The conversation around sex in movies has been constant. Films like Challengers and Babygirl were some of the most talked-about of the past year, and just in the past week, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the way audiences have focused on the relationship between Mickey and Nasha in reactions to Mickey 17. Despite the amount of sex scenes in movies constantly declining, there is clearly an audience for films with sexual and romantic themes, whether explicit, like Best Picture winner Anora, or more understated, like Challengers. Enter Black Bag, directed by Steven Soderbergh: the sleek, sexy, mid-budget thriller audiences have been asking for, centering on the relationship between two British intelligence agents, George (Michael Fassbender) and Kathryn (Cate Blanchett). While this film may not be what audiences imagine when thinking of erotic thrillers, I would argue that Black Bag is exactly what the current movie industry needs.
Black Bag isn’t an action movie, despite what the premise might have you believe. The film begins with George receiving a new assignment — finding a mole in the agency in possession of Severus, a program capable of wiping out millions. George quickly realizes that his wife is a potential suspect, forcing him to reckon with his intense loyalty to Kathryn alongside his militant devotion to his work.
An interesting premise on its own, what makes Black Bag unique is what comes next: George invites two other couples over for dinner, each of them a suspect on the agency’s list. We meet Clarissa, a young satellite specialist, who is partnered with Freddie, an older agent recently passed over for a promotion. Across the dinner table is James, a younger agent, and Zoe, the agency’s in-house psychiatrist who treats them all – including her own boyfriend. The complicated dynamics of these two couples serve as efficient foils to the effortless passion of the main relationship, and allow Soderbergh to explore how work and romance can interact with each other in different ways.
While Black Bag doesn’t feature any actual sex scenes, its casual depiction of sex and romance is incredibly refreshing. Despite the world-ending stakes of Severus, Soderbergh is almost entirely uninterested in the action. Instead, Black Bag is a romance film, focused on the enduring loyalty between George and Kathryn. While the trailer might lead audiences to expect George to track his wife’s actions and debate whether or not he has the strength to kill her, his real motivations are much more tender. George is sly about where his loyalties lie, but in a tense scene between Clarissa and George, in which she begs him for the secret to his happy marriage, he reveals that his actions are always for the protection of Kathryn. Soderbergh’s thesis often seems to be that there is something incredibly sensual about loyalty and devotion, prompting Clarrisa’s response: “that’s so hot.” While he chooses to cut away before any potential on-screen sex between the main couple, it is their privacy and the mysterious nature of their dynamic that makes their relationship so strong. Where the other couples happily divulge the inadequacies of their sex lives over dinner, Soderbergh chooses to keep the relationship between George and Kathryn private not just to their colleagues, but to the audience. In a job that is so innately voyeuristic, there’s something so profound about keeping these characters’ private life private.
In January of this year, Soderbergh released Presence. While the two movies may seem entirely different on the surface, there are some throughlines that give a strong sense of what Soderbergh is interested in at this point in his career. Both films are technically excellent — there are few directors working today with as much understanding of framing and shot composition as Soderbergh. But more importantly, both use the medium of film in new, exciting ways to tell stories that are incredibly human. Presence uses a ghost story to explore the difficult dynamics of a fractured family, while Black Bag uses the spy thriller to create a surprisingly tender romance. Where they differ, however, is in their point of view. Presence was shot from the perspective of a ghost that allows audiences glimpses into private conversations between members of the family. Here, the choice to bar audiences completely from these private moments has created one of the most romantic movies of the year (so far). Don’t let the trailer fool you, Black Bag, like all of Soderbergh’s works, is one-of-a-kind, and exactly what audiences needed.
Nicholas York is a sophomore in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations. He can be reached at nay22@cornell.edu.
