Richard has dedicated this trip as a last hurrah for her life’s work. It is implied that while Richard is a key board member, Anne is the one who holds the key to all their wealth. During dinner, Laura is informed by Anne’s head of security, Sigrid (Amanda Collin), that Anne wants to meet her alone. On her way, Laura stumbles into Cabin number 10, the cabin adjacent to her own. She sees a woman there, seemingly tired and in shabby clothes, not in sync with any of the cruise residents. Laura apologizes for her intrusion and leaves the room.
During their meeting, Laura is charmed by Anne’s candor and the way she stands apart from all her rich friends. Of course, imminent death has a way of drastically changing perspective. In Anne’s case, death’s proximity has made her aware of the unfair ways in which she became rich. As a result, in a bid to give back, Anne has decided to donate all her money to a foundation that works without any greed. Laura is pleased to learn about Anne’s plan. Deciding to talk more on the next day, Laura leaves Anne to rest.
On that night, Laura hears a commotion from the cabin adjacent to her. The cabin numbered 10. As she goes to her cabin’s balcony, she notices someone going overboard out of the balcony of cabin 10. She raises the alarm. All the guests and crew gather, and they do a head count. Nobody is missing. Richard and the ship’s captain inform Laura that nobody was staying in cabin 10. Everyone assumes Laura has been dreaming. Anne’s doctor and one of the other guests, Dr. Mehta, offer his services to calm Laura’s nerves. Only Ben seems not to be too hasty to discard Laura’s testimony.
The Woman in Cabin 10 (2025) ‘Netflix’ Movie Ending Explained:
Why Was Laura Attacked?
Despite everyone else’s protests, Laura continues to search for the woman she saw in cabin 10. Her next meeting with Anne gets cut short as Anne says she is too ill now. Using Ben’s help, Laura finds a bunch of old pictures of a party where Richard and all the other guests of the yacht attended. In one of those photographs, she sees the woman. She shows that picture to everyone to see if anyone can recognise her. It becomes clear that Laura has not hallucinated the entire thing as her co-habitants would have her believe. She starts to receive threats as she closes in on the truth. Eventually, someone pushes her off the top deck. She survives thanks to the quick intervention of some of the guests.
Who Was the Woman in Cabin 10?
After the attack on her life, Laura becomes convinced of the existence of a nefarious plot. That night, she is lured out of her cabin by a hooded figure that resembles the woman in cabin 10. Laura’s obsession with the truth blinds her from the impending danger. The hooded figure reveals herself to be Anne. Except that it is not exactly Anne. It is the woman Laura saw in cabin 10. She is wearing makeup to look like Anne.
The truth hits Laura like a heavy blow. She realizes that the body that was thrown off the yacht was not that of the mysterious woman. It was the real Anne who was killed. The woman in cabin 10 is the impostor who has taken Anne’s place now. The impostor Anne, her real name being Carrie, confesses that Richard has planned all of these. She was asked to act as Anne, and was not aware that Richard was planning to kill Anne.
How Did Laura Stop Richard?
It appears that Richard became aware of Anne’s plan to donate her wealth to charity. He devised a clever plan to have a doppelganger replace Anne so that he could lay claim to that wealth. Carrie was that doppelganger. Richard found her using a face recognition and tracking software developed by his friend. Richard lured Carrie under the pretext of a simple acting job. A lucrative one at that. When Anne found out about that, Richard killed her in cabin 10. That was the commotion Laura heard.
After the first day, when real Anne professed her desire to Laura, Carrie took over the role of Anne. That is why ‘Anne’ started to avoid Laura despite promising to continue their chat one day ago. Dr. Mehta and the ship’s captain were part of Richard’s plan. As the ship reaches its destination, Richard asks Mehta to find and kill Laura. And Mehta would have succeeded if not for Ben, who came back to look for Laura. Ben sacrifices himself and allows Laura to escape.
After escaping, Laura comes to the event where Anne (Carrie in disguise) would formally give her wealth to Richard. Laura is stopped by Sigrid. Knowing Sigrid’s loyalty towards Anne, Laura tells her the truth about Richard killing Anne. With her help, Laura sets out to prove that. Laura enters the gala and creates a scene by telling Anne wants to give the money to charity. She asks Anne (again, Carrie) to confirm that. Seizing the moment, Carrie, as Anne, says that she wants to donate all her money to charity. This, in turn, traps Richard into blurting out that Carrie is not the real Anne, so her words should not be counted. Resultantly, Richard proves that Laura has been telling the truth all along.
What Happens to Dr. Mehta and the Ship’s Captain?
In the climax, Richard takes Carrie hostage and threatens to kill her. However, Sigrid and Laura put a stop to that. Laura’s heavy blow kills Richard. In the end, Laura writes about the real Anne and her undying spirit that would not diminish due to her final act of benevolence. We learn that Carrie is happily reunited with her young daughter. Mehta and the Ship’s captain face a double-murder enquiry. Mehta did kill Ben, after all. Laura also writes a heartwarming obituary for Ben.
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