MOVIE NEWS – The Black Bag is so popular with critics that even Rolling Stone magazine’s incredibly picky critic, David Fears, is completely into it. The writer of the magazine, who can influence cultural trends, defines the film’s formula: it’s as if David Albee’s drama We’re Not Afraid of Wolf had been written by John LeCarré, one of the greatest masters of spy novels. Fears even makes a little joke about it: he thinks it’s a credit to screenwriter David Koepp for not simply naming the film’s heroes David and Martha after the characters in the play.

Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender, who are at the peak of their careers, play intelligence officers, but in different fields. The woman, Kathryn, is an operational agent working in the field, and the husband, George, is a cybersecurity counterintelligence officer. Despite their great love, there are certain things they can’t even talk about between themselves – what is a closely guarded secret, according to their agreement, goes into the symbolic black bag. The contents of the bag become important when George is tasked with exposing a traitor in the organization, and Kathryn is also on the list. Of course, the stakes are almost the fate of the world: someone wants to sell a devastating virus, Severus, on the free market, which can bring down entire economies.

Fear finds the Black Bag perfect, and he can get so excited about it that he comes up with two more apt similes. According to him, Ian Fleming, the father of James Bond, would be proud of the spy aspect of the story, while Ingmar Bergman, the director of the classic Scenes from a Marriage, would also be thrilled to see the film. And if you haven’t eaten dessert yet, you should try Fear’s other analogy, which is that Black Bag is like the finest chocolate hazelnut spread, in which bitter, salty and sweet nuances create a masterful harmony.

(Black Bag – domestic release: April 3, 2025.)