‘Black Bag’ movie review: Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender light up Steven Soderbergh’s sleek espionage thriller

‘Black Bag’ movie review: Bookended by two dinners over a week, this talky, adrenaline-charged mole-hunt is simultaneously retro and prescient

This is the season of Michael Fassbender. Just as he lights up our little screens in the excellent espionage thriller The Agency, on the big screen, he is George Woodhouse in Steven Soderbergh’s Black Bag. George, a British intelligence officer, is informed by his superior, Meacham (Gustaf Skarsgård), of a mole in the service who has stolen a code called Severus that will do untold harm to nuclear reactors.

Meacham passes George a list of five probables, including his wife, Kathryn (Cate Blanchett), who is also in the service. George decides to invite the suspects, who are also spies, home for dinner. The guests include Clarissa (Marisa Abela), a satellite imagery specialist, Zoe (Naomie Harris), the company therapist, and their partners, agents Freddie (Tom Burke) and James (Regé-Jean Page).

When George tells Kathryn of the reason for the dinner, she lightly exclaims, “It is long since we had a traitor for dinner,” qualifying it with “at least knowingly.” George tells Kathryn to avoid the chana masala as it is dosed with a truth serum. The truth sets everyone free in varying degrees with some help from a steak knife.

Black Bag, written by David Koepp, uncovers the truth about traitors, trust and loyalty through conversations — between husband and wife, lovers and friends, and therapist and patient. Through the conversations we learn of Zoe’s intensely Catholic upbringing; the fact that George is practically a human polygraph and also that he surveilled his cheating father and took him out to the cleaners; James is terribly ambitious; Clarissa is needy and fears abandonment, after her father walked out; and despite Freddie drinking too much and having trouble being monogamous, tries his best as a parent and lover.

Black Bag is beautifully written and a gorgeous-looking film. The sharp contours merging into soft, backlit frames lend a luxurious feel. And oh, what magnificent homes these people live in! From George and Kathryn’s glass-fronted duplex to Clarrisa’s cosy book-lined room and even the cold, clean lines of the office space, all living quarters are blindingly aspirational.

To complement their surroundings, you have an exceptional cast. Blanchett, with her boots clacking authoritatively on the floor while her coats sweep by or her softer-silhouetted blouses with long sashes or demurely sexy lingerie, is the very definition of casual confidence as Kathryn. Fassbender as George, with his thick glasses and fitted wardrobe, might look like the opposite of Kathryn, but he actually perfectly complements her.

There is also Pierce Brosnan as the boss, Stieglitz, who is not above getting his hands dirty despite his silver hair, three-piece suit and benign appearance.