Warning: SPOILERS ahead for Black BagThe real villain of Steven Soderbergh’s Black Bag isn’t any of the six characters who share an awkward dinner party, but Pierce Brosnan’s intelligence chief, Arthur Stieglitz. It’s Stieglitz who instigated the leak from Britain’s National Cyber Security Center (NCSC), although he did have some help from Colonel James Stokes. What’s more, it’s Stieglitz who’s responsible for arguably the creepiest moment of the entire movie, that really freaked me out when I first saw it.
When she realizes who might be behind the Severus leak in Black Bag, Cate Blanchett’s character Kathryn St. Jean goes to find the culprit she suspects, eating lunch at an upmarket London restaurant. There she finds Arthur Stieglitz, played by Pierce Brosnan in an incredible performance alongside the rest of the Black Bag cast, who in an act of apparent cruelty befitting the villain of the piece, seems to be eating his lunch while it’s still alive.
Pierce Brosnan’s Stieglitz Eating A Fish That Is Still Moving In Black Bag Freaked Me Out
The Moment Doubles Up As A Jump-Scare And A Sign Of Stieglitz’s Villainous Nature
Brosnan’s Black Bag spy chief is served a plate of fish, whole, with his food seemingly squirming out its dying breaths. Just as the plate appears on screen, the fish’s head and tail fin begin moving, seconds before Stieglitz tucks into his lunch without a second thought. This moment is clearly an intentional jump-scare placed in the movie for the fun of it by Soderbergh, or perhaps by Black Bag’s screenwriter David Koepp. But it also leaves us under no illusions that Stieglitz is a ferocious predator who’s eaten his way up the NCSC chain of command by swallowing smaller fish.
Still, it’s not the metaphor that stuck with me. It’s the image itself of the fish spasming on the plate that remains ingrained in my head, sending shivers down my back. If Soderbergh and Koepp were trying to freak their audience out, it certainly worked on me. However, they haven’t just come up with the idea of Stieglitz eating a fish that’s still moving on a whim. The scene is based on a real delicacy in certain countries.
Black Bag’s Live Fish Scene Is Based On A Real Japanese Cooking Method
Ikizukuri Cuisine Involving Preparing Seafood While It’s Still Alive
Image via Focus Features
Primarily, this moment in Black Bag seems to take inspiration from ikizukuri, a Japanese method of preparing sashimi dishes made with raw fish. In ikizukuri cooking, the fish is still alive at the start of preparation, which means it has only just been killed moments before serving. Because of this preparation method, the fish can appear to “dance” on the plate, due to muscle spasms and residue electrical nerve impulses immediately after its death.
Ikizukuri cooking, which literally translates as “prepared alive”, is outlawed in certain countries, such as Germany and Australia. Nevertheless, it’s entirely possible that the method could be used at a gourmet sashimi restaurant in London, as it is for Stieglitz’s lunch in Black Bag.
