National Gallery

London’s National Gallery of Art, one of the world’s foremost art museums, is the latest institution to be the subject of a film by the great Frederick Wiseman (who memorably visited the Wexner Center in 2006 for a retrospective of his work). An Old Master of documentary, Wiseman filmed over 12 weeks and was granted unparalleled access to the museum. In the resulting documentary, we’re there with him as he listens raptly to docents decoding the great canvasses of Leonardo Da Vinci, Rembrandt, and Turner; visits with the museum’s restorers as they repair canvases; and witnesses administrative battles over pushing the museum to become less stodgy. But most of all, we experience the great joy of spending time with such masters as Vermeer and Caravaggio and listening to the connoisseurs who discuss the aesthetic, historical, religious, and psychological underpinnings of these masterpieces. (181 mins., DCP)