Black Bag (now streaming on VOD platforms like Amazon Prime Video) is Steven Soderbergh’s 36th movie, about 25 of which I wish I had the time to rewatch tonight. He’s one of the best in the business, and is absolutely cruising with this wickedly clever spy thriller starring Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett as British spies who also happen to be the perfect couple – call ’em the anti-Mr. and Mrs. Smith. No, really. I’m unbuttoning my collar as we speak, just thinking about them, smartly dressed, smart as hell and being very, very hot as they play crafty espionage games by day and slide toward each other in silk pajamas by night. Not that this is a traditional romance, mind you; it’s more about trust, and understanding the ins and outs of your partner, with all the international skullduggery functioning as a metaphor.
BLACK BAG: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
The Gist: I’ve heard that office romances can be problematic, but this takes the cake – and there’s even a shot here where Cate Blanchett takes an actual cake. She wraps it in plastic and puts it in the fridge because it didn’t get eaten after a dinner party goes sideways by design, and the cake was like the dinner MacGuffin, a bit of detail to make the guests think they might actually get to the dessert. Am I overanalyzing one throwaway shot in this movie? Yep. But it’s so brutally efficient, every shot has significance.
Anyway. Let’s take a step back. Prior to the dinner party, Meacham (Gustaf Skarsgard) gives British intelligence agent George (Fassbender) a whack-a-mole assignment. There’s an in-house leak, and considering they’re not plumbers, this is a major problem. On the list of potential rats is Kathryn (Blanchett), George’s wife. Is this a conflict of interest, or the right man for the job? I dunno, because I’m not a spy. Let’s just say it’s the latter. George is a hell of a cook so he invites the suspects over for dinner: Clarissa (Marisa Abela, Back to Black), a tech at the spy agency. Zoe (Naomie Harris, Moonlight), the company shrink. And field agents Freddie (Tom Burke, Furiosa) and James (Rege-Jean Page Bridgerton). He even warns Kathryn that this dinner isn’t pleasure, and that she should avoid the food he juiced with a little sumpin-sumpin to loosen tongues. And they sure loosen, especially considering Clarissa and Freddie are dating, and Zoe and James are dating, and Zoe knows everybody’s secrets. See what I mean about office romances and conflicts of interest?
Now, I know what you’re thinking: This is bollocks. Utter hogwash. That ain’t how a tight ship, especially a tight spy ship, should be run. But this movie is so crisply efficient you won’t have time to pick anything apart until after the conclusion has you purring with delight. George is fastidious (it seems like no coincidence that that word shares its first three letters with Fassbender) and Kathryn is elegant down to her marrow and they just have to glide past each other to give us the impression that their love runs as deep as it gets. They don’t have pet names or playfully squeeze each other in the kitchen; you just feel that their mutual adoration is instinctual, sensual. They do engage in a little insider banter – when one asks a question and the other can’t answer without divulging state secrets, they say, “It’s in the black bag.” It also helps that George coolly and flatly states outright that he’d move heaven and earth to help her even if she betrays her country. This is love, this is love, that he’s feeling.
But there’s still this question of who might’ve let a dangerous thingy in a thumb drive dubbed Severus get into the wrong hands. So George gets to probing. I know that sounds like a double-entendre, and it is, but it also isn’t. Actually, first, he goes fishing, like on a boat, because it helps him think, and then he goes fishing at the agency. He sneaks around, he threatens blackmail, he schedules polygraph tests, he takes Kathryn to a movie. No, really. He found a ticket stub in the trash so they go to the same movie and he watches to see if she reacts like she’s seen it before. It’s just due diligence. As ever, all is fair in love and war.
What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: We’ll see if Black Bag has legs like Soderbergh’s all-time best, Out of Sight, but he certainly kindles enough potent romantic chemistry here to make you remember George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez nestled up against each other in the trunk of a car.
Performance Worth Watching: Blanchett and Fassbender barely raise their voices, and they’re positively electric together – and we feel the juice coursing between them even when they’re apart.
Memorable Dialogue: Setting the table for dinner:
Kathryn: What’s on the menu?
George: Fun and games.
Kathryn: Will there be a mess to clean up?
George: With any luck.
Sex and Skin: Almost nothing. This is the sexiest movie ever without any sex in it. It’s far sexier imagining George and Kathryn having sex than actually seeing them have sex.
Our Take: OK, so we have the dinner MacGuffin (cake) and the plot MacGuffin (the thingy), but there’s also the relationship MacGuffin that’s right there in the title: Because no matter what George finds in Kathryn’s black bag, he’ll remain devoted to her. The fact that Fassbender and Blanchett can ignite loins in a scant few seconds of screen time means they’re perfectly in tune with Soderbergh’s efficient, style-forward method – shooting on digital, sleek environs, lead actors who can speak volumes with a stoic expression. Black Bag is as lean as films get, clocking in at 93 minutes, David Koepp’s script layered with rich, suggestive dialogue that explains as it infers as it implies as it makes us chuckle.
Of course, this is by no means a typically violent spy thriller. The twists that come pre-installed in the genre are present, but are by no means the emphasis. We’re far more invested in the interpersonal than the international, and that’s the source of Black Bag’s irresistible wit. Here’s a hint: watch Fassbender and Blanchett’s eyes instead of following the plot like a dog watching the Milk Bone in its owner’s waving hand. The film is about marriage and fidelity – one character describes George as having “flagrant monogamy” – more than the fate of the world or national security. George, we learn, is highly skilled at sniffing out romantic infidels, and the true revelation is rooted in character, not plot: It’s obvious he’d rather see Kathryn cheat on her country than on him.
Our Call: Upper-echelon Soderbergh. STREAM IT.
John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
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