“ Black Bag ,” an elegant, quick-witted new thriller that finds Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender playing married spies, isn’t the pair’s first time together on screen. That honor goes to 2017’s “Song to Song,” one of Terrence Malick’s most intangible and head-scratching offerings — though the two stars can barely recall that experience.

Steven Soderbergh's "Black Bag," starring Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett as married British spies, is a triumph. And Pierce Brosnan is great.

Cate Blanchett, Rege-Jean Page and Pierce Brosnan also star in the Steven Soderbergh movie that is one of the director’s recent bests.