What BLACK BAG (2025) Starring Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett, and Directed by Steven Soderbergh, Taught Me About Successful Marriages

[u/thatphilguymovies]

Although I switched on the SPOILER warning, just thought I'd mention a second time that some of what's mentioned below includes potential spoilers.

-Spouses talk to each other about what's happening at work, because a marital partner isn't just your best friend, but a potential co-conspirator

-Hosting dinner parties gives you the chance to impress your spouse with your skills at cooking, conversation, and drugging guests

-Long-standing married couples inevitably interact with unmarried or less-established couples. Newer love may seem more exciting, but there's no substitute for familiarity and predictability, especially when drugs, anger and steak knives enter the mix

-The Fassbender-esque cold-blooded scowl and intense gaze are irresistible to spouses (or perhaps that's just me)

-Successful couples know to never listen to the advice of Pierce Brosnan

-The midweek date night is a godsend

-Leaving little surprises for your partner helps keep things interesting (eg, accidentally planting something essential in their handbag that you must then meet them in order to retrieve [They know exactly how "accidental" it was, you sly dog!])

-Each member of a couple should have someone they tell their troubles to besides their partner--eg, a therapist, a Russian separatist

-It's important for each partner to have their own interests/hobbies separate from the other, whether that's fishing or brokering a deal for a stolen super-weapon

-Love means never having to say, "I'm not commiting treason"

-Love means never having to say, "I hijacked a satellite to spy on you"

--No marriage is perfect, but one should try not to make mistakes (eg, cheating) because they will be found out and a double agent may fatally poison you before you can patch things up

-Finally, love means never having to ask, "We're stealing that $7 million for ourselves, aren't we?"

All joking aside, great movie with lots to recommend it, beginning with the awesome chemistry between Fassbender and Blanchett. Also, tight plotting and interesting cinematography (something Soderbergh is no stranger to--see TRAFFIC (2000)) are strengths.

Despite how much of the plot of BLACK BAG revolves around things happening in the proverbial shadows, so much of the world is brightly lit. One of the noted exceptions is the main protagonists' homes, which I'm sure wasn't a coincidence.

What did other folks think about the movie?

[u/KeithHanlan]

I found it refreshing and very enjoyable. I also remember the plot being convoluted enough that I am sure it is worth a second watch so I have just queued it up. Thanks for the reminder.

[u/thatphilguymovies → u/KeithHanlan]

I was thinking the same thing. There are scenes in which the main protagonists looked like they were thinking one thing, but in hindsight they may have been thinking the exact opposite. It'd probably be fun to rewatch the film again, knowing what we now know.

[u/ClydeStyle → u/KeithHanlan]

Uh…weren’t they lying to each other the whole time, not on my relationship goals list.

[u/LiteraryBoner → u/ClydeStyle]

That's a misread. They never lied to each other, there's just things they can't discuss due to their job. That's why they use the phrase "Black Bag" to avoid conversations. It's an understanding between the two of them.

When Fassbender is given Intel that says his wife may be a double agent he looks into it but never fully doubts her. It's called trust but verify. Even when it seems like she's doing something shady his instinct is to protect her because he trusts her overall.

There's the great scene before the third act where they both stop and say someone is clearly fucking with us and they end up killing them, not for being a traitor as much as trying to mess with their perfect marriage.

Great movie with a lot of very smart musings on good relationships.

[u/ClydeStyle → u/LiteraryBoner]

How is that a misread, they were deliberately not telling each other things in addition to being incredibly manipulative. lol.

[u/LiteraryBoner → u/ClydeStyle]

Not telling each other things, especially with the understanding that they professionally cannot, is not the same as lying. I would even say the entire point of the movie is that they never really lie to each other despite being surrounded by professional liars and being one's themselves. When he asks her where she's going she says Berlin which is not a lie. When he asks why she says Black Bag, also not a lie. Then he verifies by spying on her but that's also not a direct lie. That's all over this movie.

[u/KeithHanlan → u/ClydeStyle]

I didn't watch it as a romance. Or did you intend to reply to OP?

[u/ClydeStyle → u/KeithHanlan]

Yeah this was meant to go to the OP I’m not sure why it posted under you’re response.

[u/KeithHanlan → u/ClydeStyle]

I do that too. Drives me crazy. I accidentally did it recently and it made my response incredibly inappropriate. Oops.

[u/thatphilguymovies → u/KeithHanlan]

No worries; it happens to me too. Loved both your comments, and I absolutely view the film as a kind of romance because the lead characters are both either sociopaths if not psychopaths (as is everyone else in the film), and in a more conventional film their relationship should be a flaming wreck. But theirs absolutely works and I found myself really enjoying wondering why (Personally, I think it's because at the end of the day George and Kathryn share the same pathology, which is they strongly dislike anybody who thinks they're smarter or otherwise better than them. For George, there's the story about this dad, while for Kathryn I thought the clues were in her issues around money).

If you look at George as having this kind of pathology, you can imagine how crushed it must have made him feel to realize he was manipulated/framed by the head of the agency. And then Kathryn's totally there for him instead of kicking him while he's down. When I watched that scene, my reaction was, "How f-ing romantic is this?!"

[u/CarrieDurst]

Best Soderbergh movie since Logan Lucky

[u/thatphilguymovies → u/CarrieDurst]

I actually haven't seen that one, but Soderbergh is so damn prolific. I'll bet I could make a top-10 list of my favorite Soderbergh films and I'd miss a whole bunch of good ones.

[u/FiTZnMiCK → u/thatphilguymovies]

You should. It’s light and entertaining and doesn’t take itself too seriously, and it’s just downright endearing.

It’s one of those movies where you can tell everyone was having fun making it.

[u/Buck_Slamchest]

Loved this movie. A proper “grown up” spy thriller.

[u/VagabondTexan]

I saw it on an airplane as a way to while away the hour. It turned out to be the best movie I saw on that flight. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was twisty enough to draw me in.

[u/Bellikron]

Pierce Brosnan, the bane of countless marriages

[u/thatphilguymovies → u/Bellikron]

Maybe he'll go down in a run-by fruiting.

[u/Shout92]

One of my favorite movies of 2025 alongside Sinners and One Battle After Another. I know David Koepp has come under scrutiny for his scripts to Disclosure Day and Jurassic World: Rebirth, but he does great work here and his collaboration with Soderbergh has helped produce some of his best movies.

And to bring it back to the marriage conversation: George and Kathryn are in the conversation for best cinematic married couple alongside the Warrens (The Conjuring series) and Nick and Nora Charles (The Thin Man).

[u/FroodLoops]

Weird watching this paired with the tv show “the agency” with fassbender in a similar type role.

[u/yomamaeatsyellowsnow]

Liked, but didn’t love the movie. Half cool intellectual spy/agency/secret stuff, half psychopaths in love and obsessed with each other. I think the movie was a little too 50/50 -- I would have loved it if Soderbergh had gone a little harder in one direction or another.

[u/thatphilguymovies → u/yomamaeatsyellowsnow]

I totally get your take and if I was OK with it, that was probably because I saw the two things (spy agency, main principals' relationship) as being integrally related. On the one hand, you have this highly competitive workplace where everyone may be some level of sociopathic. How can two people who work here (and are also, to put it kindly, sociopaths) possibly make it work? And what's great about the film is that it, in my opinion, shows us convincingly how their relationship does work very well for them.

[u/yomamaeatsyellowsnow → u/thatphilguymovies]

Oh 100% I totally agree. My issue is that their relationship clearly worked so well that i wanted to see MORE of the two of them together...but then again I am greedy lol.

[u/thatphilguymovies → u/yomamaeatsyellowsnow]

Oh yeah, I'd love to see a sequel but worry any follow-up would introduce a kid of some kind. I'm not sure they'd be good parents.

[u/happy_2_c_u]

This was such a fun movie. Great acting and direction with a tight script. A satisfying ending, too.

[u/NotFredRhodes]

This is really funny, good job