Black Bag (2025)
12-month trend
12-month trend
Monthly article views
2025-09 to 2026-08
A counterintelligence officer must identify a traitor within his circle of colleagues, only to discover the suspect might be his own wife.
The story
George Woodhouse, a counterintelligence officer with the National Cyber Security Centre, is given one week by his superior to investigate the leak of a top-secret software program code-named Severus. Among the five suspects is George's wife, Kathryn, who is also an intelligence officer. To uncover the truth, George invites the other four suspects—all NCSC operatives—to a dinner party where he uses a psychological game to lower their inhibitions and uncover their secrets. As the investigation unfolds, the personal lives and professional loyalties of the officers are put to the test in a high-stakes game of cat and mouse.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
George Woodhouse, an NCSC counterintelligence officer, must find the source of a leaked software program called Severus within a week. He invites four colleagues—Clarissa, Freddie, James, and Zoe—to a dinner where he drugs their food to provoke honesty. During the dinner, secrets emerge, including Freddie's infidelity. After his superior, Meacham, dies of a heart attack, George begins to suspect his wife, Kathryn. He discovers she has a secret bank account and is traveling to Zurich. Meanwhile, the other characters are entangled in their own secrets: Zoe is a psychiatrist who broke up with James, and Clarissa is being manipulated by George. In Switzerland, Kathryn meets a Russian dissident, while a different Russian general disappears with the Severus code, heading toward a potential nuclear meltdown. It is revealed that a conspiracy exists: Stieglitz and James intended to cause the meltdown, while Zoe and Freddie tried to stop it using Kathryn. At a second dinner, a confrontation occurs. James confesses to the plot and tries to shoot George with a gun loaded with blanks. Kathryn then kills James with her own weapon. The film ends with George and Kathryn reconciling, and the revelation that the secret bank account remains untouched.
- First release year
- 2025
- Runtime (minutes)
- 94
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Steven Soderbergh
- Writers
- David Koepp · writer
- Cast and characters
- Cate Blanchett · Kathryn St. Jean; Michael Fassbender · George T. Woodhouse; Marisa Abela · Clarissa Beatrice Dubose; Tom Burke · Frederick Alan 'Freddie' Smalls; Naomie Harris · Dr. Zoe Vaughan; Regé-Jean Page · James Stokes; Pierce Brosnan · Arthur Stieglitz; Gustaf Skarsgård · Philip Meacham
- Genres
- spy thriller
- Themes
- loyalty; betrayal; espionage; marital trust
- Tone and mood
- tense; sophisticated; suspenseful; cerebral
- Premise and plot tags
- spy thriller; mystery; political intrigue
- Reception
- The film received critical acclaim, being described as a sophisticated and tense spy thriller that focuses on character dynamics and suspense.
- Reported review scores
- Metacritic · score: 85 · scale: 100 · review count: 53; CinemaScore · score: B · scale: A+ to F; PostTrak · score: 75% · scale: percentage
- Production trivia
- The score was composed by David Holmes, who also makes a cameo as a DJ.; The film was released in France on March 12, 2025, and in the US on March 14, 2025.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
Your lists
Loading your lists…