Clever blend of espionage and marital intrigue

THAT three-star rating for the new Steven Soderbergh movie Black Bag is a matter of personal preference: Kick it up half a star if you’re a person John le Carre espionage thrillers crossed with marital cage matches like Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? look like some good fun; if you don’t like talky, complex, fiendishly intelligent head games.

- TY BURR

Me? Like it, while also recognising that this is the latest effortless Soderbergh miniature, acted by a game and glittering cast with a never-breaking sweat. It’s good, brainy fun but I do miss the days when this director sweated a bit more.

After an amuse-bouche of an opening scene, Black Bag settles into a dinner party at which the stakes are discreetly high. Our chef is George Woodhouse (Michael Fassbender), a British intelligence agent with the best poker face in the business and what appears to be a loving marriage to Kathryn St. Jean (Cate Blanchett).

He’s a glamourous and legendary field operative, while George’s cover is legendary for his slightly scary, slightly Michael, Fassbender stars as George Woodhouse. | Washington Post lover, James (Regé-Jean Page), a slick, ambitious agent who can’t bear Freddie de Zorzi (Noémie Merlant, the government-required psychiatrist.