Although this engaging thriller’s core premise owes a nod to Alfred Hitchcock’s The Lady Vanishes, the story — co-written by Emma Frost, Joe Shrapnel, Anna Waterhouse and director Simon Stone, loosely based on Ruth Ware’s best-selling 2016 novel — moves in an entirely different direction.
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| While scanning the many photos that Ben (David Ajala) has taken thus far during their voyage, Laura (Keira Knightley) spots something unexpected. |
It's something of a farewell trip, because the terminally ill Anne isn’t expected to live much longer.
For the most part, the Bullmers’ guests are an insufferably privileged lot: notably condescending Heidi Heatherley (Hannah Waddingham) and her equally pompous husband, Thomas (David Morrissey); hard-partying Adam Sutherland (Daniel Ings); and long-ago rock star Danny Tyler (Paul Kaye). Even Anne’s physician (Art Malik, as Dr. Robert Mehta) and hovering security consultant (Sigrid Nilssen, as Amanda) are oddly chill.
Laura feels like an outsider, an uncomfortable position nobody attempts to correct.
She’s further irked when the on-board photographer turns out to be Ben Morgan (David Ajala), with whom she has uncomfortable personal history. Reflexively trying to avoid him, she accidentally backs into Cabin 10 — the one adjacent to hers — and sees a young woman with bright blond hair: a guest who wasn’t present during earlier gatherings.
Following dinner that evening, Laura is surprised — and intrigued — when Anne seeks a private audience, and explains that she and her husband have decided to donate their entire fortune to charity.
Later that night, Laura is awakened by what sounds like a noisy struggle in the adjacent cabin, followed by a splash. Rushing to her balcony, she sees a woman sinking beneath the waves. She alerts the crew; the yacht stops; Richard and the captain conduct a head-count.
Nobody is missing.
Worse yet, Richard and several crew members insist that Cabin 10 has been empty the entire time.
The trauma Laura recently endured apparently is public knowledge (which is an eyebrow-lift); this prompts everybody to offer faux “pity” while assuming that she hasn’t fully processed the emotional damage. Ergo, just a bad nightmare.
Ah, but the condescending smiles merely harden Laura’s determination to prove, somehow, that Cabin 10 wasn’t empty when the voyage began.
It’s an intriguing set-up, which immediately engages us viewers to function as Laura’s shadow, wondering a) what the heck is going on; and b) who is involved.
Because Stone draws such uniformly patronizing performances from so many characters, we’re inclined to suspect just about everybody; with few exceptions, they all behave suspiciously. Or is it just the filthy rich being their boorish selves?
Ironically, because Ben knows her quite well, he becomes her sole ally ... or is he trying too hard to be nice?
Knightley feels just right as an amateur Nancy Drew, and the scripters keep Laura’s behavior within acceptable physical limits. Knightley makes ample use of her signature smile/smirk, as Laura repeatedly confronts doubt and naysayers. Knightley and Morgan also have a credible rapport, which gives Laura and Ben the comfortable atmosphere of previous intimacy (even if she initially tries to distance herself).
Pearce’s Richard oozes insincere sympathy toward Laura; as the host, he must at least pretend to take her seriously. In fairness, he accommodates many of her initial requests, but Pearce’s expression wavers as the days pass, and Richard’s patience wears thin.
The always regal Waddingham makes Heidi marvelously haughty, an often plastic smile wholly at odds with her disdainful gaze. Morrissey’s Thomas doesn’t even try to be polite, and Kaye’s Danny is a flamboyant boor. Malik’s Dr. Mehta and Nilssen’ Amanda are just plain creepy.
Cinematographer Ben Davis generates considerable tension while emphasizing the yacht’s narrow corridors, and also delivers breathtaking establishment shots of Kent, the Dorset coast, the Scottish Highlands, and Norway’s breathtaking Hjørundfjorden. Production designer Alice Normington obviously had fun making the (actual) Dutch super-yacht Savannah look even more opulent.
The twisty narrative is laden with moves and counter-moves, along with little triumphs just as quickly dashed. Seasoned mystery readers might deduce the what and why, but sussing out the who is trickier. Regardless, Stone and his editors — Mark Day and Katie Weiland — move their film’s just-right 92 minutes at a satisfying clip.
Constant Companion and I had a good time. So will you.
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