'The Woman in Cabin 10' Had to Make a Major Change From the Book, Director Explains Why Actorsvaultpro

The following article contains SPOILERS for The Woman in Cabin 10. The Netflix thriller The Woman in Cabin 10 recently arrived on the streamer, and fans of the genre quickly flocked to catch the mystery movie starring Keira Knightley. Based on the book of the same name by Ruth Ware, The Woman in Cabin 10 will surely satisfy fans of the book-to-film adaptations, regardless of the changes the story faced when taken to the screen. Director Simon Stone has addressed these changes that, while minimal, are still significant for the journey of main character Lo Blacklock, and the horrors she thinks she saw while staying on a luxury yacht.

The Woman in Cabin 10 follows Laura “Lo” Blacklock (Knightley), a journalist who is invited on a trip aboard a splendid yacht. The trip is hosted by a millionaire couple, and almost all the guests are snobby socialites. The first night aboard the yacht, Blacklock hears strange noises from the cabin beside hers, the titular Cabin 10, and believes that someone has fallen overboard. The problem is, once the panic subsides, Lo is told that there was no guest in Cabin 10, and the other guests quickly accuse her of being delusional.

The director of the film recently spoke to CinemaBlend, and addressed a key change he thought would work better in the film adaptation. In Ware’s original book, Lo is suffering severe sleep deprivation, and this affects her mental health. Considering it is told from a first-person perspective, the journalist becomes an unreliable narrator. For the film adaptation, Stone believed he had to change this about the character, as he felt that audiences have already seen enough “gaslighting stories”:

“I think that I wasn’t interested that the genre is replete with examples of unreliable narrators or unreliable protagonists in this particular case. And, I feel as if that wasn’t the kind of particular niche that we could fulfill with this. I think there was an opportunity to make it about conspiracy, about the outrage of fighting against corruption.

I think it’s less interesting, because the audience has already experienced a lot of gaslighting stories. It’s less interesting for them to find out whether she’s mad or not. I think it’s much more interesting given that the coup of the twist is such that it really is impressive when you find out what actually happened. That it’s actually much more fun to get the audience to go, ‘I need to find out what happens so that I can agree with her because she seems incredibly convincing’… It makes it a much more heroic story.”

‘The Woman in Cabin 10’: A Hit or Miss for Netflix?

Lo stands on a deck in The Woman in Cabin 10

Netflix

At the time of writing, The Woman in Cabin 10 sadly appears to be another miss for Netflix. At least, where the reviews are concerned. The thriller sits at 27% on the critics’ score at Rotten Tomatoes. The audience score doesn’t get much better, at 33%. On Letterboxd, the film has an average score of 2.6, meaning critics and audiences agree on the film falling under the ever-growing category of “bad Netflix films.”

Turning to Reddit, however, users like “VoldemortsHorcrux” expressed their support, saying, “People will nitpick things to death but I rather liked it. Not too long and to the point. 7/10. Good Saturday night movie that isn’t complete trash and gives you a decent enough murder mystery with an ending that pays out.” User “bronte26” didn’t agree, saying, “This movie made no sense and the worst part is wasting the sublime Hannah Waddingham like that. Did she even have 10 lines? Why the yacht trip to begin with? Why were they each invited on the yacht trip? On the upside, it made me never want to take a yacht trip. It looks dreadfully boring.” Despite the reviews, The Woman in Cabin 10 has now taken the #1 spot on the streamer.