No one lies like a spy.

That, essentially, is the idea behind “Black Bag,” a tight, taut and highly stylish espionage thriller in theaters this week.

In the latest film from director Steven Soderbergh, intelligence operatives cheat on their lovers with ease and make it difficult for even their colleagues to trust them — especially when their lovers and colleagues are the same people. They’re trained in deception and often are forbidden from revealing where they are going and why.

Be gone for three days. “Black bag,” they say, spy slang for a metaphorical container of highly sensitive information.

Michael Fassbender stars as George Woodhouse, an experienced agent with the United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Centre. Whereas MI5 and MI6 gather intelligence from people, the NCSC draws it from technology.

Early on in the seductive and secretive affair, George is tipped off by a colleague that one of five others is suspected of having stolen Severus, a nasty bit of malware with the power to destabilize a nuclear facility. Worse: One of the suspects is George’s wife, Kathryn St. Jean (Cate Blanchett).

George adores his wife (we believe) and she him (seemingly) — the viewer is left to wonder if either is lying when he says he would do anything for her, including kill, and never lie to her and when she promises she would lie to him only were it necessary.

In the hope of rooting out the treasonous colleague, George decides he and Kathryn will host a dinner with the other suspects: Freddie Smalls (Tom Burke), who once showed great promise but has devoted much attention of late to various vices; Clarissa Dubose (Marisa Abela), the youngest and most impressionable of the suspects and with whom Freddie is sleeping; Dr. Zoe Vaughan (Naomie Harris), the staff psychiatrist treating, among others, Kathryn; and Colonel James Stokes (Regé-Jean Page), an ambitious operative recently given a promotion desired by Freddie and who’s seeing Zoe personally and professionally.

“What’s on the menu?” Kathryn asks George.

“Fun and games,” he says coolly.

“We may have a mess to clean up.”

“If we’re lucky.”

Things do get rather messy, literally and figuratively, after George initiates a contest in which each attendee must announce a New Year’s-like resolution in the voice of the person to his or her right.

George still doesn’t have the information he needs, however, and soon finds one of the first pieces of evidence suggesting Kathryn may be involved.

As “Black Bag” proceeds, George quietly works the case — fishing for answers and finding solace in actual fishing — and this person talks privately with that person and that person with this person.

Ultimately, “Black Bag” is a whodunit, one involving one more key figure, Pierce Brosnan’s Arthur Steiglitz, their boss, who keeps his subordinates in the dark on operations of which they’re not a part. (Casting an actual James Bond in a supporting role of a spy movie feels like a good move karmically, does it not?)

The hour-and-a-half “Black Bag” is economically penned by the prolific David Koepp, who, along with writing recent Soderbergh efforts “Kimi” (2022) and “Presence” (2025), counts a handful of Steven Spielberg films among his credits, including “Jurassic Park” (1993), “War of the Worlds” (2005) and “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” (2008). The idea for “Black Bag,” he says in the film’s production notes, came from talking to intelligence agents for research while working on the Brian De Palma-directed “Mission: Impossible” (1996).

“Black Bag” isn’t the most complex or daring of spy stories, but it keeps you invested in its goings on.

Speaking of prolific, that’s a good word for “Sex, Lies, and Videotape” director Soderburgh, who since 2017 — a few years after announcing he was retiring — has cranked out about one film per year. (The well-received “Presence” was released only a couple of months ago.) “Black Bag” is one of his stronger efforts in no small part to its distinct style.

Cool lighting. Cool music. Cool clothes.

And a cool cast.

Fresh off portraying a spy in the Showtime series “The Agency,” the typically outstanding Fassbender (“Shame,” “Steve Jobs”) brings that little something interesting to George, who loathes liars, making his professional choice a questionable one. In no small part to the actor, the character is a compelling mix of confident and concerned.

And, as you’d expect, Blanchett (“Blue Jasmine,” “Carol”) is commanding in that understated way. As does George, you struggle to understand Kathryn’s motives.

Supporting players Harris (“Moonlight”), Page (“Bridgerton”), Abela (“Back to Black”) and Burke (“Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga”) all shine, but the latter does so the brightest, convincingly portraying Freddie as both capable and catastrophic.

“Black Bag” ends up back where it meaningfully begins — at George and Kathryn’s table for another round of messy fun and games.

We wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

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‘BLACK BAG’

3 stars (out of 4)

MPA rating: R (for language including some sexual references, and some violence)

Running time: 1:33

How to watch: In theaters March 14

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