0:00:03 > 0:00:04SHE LAUGHS
0:00:04 > 0:00:07Did you see some of these phallic symbols?
0:00:07 > 0:00:11I don't know what this says about me psychologically, I like that one!
0:00:11 > 0:00:13He's very well endowed.
0:00:13 > 0:00:16This is the former home of Sigmund Freud,
0:00:16 > 0:00:20one of the most influential minds of the 20th century.
0:00:20 > 0:00:23Freud made us aware that we're all driven by the power
0:00:23 > 0:00:25of the subconscious,
0:00:25 > 0:00:29and how our dreams have meanings that can be interpreted.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32Freud's discoveries gave birth to modern day therapy
0:00:32 > 0:00:35and in doing so, have touched the lives
0:00:35 > 0:00:37of countless people around the world.
0:00:40 > 0:00:42Is it OK if he puts his hat on?
0:00:42 > 0:00:44Because his hat is cool.
0:00:44 > 0:00:48- I'll keep my hat on.- Yeah.
0:00:48 > 0:00:50Freud's home is now a museum
0:00:50 > 0:00:54but it's unlike any museum you're likely to visit.
0:00:54 > 0:00:56It's not full of display cabinets or written texts.
0:00:56 > 0:01:00Instead it's a tiny, eccentric piece of the 19th century.
0:01:00 > 0:01:03It's as though Freud never left.
0:01:03 > 0:01:05- Would that have been how it was? - Yes, that's how it was.
0:01:05 > 0:01:09- That's exactly how it was. - Beautiful.
0:01:09 > 0:01:11- You can sense his presence, almost. - Yes, yes, yes.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14- And the presence of the patients. - Yes.- Something ghostly.
0:01:14 > 0:01:16- Smells like what?- Old people.
0:01:16 > 0:01:19- Does it smell like old people?- Yeah. Can't you smell it?
0:01:19 > 0:01:22For years the museum has been a pilgrimage
0:01:22 > 0:01:25for intellectuals, therapists, and students of psychology.
0:01:25 > 0:01:28But now a new director is going to be appointed.
0:01:28 > 0:01:32She needs to make the museum more popular and less elitist.
0:01:32 > 0:01:36All of this could really do with quite a kind of radical rethink.
0:01:36 > 0:01:40One of the ways is to draw on Freud's more shocking theories.
0:01:40 > 0:01:42Anal.
0:01:42 > 0:01:44- Erm, sex. - THEY ALL LAUGH
0:01:44 > 0:01:47And women suffer from penis envy.
0:01:47 > 0:01:49Do they?
0:01:49 > 0:01:52Which I rather doubt as well!
0:01:52 > 0:01:54But might popularising Freud
0:01:54 > 0:01:57run the risk of destroying the museum's unique charm?
0:01:57 > 0:02:00People do not really like simple answers in the end.
0:02:00 > 0:02:05In fact, you're insulting them by offering them simplicities.
0:02:05 > 0:02:09And will making changes create tensions amongst the staff?
0:02:09 > 0:02:11Oh well, everybody else, but when it's something up in here,
0:02:11 > 0:02:13nobody gives me a copy of anything.
0:02:13 > 0:02:16In this series I've set out to examine how struggling museums
0:02:16 > 0:02:19are trying to reconnect with the British public.
0:02:19 > 0:02:24I want to know how they can be preserved for future generations.
0:02:24 > 0:02:26I would actually like, before I die,
0:02:26 > 0:02:28for something to happen!
0:02:38 > 0:02:42Ivan Ward joined the museum in 1987, a year after it opened.
0:02:42 > 0:02:47Nearly every day for the past 23 years, he gives a talk to students
0:02:47 > 0:02:51who are covering Freud as part of their psychology degree at college.
0:02:51 > 0:02:54He tells them about Freud's most important work,
0:02:54 > 0:02:57The Interpretation Of Dreams, which was written in 1900.
0:02:57 > 0:03:02Every single person on the planet dreams every night.
0:03:02 > 0:03:05So it's something that's completely normal
0:03:05 > 0:03:08and it's a bit weird.
0:03:08 > 0:03:11You know? It's that sense, isn't it? Completely normal and a bit...
0:03:11 > 0:03:16Of course Freud was interested, in something that's universal
0:03:16 > 0:03:18and strange.
0:03:18 > 0:03:22Freud had discovered that our dreams were simply realisations of things
0:03:22 > 0:03:26that we wanted to happen in life, "wish fulfilments" he called them.
0:03:26 > 0:03:29Anyone had any good dreams last night?
0:03:29 > 0:03:32SILENCE
0:03:32 > 0:03:34Anybody?
0:03:34 > 0:03:38I had an interesting dream but it's too embarrassing to tell!
0:03:38 > 0:03:40Let's just put it this way,
0:03:40 > 0:03:46there was a programme on TV last night about male gigolos.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49Did anyone see it? No.
0:03:49 > 0:03:50My dream had a lot to do with that.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53Anyway... HE CLEARS HIS THROAT
0:03:53 > 0:03:57For Ivan, working at the museum is more of a calling than a job.
0:03:57 > 0:04:02It does have a quality like somebody might think about the Bible.
0:04:03 > 0:04:07And there's something about that, I think,
0:04:07 > 0:04:12in the way that I relate to Freud.
0:04:12 > 0:04:14In a biblical sense?
0:04:14 > 0:04:18In a sense of the text,
0:04:18 > 0:04:19this book.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22The standard edition of Freud's work.
0:04:22 > 0:04:26I want you to have a new experience that you've never had before
0:04:26 > 0:04:27and give it a name.
0:04:27 > 0:04:34I've been in analysis, not now, but for a long time.
0:04:34 > 0:04:38Would Ivan describe himself as a happy person, generally?
0:04:38 > 0:04:41Me?
0:04:41 > 0:04:44Happy...?
0:04:44 > 0:04:48it's not something, not a term I'd normally use.
0:04:48 > 0:04:50So have an explore and I'll see you in a bit.
0:04:50 > 0:04:53After the talk, Ivan sends the students off around the house.
0:04:53 > 0:04:57There's no particular structure to the visit.
0:04:57 > 0:04:59Instead people are encouraged to wander around
0:04:59 > 0:05:01and soak up the atmosphere.
0:05:01 > 0:05:04Remember what Ivan said right at the start about dreams?
0:05:04 > 0:05:07- What was Freud interested in? - They're linked to your life.- Yeah.
0:05:07 > 0:05:11- There they are, there are the wolves.- Absolutely.
0:05:11 > 0:05:13As I walk around the museum with the students,
0:05:13 > 0:05:16I notice just how worn it looks in places.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19It really feels as if I've been invited into someone's home,
0:05:19 > 0:05:21but that the owners are out.
0:05:24 > 0:05:28Upstairs you can watch the Freud family's old home movies,
0:05:28 > 0:05:30and next door there's a room
0:05:30 > 0:05:33which celebrates the life of his daughter, Anna Freud.
0:05:36 > 0:05:38On the ground floor, just off the hallway,
0:05:38 > 0:05:41is the most important part of the museum.
0:05:41 > 0:05:43It's Freud's study.
0:05:43 > 0:05:46- This is where the magic happened. - Apparently.
0:05:46 > 0:05:48This is where he got inside your head.
0:05:55 > 0:06:00The study has remained almost untouched since Freud was alive.
0:06:00 > 0:06:04The chair at his desk was designed for him specially by a friend
0:06:04 > 0:06:07so that he could sit with his leg dangling over one of the arms.
0:06:07 > 0:06:12On his desk there are many antiquities he collected.
0:06:12 > 0:06:16For Michael Molnar, a former director of the museum,
0:06:16 > 0:06:19there's one very special artefact in the study.
0:06:19 > 0:06:24This is probably the most famous piece of furniture in the world.
0:06:24 > 0:06:28It's the couch on which Sigmund Freud
0:06:28 > 0:06:32discovered, if you want, or invented psychoanalysis.
0:06:32 > 0:06:39Underneath, it's a very undramatic piece of furniture.
0:06:39 > 0:06:43It is, in fact, the carpet that makes it what it is,
0:06:43 > 0:06:48the Qashqai rug which makes it such an exotic piece.
0:06:48 > 0:06:50You could say it's something like...
0:06:50 > 0:06:52the mind.
0:06:52 > 0:06:56When you go below the cultured, textured surface,
0:06:56 > 0:07:00you get something which is quite common.
0:07:00 > 0:07:04These were the drives underneath, or something like that.
0:07:04 > 0:07:05You could go on.
0:07:07 > 0:07:09The people who lay on this couch
0:07:09 > 0:07:12have become some of the most famous test cases
0:07:12 > 0:07:13in the history of medicine.
0:07:13 > 0:07:17The sight of it, for some, is an overwhelming experience.
0:07:17 > 0:07:20He was very important in my life.
0:07:20 > 0:07:26He helped me to understand myself, you know?
0:07:26 > 0:07:28- And then... - He helped you understand yourself?
0:07:28 > 0:07:30Yes.
0:07:42 > 0:07:44In the offices on the top floor,
0:07:44 > 0:07:47Michael now researches the life of Freud.
0:07:47 > 0:07:52There's bits of archive, books here, a photo or two.
0:07:52 > 0:07:59That's the Park Row Building, New York in 1909,
0:07:59 > 0:08:04that was just before he travelled to Worcester, Massachusetts
0:08:04 > 0:08:06to give the lectures on psychoanalysis
0:08:06 > 0:08:10which was the beginning of psychoanalysis in the United States.
0:08:10 > 0:08:15He also went to Blackpool when he was in England, the year before.
0:08:15 > 0:08:19Michael met his partner Rita at a Freud conference in Brazil
0:08:19 > 0:08:22in the 1980s and she now works at the museum.
0:08:22 > 0:08:25Did you fall in love with Michael straight away?
0:08:25 > 0:08:27SHE LAUGHS Straight away!
0:08:27 > 0:08:30No, it doesn't really work like that.
0:08:30 > 0:08:32No, not straight away.
0:08:32 > 0:08:36We started talking straight away, yes.
0:08:37 > 0:08:42I don't really know how it is, it's just a chemistry that happens.
0:08:42 > 0:08:44I just don't know.
0:08:44 > 0:08:48Is that right, Michael? It's a chemistry that happens?
0:08:48 > 0:08:50Chemistry...?
0:08:52 > 0:08:57There's quite a lot about chemistry in early Freud.
0:09:01 > 0:09:03Michael is an expert on Freud the man
0:09:03 > 0:09:06and Ivan is an expert on Freud's work.
0:09:06 > 0:09:08And to me, that might explain why the museum felt
0:09:08 > 0:09:11just a little bit highbrow.
0:09:11 > 0:09:13I'm a medical doctor and psychologist.
0:09:13 > 0:09:18I'm an academic and I use Freud in my teaching and thinking.
0:09:18 > 0:09:21The problem is the museum is aimed at Freudian academics,
0:09:21 > 0:09:24not the general public. And it's very pro-Freud,
0:09:24 > 0:09:27even though in recent years he's fallen out of fashion
0:09:27 > 0:09:29in the psychology world.
0:09:29 > 0:09:31It's quite interesting.
0:09:31 > 0:09:34Confirms all my worst prejudices.
0:09:34 > 0:09:38As a modern practising psychologist, you think of theories like
0:09:38 > 0:09:43a penis envy and Oedipus complex, do you think that's just claptrap?
0:09:43 > 0:09:48Personally, I don't...
0:09:48 > 0:09:50I certainly wouldn't really support them.
0:09:50 > 0:09:54But the idea of free association could be useful as a way
0:09:54 > 0:09:58of getting to the aspects of human cognition
0:09:58 > 0:10:00that aren't easily reportable
0:10:00 > 0:10:02or readily accessible to the individual.
0:10:07 > 0:10:11I'm surprised to learn there are even people working in the museum
0:10:11 > 0:10:15who take Freud's findings with a large pinch of salt.
0:10:15 > 0:10:17It's all very disrespectful, really.
0:10:17 > 0:10:20You can stick your feet inside Freud's head.
0:10:20 > 0:10:22What's the thinking behind that?
0:10:22 > 0:10:24Well, they're very comfortable.
0:10:24 > 0:10:28Paula and Dominique sell various jolly Freudian souvenirs,
0:10:28 > 0:10:31such as a pen with a floating couch.
0:10:31 > 0:10:34And women suffer from penis envy.
0:10:34 > 0:10:36Do they?
0:10:36 > 0:10:38Which I rather doubt as well!
0:10:38 > 0:10:40- Yeah! - SHE LAUGHS
0:10:40 > 0:10:41So...
0:10:43 > 0:10:47That theory doesn't hold much weight with you two, I take it?
0:10:47 > 0:10:49- No, no, not really.- No.
0:10:49 > 0:10:53Although he was interested in the anthropology of his time, I don't
0:10:53 > 0:10:59think he took enough cognisance of the idea that societies form people.
0:10:59 > 0:11:02The shop is one of the key sources of income
0:11:02 > 0:11:05along with visitors paying on the door
0:11:05 > 0:11:08and a grant from an American foundation.
0:11:08 > 0:11:10I have a memento of everywhere I go, as a finger puppet.
0:11:10 > 0:11:13You should see my fridge! It's completely covered.
0:11:13 > 0:11:17It makes me realise that Freud is as commercially viable
0:11:17 > 0:11:19for his oddball controversial ideas
0:11:19 > 0:11:23as he is for his celebrated, groundbreaking ones.
0:11:23 > 0:11:27Someone who can see the commercial potential in all aspects of Freud
0:11:27 > 0:11:30is the development officer, Marion Stone.
0:11:30 > 0:11:32This is like treading grapes.
0:11:36 > 0:11:37- There you are. - SHE LAUGHS
0:11:37 > 0:11:39Something is happening!
0:11:39 > 0:11:42You do have to be a jack-of-all-trades.
0:11:42 > 0:11:46So as much a technician, diplomat, administrator, manager,
0:11:46 > 0:11:51fundraiser, marketeer, whatever else needs doing.
0:11:52 > 0:11:53SHREDDER JAMS
0:11:53 > 0:11:56Oh, God!
0:11:58 > 0:11:59I can't make it work.
0:11:59 > 0:12:03Marion's previous job was at a local history museum in Norfolk.
0:12:03 > 0:12:07- Have you read The Interpretation Of Dreams?- Most of it.
0:12:07 > 0:12:09Not all of it, then?
0:12:09 > 0:12:12No! No, unfortunately I found it slightly dogmatic
0:12:12 > 0:12:15and difficult to swallow, and halfway through it,
0:12:15 > 0:12:19I decided to start reading something else, a book called Against Therapy,
0:12:19 > 0:12:22which was all the arguments against it which I thought
0:12:22 > 0:12:25unfortunately engaged me much more.
0:12:25 > 0:12:28I'm surprised such a key member of staff is not a Freud fan
0:12:28 > 0:12:30but this means Marion can see
0:12:30 > 0:12:34Freud in a different way to Ivan Ward and Michael Molnar.
0:12:38 > 0:12:41She has a lot of energy and ideas.
0:12:41 > 0:12:43For example, she and a researcher called Anna
0:12:43 > 0:12:46have been given permission to hold a dating evening in the museum
0:12:46 > 0:12:48for some of London's many single people.
0:12:48 > 0:12:52We're exploring different ways of people engaging with the museum,
0:12:52 > 0:12:55and reaching different audiences. So, because we're nervous
0:12:55 > 0:12:57about how that'll work, and that we're dealing with things
0:12:57 > 0:13:00like psychosexual development, you know,
0:13:00 > 0:13:02not your usual chit-chat of an evening!
0:13:02 > 0:13:03We just want to test out the ideas.
0:13:03 > 0:13:07Marion gets some friends and staff members together
0:13:07 > 0:13:09to try out a few risque games they'll
0:13:09 > 0:13:12be playing on their dating night later in the summer.
0:13:12 > 0:13:14Anna creates a game based on
0:13:14 > 0:13:18Freud's five stages of psychosexual development in a child,
0:13:18 > 0:13:21and she explains the oral and anal stages to Dominique.
0:13:21 > 0:13:25So the idea is that some people get stuck in the oral stage from
0:13:25 > 0:13:28- drinking the mother's breast milk, the idea of the bottle.- Yeah.
0:13:28 > 0:13:31And then there's the potty-training stage.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34- What does it mean, potty-training? - When you're teaching a child
0:13:34 > 0:13:36how to go to the toilet.
0:13:36 > 0:13:40- OK. - It's the whole thing of what is poo.
0:13:40 > 0:13:42- OK.- The early stages of coming to terms
0:13:42 > 0:13:45with their own excrement and what it is.
0:13:45 > 0:13:49- The idea is they want to nurture it. - Yes.- It belongs to them.
0:13:49 > 0:13:52How many people talk about excrement on a romantic evening?
0:13:52 > 0:13:55This isn't going to be an ordinary dating experience.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58There are two ends in a sense. A goal there and a goal there.
0:13:58 > 0:14:00Four people in a row and...
0:14:00 > 0:14:02Another game they rehearse for the dating night
0:14:02 > 0:14:04is free association football,
0:14:04 > 0:14:08a word association game only with a cheeky, sexual slant.
0:14:08 > 0:14:10Ready? So, penis.
0:14:10 > 0:14:13- Vagina.- Hole.
0:14:13 > 0:14:15Entire. LAUGHTER
0:14:15 > 0:14:18Entire!
0:14:18 > 0:14:19- Anal.- Erm, sex.
0:14:19 > 0:14:21Erm, whatever!
0:14:21 > 0:14:25It's hoped Freud's obsession with human sexuality
0:14:25 > 0:14:26will be the perfect backdrop
0:14:26 > 0:14:29for some midsummer flirtations in a few weeks' time.
0:14:29 > 0:14:31Birth.
0:14:31 > 0:14:34They've only got the half-second as it comes towards them
0:14:34 > 0:14:36- to think of the word. - And that is working.
0:14:40 > 0:14:43It's great to see everything that... made Freud who he was
0:14:43 > 0:14:47in a physical sense as well as reading his work.
0:14:47 > 0:14:49- What do you think? - I think it's fascinating, yes.
0:14:49 > 0:14:50- Do you?- Yes, I do.
0:14:50 > 0:14:53- I think it's amazing. - It's quite cool.
0:14:53 > 0:14:55I was expecting it to be a bit more modern
0:14:55 > 0:14:56because he only died 30 or 40 years ago.
0:14:56 > 0:14:59But it's like a million years old. But it's nice.
0:14:59 > 0:15:01- Does this really seem old to you? - Yes, it's so old.
0:15:01 > 0:15:04- It doesn't seem that old. - But the ceiling's modern.
0:15:04 > 0:15:07- They would have redone that?- Yeah.
0:15:10 > 0:15:14In a few days' time, a new director will be put in charge
0:15:14 > 0:15:15of the Freud museum.
0:15:15 > 0:15:18This new person will need to find a way of balancing
0:15:18 > 0:15:23the different views of Ivan Ward, Marion Stone and Michael Molnar.
0:15:24 > 0:15:26I'd like you to swap with him, if you may?
0:15:26 > 0:15:30These three all want the museum to succeed
0:15:30 > 0:15:33but at times they can seem quite chaotic.
0:15:35 > 0:15:38Like this photo shoot for the museum's website.
0:15:38 > 0:15:39Am I looking studious?
0:15:39 > 0:15:42You're looking studious, you're looking at Ivan.
0:15:42 > 0:15:46He's talking to you, please pay attention to him.
0:15:46 > 0:15:48The staff are supposed to be posing as business people,
0:15:48 > 0:15:52in the hope the museum will get used for corporate hire.
0:15:52 > 0:15:54Are they separate key-words?
0:15:54 > 0:15:58- So people just put "Sigmund" in? - Yes, yes. Those are in order..
0:15:58 > 0:16:01People put "Sigmund" in?
0:16:01 > 0:16:05Each word on a Google search, you do a several word search.
0:16:05 > 0:16:08But they can't get their heads around the idea
0:16:08 > 0:16:10of pretending to have a meeting.
0:16:10 > 0:16:13Can you stop having a meeting, please?
0:16:13 > 0:16:15Concentrate on the photography that we're trying to do.
0:16:15 > 0:16:19Shall I go and get some more paper?
0:16:19 > 0:16:23The new Director will be joining a museum which is charming,
0:16:23 > 0:16:24and a bit eccentric.
0:16:24 > 0:16:28How many museums have their own dog, for example?
0:16:31 > 0:16:33Everyone in the museum is bracing themselves for change,
0:16:33 > 0:16:37and I hope whatever the new director chooses to do,
0:16:37 > 0:16:40they don't destroy the museum's unique character.
0:16:45 > 0:16:49A welcome party is held for the new director, Carol Seigel.
0:16:49 > 0:16:52Many of you know me from a number of different jobs.
0:16:52 > 0:16:56All these people from my past! LAUGHTER
0:16:56 > 0:16:58And I don't like the way they're laughing, either!
0:16:58 > 0:17:02But, for those of you who don't know me, I'm Carol Seigel,
0:17:02 > 0:17:05and I'm pleased to say I'm Director of the Freud Museum.
0:17:05 > 0:17:09I've only been here for a few weeks, but it's lovely to welcome you all.
0:17:09 > 0:17:15Thank you for coming to our summer party. I think, English summer party!
0:17:15 > 0:17:18Carol Seigel has no expertise in Freud,
0:17:18 > 0:17:20but she's got an MA in Museum Studies
0:17:20 > 0:17:23and has run several in the past.
0:17:23 > 0:17:26I think everyone has been incredibly kind here.
0:17:26 > 0:17:31Because I think it's not easy for staff to have some new person arrive.
0:17:31 > 0:17:34And everyone has been so helpful and supportive.
0:17:34 > 0:17:36Once the guests have gone,
0:17:36 > 0:17:40I ask Carol to tell me what she wants to change about the museum.
0:17:40 > 0:17:43Her main concern is the quotations from Freud's
0:17:43 > 0:17:45"Interpretation of Dreams".
0:17:45 > 0:17:48The captions, the way they are at the moment.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51They could do with a bit of physical repair,
0:17:51 > 0:17:52you can see that one is a bit torn.
0:17:52 > 0:17:54But there are quite a lot of captions,
0:17:54 > 0:17:57but without much explanation.
0:17:57 > 0:17:59And a lot of visitors are very interested in
0:17:59 > 0:18:02the whole dream question.
0:18:02 > 0:18:04So we can give them more information, rather than less.
0:18:04 > 0:18:08Upstairs there is one room she is particularly critical of.
0:18:08 > 0:18:12It's a bit of a hotchpotch, without much explanation.
0:18:12 > 0:18:14There's material in here where, again,
0:18:14 > 0:18:17a lot of the captions are quite hard to read.
0:18:17 > 0:18:21All of this could really do with quite a radical rethink.
0:18:21 > 0:18:23Will you be making the decisions dependent on
0:18:23 > 0:18:27whether it's got the support of the people who also work here?
0:18:27 > 0:18:34I'm a consensual decision maker, I think, by instinct.
0:18:34 > 0:18:37So I would hope that we would work through
0:18:37 > 0:18:40and come to some agreed decisions
0:18:40 > 0:18:42about how we want the room to look.
0:18:42 > 0:18:44But that might be naive, I suspect there will be quite
0:18:44 > 0:18:49a lot of arguments to be had along the way, and it will be a compromise.
0:18:54 > 0:18:57The first time the rest of the staff get to hear Carol's vision
0:18:57 > 0:18:59is at a trustees' meeting.
0:19:01 > 0:19:05This is a museum that hasn't changed much since it was first opened.
0:19:05 > 0:19:07With everyone listening intently, I can tell
0:19:07 > 0:19:11Carol feels she needs to be very tactful as she lays out her vision.
0:19:11 > 0:19:13I wouldn't want to be a bull in a china shop,
0:19:13 > 0:19:15and say, "We need to be changing everything,"
0:19:15 > 0:19:21but I do think there's scope for more explanation, more interpretation.
0:19:21 > 0:19:23Particularly for people who've come here
0:19:23 > 0:19:25who don't know a lot about the subject.
0:19:25 > 0:19:29Carol's broad points are aimed at trying to bring more people
0:19:29 > 0:19:31into the museum and, in particular,
0:19:31 > 0:19:33people who aren't familiar with Freud.
0:19:33 > 0:19:36I'm keen to find out where she gets her inspiration for change from,
0:19:36 > 0:19:38and a few days later,
0:19:38 > 0:19:41Carol invites me to the museum she had been in charge of.
0:19:41 > 0:19:44It's about Hampstead's local history.
0:19:44 > 0:19:48She wants to show me some examples of visitor interaction,
0:19:48 > 0:19:51and thinks something similar might benefit the Freud museum.
0:19:51 > 0:19:55It's fairly straightforward, the one that's on at the moment is a game.
0:19:55 > 0:19:56The games that are the most popular.
0:19:56 > 0:19:59So there's a number of different things that you can do.
0:19:59 > 0:20:03They're all related to the displays here, on this touch screen.
0:20:03 > 0:20:07And you can actually read through the history of Hampstead.
0:20:07 > 0:20:08Ah, I see.
0:20:08 > 0:20:15And we've also got some oral histories on this old Bakelite telephone which you can listen to.
0:20:15 > 0:20:18What's quite interesting, when children come round,
0:20:18 > 0:20:21what most amazes them is that this is a telephone at all.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24It's not at all like most telephones that children see these days,
0:20:24 > 0:20:25you actually have to dial!
0:20:25 > 0:20:28- They don't recognise it?- They don't recognise it as a telephone,
0:20:28 > 0:20:31and they're intrigued by the fact that it is.
0:20:31 > 0:20:32And that you do this.
0:20:32 > 0:20:35- WOMAN:- 'And so we had a horse and cart.
0:20:35 > 0:20:37'The little horse as called Snowball,
0:20:37 > 0:20:39'she was a lovely little horse.'
0:20:39 > 0:20:42So, do you think anything like this, or the touch screen,
0:20:42 > 0:20:45- could be used in a Freud setting? - Definitely.
0:20:45 > 0:20:50One of the things that I think will be important to look at
0:20:50 > 0:20:53is how the displays in the house
0:20:53 > 0:20:57can be deepened, how more information can be offered.
0:20:57 > 0:21:02I think all these are going to be very interesting ways
0:21:02 > 0:21:05of actually looking at how to strengthen
0:21:05 > 0:21:08the interpretation in the house.
0:21:08 > 0:21:10The whole museum is very slick and modern,
0:21:10 > 0:21:13but back at Freud a mile or so down the road,
0:21:13 > 0:21:16some people think it's better just the way it is.
0:21:16 > 0:21:19There are certain things I do like about it.
0:21:19 > 0:21:24I like the fact that people have to go down and look closely at things.
0:21:24 > 0:21:27That's a kind of intimacy, going into something.
0:21:27 > 0:21:29- You like that?- Yes, I like that.
0:21:29 > 0:21:32And I think a lot of people appreciate it.
0:21:32 > 0:21:34Would you not change those, then?
0:21:34 > 0:21:38Well, I would obviously make them a bit less tatty.
0:21:38 > 0:21:42But you wouldn't make them less difficult to digest?
0:21:42 > 0:21:43- No.- More accessible?
0:21:45 > 0:21:48Are you saying they are difficult to digest now?
0:21:48 > 0:21:50Well, they're kind of...
0:21:50 > 0:21:55abstract in the sense that they're on their own, aren't they?
0:21:55 > 0:21:57There isn't any explanation that goes with them?
0:21:57 > 0:22:02I don't know if anybody has actually said, "I don't know what these are."
0:22:02 > 0:22:04I don't think we've had many complaints.
0:22:04 > 0:22:09Ivan isn't the only one who thinks making things easy is a mistake.
0:22:09 > 0:22:14People don't really like simple answers in the end.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17In fact, you are insulting them by offering them simplicities.
0:22:17 > 0:22:20People are interested by complexity.
0:22:20 > 0:22:23Why do people love detective fiction, you know?
0:22:23 > 0:22:29You watch any evening television, complexity of plotting,
0:22:29 > 0:22:31who's the killer, you know?
0:22:31 > 0:22:35When you go into those stories, they're multi-layered and complex.
0:22:37 > 0:22:39So we should be doing the same thing. People love it.
0:22:43 > 0:22:47I must admit, after a few weeks even I am helping to explain
0:22:47 > 0:22:49to visitors about the exhibits.
0:22:49 > 0:22:52- Would that have been how it was? - Yes, that's how it was.
0:22:52 > 0:22:54That's exactly how it was?
0:22:54 > 0:22:56It doesn't look very comfortable, to be truthful.
0:22:56 > 0:22:59What he did is, you see the green chair? At the end of the couch?
0:22:59 > 0:23:01- Oh there, yes.- That's where he sat.
0:23:01 > 0:23:05Evidently, he didn't like to have the patients looking at him.
0:23:05 > 0:23:07I think what is also interesting about the room is,
0:23:07 > 0:23:10- it's full of his things, isn't it?- Yes.
0:23:10 > 0:23:12Interestingly, all heads.
0:23:12 > 0:23:15- There are a few phallic ones, too. - Really?
0:23:15 > 0:23:17- Yes, in some of the cabinets. - Oh, right.
0:23:17 > 0:23:20You know about his theory of penis envy?
0:23:20 > 0:23:24- Penis envy? Yes, he did have that. - No, that was his theory.
0:23:24 > 0:23:26That was his theory, yes, when I say he did have that.
0:23:26 > 0:23:29I don't think HE had penis envy per se, it was his theory.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32You have to be a woman to have that, don't you?
0:23:32 > 0:23:34I don't know, I think a lot of men have it as well.
0:23:34 > 0:23:37They're always wondering about the size of their friends
0:23:37 > 0:23:39and colleagues, aren't they?
0:23:39 > 0:23:45I do feel that there are huge topics to address.
0:23:45 > 0:23:48Over the next few weeks, Carol spends time chatting to the staff
0:23:48 > 0:23:51and finding out their opinions about change.
0:23:51 > 0:23:55But with one group of workers, she needs to be particularly sensitive,
0:23:55 > 0:24:00because the museum is not just a place of work, it's a home too.
0:24:02 > 0:24:05The caretaker Alex Bento has lived at the house half his life
0:24:05 > 0:24:07after moving here from Portugal in 1982.
0:24:07 > 0:24:11For the last 24 years he's been the first person
0:24:11 > 0:24:13into Freud's study every morning,
0:24:13 > 0:24:16and the last person to leave at night.
0:24:16 > 0:24:18So this is the plaque that Princess Alexander
0:24:18 > 0:24:22opened 28th July, 1986.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27When the museum opened, a small flat was built for him
0:24:27 > 0:24:31on the ground floor where Freud's kitchen used to be.
0:24:31 > 0:24:35He still lives there today with his son Danny and son-in-law Francisco.
0:24:35 > 0:24:38What are you doing there?
0:24:38 > 0:24:42Straight through, please. And get yourself a ticket in the shop.
0:24:42 > 0:24:45Besides all the work he does getting the museum ready,
0:24:45 > 0:24:49most days he watches the visitors on his two security monitors.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52Many people try and take photographs of the study,
0:24:52 > 0:24:55and some Freud fanatics even try and cross the rope cordon
0:24:55 > 0:24:57and sit on the famous couch.
0:24:57 > 0:25:01I can see from one side to the other side. I can see the full library.
0:25:01 > 0:25:04As soon as you step over the runner, the alarm goes off.
0:25:04 > 0:25:09If anyone steps over the rope, Alex is on to them in a flash.
0:25:11 > 0:25:15Keep on the runner, please. Do not go over the runner. I just told you.
0:25:15 > 0:25:19We see it from the camera there. See? There is a camera down there.
0:25:19 > 0:25:22And when they come up and trip over, and they say, "No, I didn't move."
0:25:22 > 0:25:25I say, "You did move, I saw you go in there."
0:25:27 > 0:25:31In one way it's fun also, you know?
0:25:31 > 0:25:35They are trying to lie to you. They say, "I've never been there."
0:25:35 > 0:25:37I say, "Yes, you did."
0:25:37 > 0:25:41As well as the cameras, there is the other security device,
0:25:41 > 0:25:43but it's old and needs upgrading.
0:25:44 > 0:25:46Bobby the guard dog.
0:25:46 > 0:25:49He's been living with Alex in the flat for 15 years,
0:25:49 > 0:25:51but he's now quite infirm.
0:25:51 > 0:25:53It's not only about understanding or exploring the mind.
0:25:53 > 0:25:57In recent times Bobby has been interfering
0:25:57 > 0:26:01with some of the museum's many artistic and cultural events.
0:26:01 > 0:26:04But onto mad, bad and sad, which is certainly informed by Freud,
0:26:04 > 0:26:06and the history of psychoanalysis,
0:26:06 > 0:26:08but has a far broader historical span.
0:26:08 > 0:26:10- BOBBY BARKS IN BACKGROUND - For me the Freud Museum
0:26:10 > 0:26:12is a very, very special place.
0:26:12 > 0:26:15Not only because of the magical objects -
0:26:15 > 0:26:19the studio, the dog who barks through the talks!
0:26:19 > 0:26:20SHE LAUGHS
0:26:20 > 0:26:24But also because of the things you don't normally see
0:26:24 > 0:26:26when you've just come for a visit.
0:26:29 > 0:26:32Recording the museum's new audio guide
0:26:32 > 0:26:35while Bobby is locked in the garden is not a good idea.
0:26:35 > 0:26:38The dog, arrgh, the dog!
0:26:40 > 0:26:44It's Bobby. He probably wants to come into the museum.
0:26:46 > 0:26:49Can you phone Francisco?
0:26:49 > 0:26:52The caretakers are nowhere to be found.
0:26:52 > 0:26:55We haven't got a key to the garden, which is extraordinary.
0:26:55 > 0:26:58- So I can't actually... - This has to be changed.
0:26:58 > 0:27:02- I think we have to have a key. - This has to be changed.
0:27:02 > 0:27:05There is nothing I can do until Francisco gets back.
0:27:05 > 0:27:08Marion and Rita are annoyed they don't have a key to the garden,
0:27:08 > 0:27:11but this gives me an insight into the relationship
0:27:11 > 0:27:15between the office staff upstairs, and the caretakers downstairs.
0:27:15 > 0:27:19Perhaps it is an uneasy arrangement.
0:27:19 > 0:27:21But one thing is certain -
0:27:21 > 0:27:24the caretakers keep the museum from falling apart.
0:27:24 > 0:27:26They keep it presentable.
0:27:26 > 0:27:29The office staff rely on them totally.
0:27:29 > 0:27:32In fact, anything that needs doing to Maresfield Gardens
0:27:32 > 0:27:36is done by Alex Bento and his family.
0:27:44 > 0:27:48Just like Alex, Sigmund Freud brought his own family
0:27:48 > 0:27:53to the house in 1938, just as the Nazis were moving into Austria.
0:27:53 > 0:27:56His youngest daughter Anna filmed their journey
0:27:56 > 0:27:59as they fled the Gestapo in the June of that year.
0:27:59 > 0:28:02Now this is already Hitler in Vienna.
0:28:02 > 0:28:06That's our house, look, with those swastikas on it.
0:28:06 > 0:28:11Oh, and that is the crowds cheering Hitler.
0:28:11 > 0:28:12Look at the crowd.
0:28:12 > 0:28:17Being an intellectual and a Jew made Freud a real target for the Gestapo,
0:28:17 > 0:28:21and some rich friends of his had to pay a big ransom
0:28:21 > 0:28:22to secure his freedom.
0:28:22 > 0:28:26Amazingly, he managed to get all his personal possessions
0:28:26 > 0:28:28out of the country with him.
0:28:29 > 0:28:33But, as I'm about to find out, not all of them are on display.
0:28:35 > 0:28:37Because of his long time at the house,
0:28:37 > 0:28:40Alex knows more about it than anyone.
0:28:40 > 0:28:43On one occasion he says he wants to show me something
0:28:43 > 0:28:45that belonged to Freud that has rarely been seen.
0:28:45 > 0:28:50It's hidden away upstairs in a cluttered storage room.
0:28:50 > 0:28:52That's Freud's umbrella.
0:28:52 > 0:28:55Right. When was the last time that was exhibited?
0:28:55 > 0:28:58Maybe...10 years, maybe.
0:28:58 > 0:29:02- 10 years ago?!- May be 10, 8.- Right.
0:29:02 > 0:29:04That's the one.
0:29:04 > 0:29:08I'm amazed when he gets out Sigmund's old overcoat.
0:29:12 > 0:29:13Do you think, though,
0:29:13 > 0:29:15that they should put it back on the exhibition?
0:29:15 > 0:29:17It's a nice piece.
0:29:17 > 0:29:19People like to see it.
0:29:19 > 0:29:20Yeah.
0:29:22 > 0:29:25I get the sense Alex feels it isn't his place
0:29:25 > 0:29:28to express opinions about the collection.
0:29:28 > 0:29:30- Thank you for showing us. - No problem.
0:29:30 > 0:29:33But I agree with Alex that a coat might appeal to visitors
0:29:33 > 0:29:36who are not Freud experts, and that is, after all,
0:29:36 > 0:29:38what the museum is hoping to do.
0:29:38 > 0:29:41And why it has recruited a new leader.
0:29:44 > 0:29:48The new director, Carol, wants to get the process of change underway,
0:29:48 > 0:29:50and she's holding a meeting with Ivan and Marion.
0:29:50 > 0:29:52But there's lots of pressing items
0:29:52 > 0:29:55including a new temporary exhibition.
0:29:55 > 0:29:57It makes you want to just shoot yourself!
0:29:57 > 0:30:01Well, I was just going to say, this is almost impossible, isn't it?
0:30:01 > 0:30:05- Looking at this.- It is impossible. - Are we being ridiculous?
0:30:05 > 0:30:09Are we just being overly ambitious in what, as a small museum,
0:30:09 > 0:30:13with a small number of members of staff?
0:30:13 > 0:30:16You've got this application to fill in by the 12th, you know?
0:30:16 > 0:30:18Yes, and grant applications.
0:30:18 > 0:30:23We do have to have some kind of exhibition in four weeks' time.
0:30:23 > 0:30:25That has to happen.
0:30:25 > 0:30:29For this exhibition, Ivan wants to put the items from one of Freud
0:30:29 > 0:30:33cabinets on display, but Marion thinks it should be about myths.
0:30:33 > 0:30:36I think the other one would be simpler.
0:30:36 > 0:30:39Do you? I thought it would be easier to find myths.
0:30:39 > 0:30:43You've got to write it, though.
0:30:43 > 0:30:46Rewrite it. You've got to write your stuff from scratch.
0:30:46 > 0:30:50You could do masses of theoretical work on what you're suggesting.
0:30:50 > 0:30:54- I think both of us have a vision. - I'm suggesting stuffing things in
0:30:54 > 0:30:56and just letting people marvel.
0:30:58 > 0:31:01With the just marvelling, what if they just don't get it?
0:31:01 > 0:31:04You can't fail to get it.
0:31:04 > 0:31:08You really cannot fail to get it, it's, like, extraordinary.
0:31:08 > 0:31:10Is getting it enough, though?
0:31:10 > 0:31:12If it's obvious?
0:31:12 > 0:31:14I'm not arguing.
0:31:16 > 0:31:19I'm just saying that a scattergun, hope for the best...
0:31:19 > 0:31:21But we're not scattergun, that's why we're sitting here now.
0:31:21 > 0:31:25Not scattergun, we're trying to say what we're trying to do,
0:31:25 > 0:31:29- what we need to do.- This is a classic Freud Museum argument,
0:31:29 > 0:31:31which has no end to it.
0:31:31 > 0:31:34We could either continue with the Mad Hatter's tea party,
0:31:34 > 0:31:35or we can move on.
0:31:35 > 0:31:38The meeting ends without a decision being reached.
0:31:38 > 0:31:41I did wonder if the coat and umbrella that Alex showed me
0:31:41 > 0:31:43might have been a good solution.
0:31:43 > 0:31:46But something new is about to happen at the Freud Museum.
0:31:46 > 0:31:49An event aimed at attracting a new, broader audience
0:31:49 > 0:31:50is about to take place.
0:31:50 > 0:31:53It's Marion Stone's dating evening,
0:31:53 > 0:31:54"In your dreams."
0:31:59 > 0:32:01There are going to be two nights.
0:32:01 > 0:32:05The first is for under 40s, and the second for over 40s.
0:32:05 > 0:32:07For just a few hours on a summer evening,
0:32:07 > 0:32:10the guests will be given the keys to Freud's enchanting world.
0:32:10 > 0:32:13They will be the temporary owners of his garden and his study.
0:32:15 > 0:32:18Do you think the people who might be interested in this event
0:32:18 > 0:32:20might be a little repressed?
0:32:20 > 0:32:22I think some of them might be a little hysteric,
0:32:22 > 0:32:25and some might be a little paranoid, they'll probably be mixed.
0:32:27 > 0:32:30- But we don't want to... - Hey, we're not judging!
0:32:30 > 0:32:33I'm saying some of them MIGHT be, it's very tentative.
0:32:33 > 0:32:35It's very Freudian language here.
0:32:35 > 0:32:37Once the museum has closed for the day,
0:32:37 > 0:32:39Marion and Anna have a rush on to get it ready
0:32:39 > 0:32:41for the start of the party.
0:32:41 > 0:32:43- Can you manage all that? - Not really!
0:32:43 > 0:32:47I've got no awareness of where I'm stepping now, actually.
0:32:47 > 0:32:50Guests at the event will be invited to share their dreams with
0:32:50 > 0:32:53one another in a special session held by Ivan in the exhibition room.
0:32:53 > 0:32:55What's the blanket for?
0:32:55 > 0:32:58- Just the idea of a dream sharing room.- They're too close together.
0:32:58 > 0:33:00Do people want to be this close?
0:33:00 > 0:33:03They can sit round in a circle, can't they?
0:33:03 > 0:33:06- But who is that person next to you, there?- People can't just pull in
0:33:06 > 0:33:09and sit how they want.
0:33:09 > 0:33:11Why would you want to be that close to somebody?
0:33:11 > 0:33:13Because it's a dating night!
0:33:13 > 0:33:15Just literally inside here...
0:33:15 > 0:33:18People start to arrive around 8 o'clock.
0:33:20 > 0:33:23Then the games get underway.
0:33:23 > 0:33:26- Winner!- Loser! Oh, God, he's had another one!
0:33:26 > 0:33:28LAUGHTER
0:33:30 > 0:33:33I don't think it'll be good for him to have too much.
0:33:33 > 0:33:35I just keep thinking about my Cocker Spaniels.
0:33:37 > 0:33:40- No, no, no! - He's drinking the beer.- Never mind,
0:33:40 > 0:33:43- let him drink it. - It's not a problem?
0:33:43 > 0:33:45- Eh?- It's not a problem?- No.
0:33:45 > 0:33:47They were worried, you see.
0:33:47 > 0:33:49He's drinking too much at his age.
0:33:49 > 0:33:52No. It's all right, keep him right there.
0:33:54 > 0:33:57As the evening wears on people move inside.
0:33:57 > 0:34:01Upstairs they gather to tell their dreams to Ivan.
0:34:01 > 0:34:02The wine is relaxing people.
0:34:02 > 0:34:04BANGING
0:34:08 > 0:34:10But many feel inhibited from talking,
0:34:10 > 0:34:13so Anna fills the silence by describing a dream
0:34:13 > 0:34:16she had involving all her ex-boyfriends.
0:34:16 > 0:34:19I was looking for a bed, I really needed to sleep. So I knew I had
0:34:19 > 0:34:22to make a decision about which of the beds I was going to fall into.
0:34:22 > 0:34:26- And half the boys were asleep.- Which one did you get into in the end?
0:34:28 > 0:34:31There is one young couple who seem to have found romance.
0:34:31 > 0:34:34One of the games allows them to go into Freud's study
0:34:34 > 0:34:37for an intimate moment, although invite me in too,
0:34:37 > 0:34:40and that makes it strange for all three of us.
0:34:40 > 0:34:42What would Freud have to say about our relationship?
0:34:42 > 0:34:44SHE GIGGLES
0:34:44 > 0:34:46Do I remind you of your dad, for example?
0:34:46 > 0:34:48A little bit.
0:34:48 > 0:34:52Standing here surrounded by all his possessions and books,
0:34:52 > 0:34:56I wonder how Freud would have felt about a dating night in his home?
0:34:56 > 0:34:58I think your time is up.
0:34:58 > 0:35:00Thank you very much indeed. Cheers.
0:35:00 > 0:35:02Take care, goodbye.
0:35:05 > 0:35:08I bet you have been interest in Freud too?
0:35:08 > 0:35:10No, not really.
0:35:10 > 0:35:13I got a Facebook invite and it looked quite entertaining.
0:35:13 > 0:35:20I thought it would be quite a good way to meet interesting women.
0:35:20 > 0:35:22- Have you met any?- Yes.
0:35:23 > 0:35:26I might go and talk to one right now, in fact.
0:35:28 > 0:35:31For a few people maybe romance is on the cards
0:35:31 > 0:35:33in this most unlikely of settings.
0:35:33 > 0:35:37I feel the dating night has shown that Freud does have an appeal
0:35:37 > 0:35:38to ordinary people.
0:35:38 > 0:35:43But this has still only been one fleeting event, a one-night stand.
0:35:43 > 0:35:46How is the museum going to find a way of attracting more people
0:35:46 > 0:35:49like this to the house, but on a long-term basis?
0:35:49 > 0:35:53I think the purpose of this meeting is to think about change
0:35:53 > 0:35:55and how we achieve change.
0:35:55 > 0:35:58The new director, Carol Seigel wants to make the museum more accessible
0:35:58 > 0:36:01but she hasn't yet decided exactly how to do that.
0:36:01 > 0:36:05..The ground we might go over today will be old ground,
0:36:05 > 0:36:08revisiting subjects that have been discussed before.
0:36:08 > 0:36:14At this meeting, is the chair of the museum's trustees, Lisa Appignanesi.
0:36:14 > 0:36:16For people who don't know very much about Freud,
0:36:16 > 0:36:19who have only heard the name in pop-culture,
0:36:19 > 0:36:22it would be nice to give them a sense of the history up front.
0:36:22 > 0:36:27Something of the ideas up front, in a visual way.
0:36:27 > 0:36:31She has been pressing for change and wants to engage with a new audience
0:36:31 > 0:36:33and that's why she appointed Carol.
0:36:33 > 0:36:36In order to bring the people in you have to communicate
0:36:36 > 0:36:37to the outside, something.
0:36:37 > 0:36:41And what you will communicate will be the essentials about Freud,
0:36:41 > 0:36:42and you will say to people, come here.
0:36:42 > 0:36:45So by the time they come here, they will know about Freud.
0:36:45 > 0:36:47I am not sure any more...
0:36:47 > 0:36:49For museum faces a Catch-22 dilemma,
0:36:49 > 0:36:53they want to attract visitors who don't know anything about Freud.
0:36:53 > 0:36:57But if you don't know anything about Freud, why would you want to visit?
0:36:57 > 0:37:02In Marion Stone's eyes this means the need for more audience research.
0:37:02 > 0:37:05We also have a responsibility to talk to the people
0:37:05 > 0:37:06we are actually doing this for.
0:37:06 > 0:37:09- You mean the public? - The public who do and don't come.
0:37:09 > 0:37:12- I am worried about this. - It is a very normal thing.
0:37:13 > 0:37:18It does not mean you take all the views of the non-users
0:37:18 > 0:37:20and that's what you go for.
0:37:20 > 0:37:22It's part of the mix you are looking at.
0:37:22 > 0:37:24ALL TALK AT ONCE
0:37:24 > 0:37:27Let me tell you my worries, my worries are simply
0:37:27 > 0:37:32the we are going to spend another two years in consultation
0:37:32 > 0:37:35and thinking and nothing will happen.
0:37:35 > 0:37:40I would actually like, before I die for something to happen.
0:37:42 > 0:37:46The meeting ends with the decision to carry out more research
0:37:46 > 0:37:48into what the public wants out of the museum.
0:37:48 > 0:37:51I've been at Maresfield Gardens for a few a couple of months,
0:37:51 > 0:37:56but I can already see why so little has changed in the last 25 years.
0:37:56 > 0:38:00Everyone has a strong opinion about who the museum should be aimed at,
0:38:00 > 0:38:02and yet at the same time
0:38:02 > 0:38:05everyone respects everyone else's opinion equally.
0:38:05 > 0:38:06Progress is slow.
0:38:06 > 0:38:09I got a slight sense from you towards the end,
0:38:09 > 0:38:13you feel a bit agitated that things aren't moving fast enough?
0:38:13 > 0:38:18You have to understand, before you arrived on the scene,
0:38:18 > 0:38:22what is it now? Two years ago, three years ago...?
0:38:22 > 0:38:24Two and a half years ago perhaps,
0:38:24 > 0:38:26we put this development plan into motion.
0:38:26 > 0:38:29And I am rather an impatient person
0:38:29 > 0:38:34and I would like to see things moving quickly.
0:38:34 > 0:38:37I sometimes get irritated by...
0:38:37 > 0:38:43this constant need for more focus groups, more asking of questions.
0:38:43 > 0:38:45Because finally, much of what you find
0:38:45 > 0:38:48is going to be something you already know.
0:38:48 > 0:38:52But what you're getting, yes, is a sense of my...
0:38:52 > 0:38:54wanting things to move and change.
0:38:54 > 0:38:56I think they are, I think they've begun,
0:38:56 > 0:38:59it's just that I'd like to move things on a bit.
0:38:59 > 0:39:01- A little bit faster, maybe?- Yes.
0:39:01 > 0:39:02He's not well?
0:39:02 > 0:39:07He hasn't been well for a while, but he looks very glossy today.
0:39:07 > 0:39:09Maybe he's got a sun tan.
0:39:10 > 0:39:13- He likes the sun.- He's very old.
0:39:13 > 0:39:15Don't do that!
0:39:15 > 0:39:17SHE LAUGHS
0:39:18 > 0:39:21Not a very Freudian thing to say, of course.
0:39:23 > 0:39:25Freud had his dogs, too.
0:39:25 > 0:39:28I'm sure they did the same thing.
0:39:35 > 0:39:38Within a short time, a questionnaire is drawn up
0:39:38 > 0:39:41to find out what people think about the museum.
0:39:41 > 0:39:45How interesting did you find this house,
0:39:45 > 0:39:50on a scale of nought to five?
0:39:50 > 0:39:52Four.
0:39:52 > 0:39:55- What sort of brochure did you find us in?- It was the 2-4-1.
0:39:55 > 0:39:57Oh, you came on the 2-4-1?
0:39:57 > 0:39:59Yes.
0:39:59 > 0:40:02There is one person who hasn't been privy
0:40:02 > 0:40:05to the conversations about change or the introduction of a questionnaire.
0:40:05 > 0:40:08It is Alex the caretaker.
0:40:08 > 0:40:11He is not an expert on Freud and he doesn't have a degree
0:40:11 > 0:40:15in museum studies, but as I was to find out
0:40:15 > 0:40:18that doesn't necessarily mean he didn't have strong feelings
0:40:18 > 0:40:19about the museum.
0:40:19 > 0:40:23On one occasion I witness an argument between Alex and Rita
0:40:23 > 0:40:27over what seems like the most trivial of subjects - Bobby the dog.
0:40:27 > 0:40:30He'd escaped and was found on route to Hampstead Heath.
0:40:30 > 0:40:33If we was not here, they could take the telephone call,
0:40:33 > 0:40:36we could call the lady back. But we was not here...
0:40:36 > 0:40:38She said she was going to talk to you...
0:40:38 > 0:40:40Rita had told the woman who found Bobby
0:40:40 > 0:40:43that he is owned by the caretakers and this annoyed Alex.
0:40:43 > 0:40:46But she wanted to speak to you.
0:40:46 > 0:40:51- It's not my dog, and when you say it's my dog...- She brought it back.
0:40:51 > 0:40:55OK, I know that. Thank you.
0:40:58 > 0:41:00Bobby, you go inside now.
0:41:02 > 0:41:04The dog is not mine, that is what...
0:41:04 > 0:41:08You said to me, the dog is mine and I don't like that.
0:41:08 > 0:41:13Listen, this is not the right word to say, "the dog is yours".
0:41:13 > 0:41:16I always thought that the dog was yours. You blamed someone...
0:41:16 > 0:41:18You said, "Who let the dog out?"
0:41:18 > 0:41:21Of course, who let the dog out?
0:41:21 > 0:41:22But I didn't say it was you.
0:41:22 > 0:41:24Who let the dog out?
0:41:24 > 0:41:27Don't laugh at me like that, I don't like it,
0:41:27 > 0:41:31you know? You know very well, I don't like it.
0:41:31 > 0:41:34All the time, she is against me for some reason,
0:41:34 > 0:41:35but I don't care about it.
0:41:35 > 0:41:37No, she's not against you.
0:41:37 > 0:41:40Yes, I know that, because she turned some of the volunteers
0:41:40 > 0:41:42against me and Francisco.
0:41:42 > 0:41:45- I just do my work.- Of course you do.
0:41:45 > 0:41:47I have the...proof.
0:41:47 > 0:41:50And it's bad.
0:41:50 > 0:41:52It's so dangerous for Bobby to be out.
0:41:52 > 0:41:54He lives in their house, they feed it,
0:41:54 > 0:41:56they take it to the vet. You could say it's their dog.
0:41:56 > 0:42:01But since we pay those bills, that's how they read it as being our dog.
0:42:02 > 0:42:04But it's a blurry line.
0:42:04 > 0:42:07I would say it's their dog.
0:42:07 > 0:42:12For the first time since my arrival at the museum, I get a sense
0:42:12 > 0:42:14of real tension in the house.
0:42:14 > 0:42:18The division seems between those upstairs and those downstairs -
0:42:18 > 0:42:21between the thinkers and the doers.
0:42:22 > 0:42:26'I suppose there is a feeling of us and them.'
0:42:26 > 0:42:29You have people working in different places,
0:42:29 > 0:42:33to different effects, so there is a sort of divide in what they do.
0:42:33 > 0:42:37People who are upstairs don't spend so much time
0:42:37 > 0:42:40at the coalface, as it were, with the public.
0:42:40 > 0:42:45So, you get a different perspective on the museum, I suppose.
0:42:49 > 0:42:51How does that manifest itself?
0:42:51 > 0:42:55Presumably, in everything you've just said.
0:42:55 > 0:42:58It's now raining, is your equipment all right?
0:42:58 > 0:43:00If it rains much harder, it won't be.
0:43:00 > 0:43:06I think it might. We should probably...go.
0:43:06 > 0:43:09'Marion wasn't being very forthcoming
0:43:09 > 0:43:12'but I get the impression the argument over Bobby could be evidence
0:43:12 > 0:43:16'of a division that lies at the heart of Maresfield Gardens.'
0:43:18 > 0:43:22It's as if I've touched a nerve and the staff become suddenly
0:43:22 > 0:43:25very alarmed about the direction my documentary is going in.
0:43:25 > 0:43:28I'm concerned about the weight you give.
0:43:28 > 0:43:33It's not that you film or don't film, anything that happens is legitimate,
0:43:33 > 0:43:35as far as I'm concerned.
0:43:35 > 0:43:39It's just the question of, everything happens in the cutting room
0:43:39 > 0:43:42as far as these things are concerned.
0:43:42 > 0:43:44So, it's what weight you give to it,
0:43:44 > 0:43:49what sort of commentary you put on it, your voiceover at this point.
0:43:49 > 0:43:53It's the question of what's important in the end.
0:43:55 > 0:44:00It's just a scale of values and what's going on.
0:44:00 > 0:44:04Not to reduce it to... some sort of trivia.
0:44:04 > 0:44:07We wait to see what the finished product's like.
0:44:07 > 0:44:10We do, we do - all of us, I think!
0:44:13 > 0:44:17If it's bad, we'll set Bobby on to you.
0:44:21 > 0:44:24The caretaker's also become a bit wary of me.
0:44:24 > 0:44:25This is frustrating,
0:44:25 > 0:44:29as I have made an extraordinary discovery about Alex.
0:44:29 > 0:44:32He didn't just arrive here when the house became a museum.
0:44:32 > 0:44:35Alex was working at Maresfield Gardens
0:44:35 > 0:44:37when the Freud family lived here.
0:44:37 > 0:44:40Sigmund Freud died in 1939.
0:44:40 > 0:44:45But his daughter Anna, who fled Nazi Germany alongside him,
0:44:45 > 0:44:46lived on in the house.
0:44:46 > 0:44:51WOMAN'S VOICE: This is already the garden, in Maresfield Gardens.
0:44:51 > 0:44:56We had this couch put up for my father to rest.
0:44:56 > 0:44:59Like her father, she was a psychoanalyst
0:44:59 > 0:45:02and was hugely influential in the science of child psychology.
0:45:02 > 0:45:04You might say she invented it.
0:45:04 > 0:45:07My father goes back to his studio
0:45:07 > 0:45:11to have some peace and quiet
0:45:11 > 0:45:12and the dog follows.
0:45:17 > 0:45:21'It was Anna Freud who hired the young Alex Bento
0:45:21 > 0:45:24'as her housekeeper when she was 87.'
0:45:24 > 0:45:26- Alex?- Yes?
0:45:26 > 0:45:30Sorry to bother you. You remember the time of Anna, yes?
0:45:30 > 0:45:32Yeah, yeah.
0:45:39 > 0:45:42How long did you know her for?
0:45:42 > 0:45:45- Sorry? - How long did you know her for?
0:45:45 > 0:45:48Well, a couple of years.
0:45:48 > 0:45:49Just before she died, was it?
0:45:49 > 0:45:51That's right.
0:45:53 > 0:45:55Cut...
0:45:56 > 0:45:58You have to cut where I say cut.
0:45:59 > 0:46:02'I'm disappointed he doesn't want to talk about Anna Freud,
0:46:02 > 0:46:06'because Alex is the only person I've met at the museum
0:46:06 > 0:46:09'who has a living memory of the Freud family.'
0:46:09 > 0:46:15And that gives him something in common with the few descendents of Sigmund Freud who visit the museum.
0:46:15 > 0:46:17Like the daughter of his grandson Lucien,
0:46:17 > 0:46:19the museum's trustee, Bella Freud.
0:46:19 > 0:46:22Do you remember which relative it was?
0:46:22 > 0:46:24I was really interested in my father,
0:46:24 > 0:46:27much more than my great grandfather.
0:46:29 > 0:46:34So, he occasionally talked about Sigmund, said he was quite funny,
0:46:34 > 0:46:38which made me feel rather pleased about him and proud of him.
0:46:38 > 0:46:41I realised he'd done something kind of amazing
0:46:41 > 0:46:43but I didn't really know what it was.
0:46:43 > 0:46:45Bella wants to try and find a family heirloom
0:46:45 > 0:46:48she's heard about but never seen.
0:46:48 > 0:46:52It's a painting her father Lucien did as a young man.
0:46:52 > 0:46:54I thought he had said there was a painting?
0:46:54 > 0:47:00No, I know what it is. It must be a sketch he did as a young boy
0:47:00 > 0:47:02which he gave to Anna.
0:47:02 > 0:47:04I thought it had been lost?
0:47:04 > 0:47:08Well...Michael said something about...
0:47:08 > 0:47:10He never told me.
0:47:10 > 0:47:14When I was filming Alex showing me the coat the other day,
0:47:14 > 0:47:17I'm sure they mentioned a painting.
0:47:17 > 0:47:19Can we ask him right away?
0:47:19 > 0:47:21I want to go and see it now.
0:47:21 > 0:47:22It's a picture of a palm tree.
0:47:22 > 0:47:25Yes, that's what Michael said.
0:47:25 > 0:47:28Is that by Lucien Freud?
0:47:28 > 0:47:30Yes, yeah, yeah.
0:47:30 > 0:47:32God, how great, how exciting.
0:47:32 > 0:47:35Alex takes Lisa and Bella off in search
0:47:35 > 0:47:38of this priceless painting hidden away in the museum.
0:47:39 > 0:47:42- Thank you so much.- It's OK.
0:47:45 > 0:47:46Oh, it's lovely!
0:47:46 > 0:47:49Oh, my God, it's amazing!
0:47:50 > 0:47:52God, I wish I had that.
0:47:53 > 0:47:56That's really lovely indeed.
0:47:56 > 0:47:58What's the date?
0:47:58 > 0:48:00I haven't got my glasses on.
0:48:00 > 0:48:03Tate Britain,
0:48:03 > 0:48:08- Palm Tree, 1944, when he was 19 or 20.- Gosh!
0:48:08 > 0:48:13- Wow!- Wow!- That is really great. My God, how lovely.
0:48:13 > 0:48:16Alex uses this opportunity to show Bella and Lisa
0:48:16 > 0:48:18some of the other treasures hidden in the room.
0:48:18 > 0:48:20The coat is down there.
0:48:20 > 0:48:25- Show us the coat.- Come on, let's see the coat. That would be great.
0:48:25 > 0:48:27It is the Loden one!
0:48:37 > 0:48:39- Is that his umbrella?- Yeah.
0:48:46 > 0:48:48And the medical case.
0:48:48 > 0:48:49Like a doctor's bag?
0:48:49 > 0:48:52We should have all of them out.
0:48:52 > 0:48:57Both Lisa and Bella are aghast that the priceless artefacts in this room
0:48:57 > 0:48:59are not on display to the public.
0:48:59 > 0:49:03The house was more or less a full house when I came.
0:49:03 > 0:49:04There was no museum.
0:49:04 > 0:49:08So that things are in different places.
0:49:08 > 0:49:13Alex, Bella is Freud's great-granddaughter.
0:49:13 > 0:49:16- I know that. - We have met a few times, yes.
0:49:16 > 0:49:21There is a lot of different stuff but all this stuff is there.
0:49:22 > 0:49:25- It's great you know... - The location of the stuff.
0:49:25 > 0:49:28That really helps.
0:49:28 > 0:49:31In Museums, it's the curators or directors who decide
0:49:31 > 0:49:34what goes on display, not the caretakers,
0:49:34 > 0:49:36but there is no denying Alex has a vast knowledge
0:49:36 > 0:49:38of the house and its contents.
0:49:38 > 0:49:42From here to there was Miss Freud's bathroom.
0:49:44 > 0:49:48So there, what was what we used to call the blue bathroom,
0:49:48 > 0:49:49it was Freud's bathroom.
0:49:49 > 0:49:50Oh, right.
0:49:50 > 0:49:54'Lisa seems genuinely inspired by what Alex has shown her.'
0:49:55 > 0:49:58We are the Caretakers, so we are not...
0:49:59 > 0:50:01Did you tell Carol all this?
0:50:01 > 0:50:06I told her a few things, we try to gradually tell her a few things.
0:50:06 > 0:50:07No, tell her everything
0:50:07 > 0:50:09because I think she will be really hungry to know.
0:50:09 > 0:50:14Change at the museum has been slow to get going, but surely if
0:50:14 > 0:50:18artefacts like the coat and medical bag were put on display,
0:50:18 > 0:50:21it would be a step in the right direction?
0:50:21 > 0:50:24But upstairs, I find Freud scholar Ivan Ward
0:50:24 > 0:50:27quite dismissive of the idea.
0:50:27 > 0:50:30Alex showed Bella and Lisa and they got...
0:50:30 > 0:50:34- And they said, we must have it!- Yes, they got quite excited about that.
0:50:34 > 0:50:36And the doctor's bag.
0:50:36 > 0:50:38The bag that's falling apart.
0:50:38 > 0:50:40And the umbrella.
0:50:40 > 0:50:45And the point is, if you're going to have people coming round
0:50:45 > 0:50:47and having a look at what's in every corner,
0:50:47 > 0:50:51and wanting everything out it's just ridiculous.
0:50:51 > 0:50:52No museum works like that.
0:50:52 > 0:50:56I suppose we could put a hologram of Freud's overcoat
0:50:56 > 0:50:59and the umbrella and the boots,
0:50:59 > 0:51:01- maybe we should go down that- ...
0:51:01 > 0:51:03You're just being cheeky!
0:51:03 > 0:51:06I didn't realise it at the time but the meeting
0:51:06 > 0:51:11with Lisa and Bella Freud has inspired Alex the caretaker.
0:51:11 > 0:51:14It will be a preliminary "OK, this is the initial findings
0:51:14 > 0:51:16"and we've done a bit of audience development work."
0:51:16 > 0:51:21When Carol assembles everyone for an update on modernisation,
0:51:21 > 0:51:23Alex decides to speak his mind.
0:51:23 > 0:51:26Lisa came up and did not know about Freud's coat
0:51:26 > 0:51:29and the palm tree and things like that. They were stuck in a box...
0:51:29 > 0:51:33Alex has never expressed an opinion about the museum's future
0:51:33 > 0:51:36while I am filming, but now he brings up something
0:51:36 > 0:51:37from the museum's past.
0:51:37 > 0:51:42The plans for the renovation of the house in 1983 after Anna Freud died.
0:51:42 > 0:51:45He has a personal copy of the museum's constitution
0:51:45 > 0:51:48which was given to him in the '80s.
0:51:48 > 0:51:53In Freud's room, where the office is and where Marion is and Carol is,
0:51:53 > 0:51:56to be part of Anna Freud's room - part, yeah?
0:51:56 > 0:52:02To be there, the couch to be there, the paint cupboard...
0:52:02 > 0:52:05As a room, you mean?
0:52:05 > 0:52:08Yes, the loom and the cupboard there, quite a few things.
0:52:08 > 0:52:09I have it down there somewhere.
0:52:09 > 0:52:12Then a strange thing happens.
0:52:12 > 0:52:15The meeting ends and Alex leaves.
0:52:15 > 0:52:17Everything seems fine.
0:52:21 > 0:52:25But then a couple of minutes later, he returns with a document.
0:52:25 > 0:52:27You are not going to see it.
0:52:27 > 0:52:29What d'you mean not going to see it?
0:52:31 > 0:52:36- I didn't invent it.- And nobody thinks you did invent it.
0:52:36 > 0:52:381983.
0:52:38 > 0:52:40So it's the joint committee in London.
0:52:40 > 0:52:44It is a vision, presentation...
0:52:44 > 0:52:47'I get the feeling, years of frustration
0:52:47 > 0:52:48'are coming to the surface.'
0:52:48 > 0:52:52You are lucky I give it up.
0:52:52 > 0:52:55You are so personal about it.
0:52:55 > 0:52:58It is personal, yes, because for me, this in 1983...
0:52:58 > 0:53:01It is from the joint committee of the museum.
0:53:01 > 0:53:05The joint committee prepared it but this was given to me.
0:53:05 > 0:53:07I'm not quite sure what...
0:53:07 > 0:53:10We must have this somewhere, you can't have it...?
0:53:10 > 0:53:15- No, this is mine, no-one has this in the house.- No-one?- No, no-one.
0:53:15 > 0:53:18It says, "I enclose a copy of the report of the Freud Museum..."
0:53:18 > 0:53:20Of course, you were given a copy
0:53:20 > 0:53:22and everybody else who worked here should have been given a copy.
0:53:22 > 0:53:25Everybody else but when it is something up in here,
0:53:25 > 0:53:28nobody gives me a copy of anything, yeah.
0:53:33 > 0:53:37Alex is upset because he feels the others are not listening to him.
0:53:37 > 0:53:41And he was, after all, here at the very start of the museum.
0:53:41 > 0:53:45With change happening all around, he feels increasingly sidelined.
0:53:45 > 0:53:50That document, given from the head person in terms of the founder
0:53:50 > 0:53:53of the museum to a caretaker,
0:53:53 > 0:53:57I think it is quite an unusual thing, so the personal connection is there.
0:53:57 > 0:53:59The fact he was given a document
0:53:59 > 0:54:04that was part of the founding documents of the museum.
0:54:04 > 0:54:06Towards the end of the summer,
0:54:06 > 0:54:11the second of Marion's dating evenings is held.
0:54:11 > 0:54:14THEY PLAY "WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW IS LOVE"
0:54:31 > 0:54:32THEY START AGAIN
0:54:36 > 0:54:38The over-40s seem to enjoy
0:54:38 > 0:54:41the cheeky Freudian parlour games a great deal.
0:54:41 > 0:54:43I can't see...latent period.
0:54:43 > 0:54:48- Latent period - sexual drive lies dormant, miss a turn.- Miss a turn!
0:54:52 > 0:54:55One lady I met that evening has just swapped phone numbers
0:54:55 > 0:54:57with a man who had to rush for his train.
0:55:08 > 0:55:11I only do it when I've had a glass of wine.
0:55:15 > 0:55:19At the end of the night, I think the guests had enjoyed themselves
0:55:19 > 0:55:21but I wasn't sure if romance had blossomed.
0:55:42 > 0:55:46Several weeks later, I return to Hampstead for the launch
0:55:46 > 0:55:49of a marketing campaign Marion has organised
0:55:49 > 0:55:52with some other small historic houses.
0:55:52 > 0:55:56The party is addressed by TV historian Dan Cruikshank.
0:55:56 > 0:55:59In a sense, London does tend to live in its small houses,
0:55:59 > 0:56:01therefore an incredible place to visit
0:56:01 > 0:56:03and very, very important.
0:56:04 > 0:56:07An absolutely fantastic project
0:56:07 > 0:56:09and I'm very happy to do anything I can to help.
0:56:11 > 0:56:14APPLAUSE
0:56:14 > 0:56:18'At the Freud museum, things are changing.'
0:56:18 > 0:56:20Has it changed?
0:56:20 > 0:56:22Yes, we've got a new carpet
0:56:22 > 0:56:23and...
0:56:23 > 0:56:28loads of new equipment and a general kind of sprucing up of the museum.
0:56:28 > 0:56:32Finally, the lengthy research period is over and the findings have
0:56:32 > 0:56:37identified a new way of improving the visitors' experience.
0:56:37 > 0:56:39It seems they don't want text panels,
0:56:39 > 0:56:43or touch screens, so not high-tech and not great big chunky things
0:56:43 > 0:56:46that make an intervention into the museum's space.
0:56:46 > 0:56:48But they do want something to help them
0:56:48 > 0:56:51and that something is going to be guided tours,
0:56:51 > 0:56:52just person to person,
0:56:52 > 0:56:56a very kind of low-tech, old-school interpretation.
0:56:56 > 0:56:59I think guided tours are a good idea for the museum,
0:56:59 > 0:57:04although I am disappointed Marion didn't mention Sigmund's overcoat.
0:57:08 > 0:57:10But what I have learnt in my time at the museum,
0:57:10 > 0:57:14is that Freud appeals to many different people
0:57:14 > 0:57:20and this is its greatest asset as well as its biggest challenge.
0:57:20 > 0:57:24Perhaps, most of all, it is simply a place where his memory
0:57:24 > 0:57:26is well looked after.
0:57:28 > 0:57:30This reminds me of a conversation I had with Michael
0:57:30 > 0:57:33while we stood on the balcony one day in the summer.
0:57:33 > 0:57:37- It takes quite a lot of upkeep the garden, doesn't it?- It does.
0:57:37 > 0:57:43The "curator", as far as my very rusty Latin is concerned,
0:57:43 > 0:57:45means to look after.
0:57:45 > 0:57:49You are a custodian, you're looking after,
0:57:49 > 0:57:51taking care of.
0:57:51 > 0:57:56Interestingly enough, in a funny sort of way, the idea of the Latin,
0:57:56 > 0:58:00when you look at the origin of the word, curator,
0:58:00 > 0:58:04- it does actually mean similar to caretaker?- It's a caretaker.
0:58:18 > 0:58:20Bobby!
0:58:20 > 0:58:24THEY TALK IN ITALIAN
0:58:43 > 0:58:45Come on, Bobby, come on!
0:58:46 > 0:58:49Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:49 > 0:58:52E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk