National Gallery, BBC4

National Gallery, BBC4's nearly three-hour-long narrator-free observation of London's great art treasury (Sunday 8pm), was made before planned privatisation sparked strike action. Our first glimpse of gallery director Nicholas Penny in Frederick Wiseman's hypnotic film is at a board meeting concerning possible exposure from charity work, the public's needs and the gallery's profile as - though the speaker admits it sounds "horrid" - a visitor attraction. "I don't mean this as a criticism," the marketing lady continues, but "our public voice is quite weak." The spectre of W1A's Siobhan Sharpe flits by. And Penny assumes the owlishly enigmatic look of Louis Theroux.

In fact this is no behind-the-scenes chronicle of power games. The camera moves freely and unpredictably. It visits exhibitions on Leonardo, Turner and Titian, from round-the-block queueing with blankets and Thermos flasks to fixing internal lighting problems; from cheerful chats for primary schools to the director's discourse on Poussin for a distinguished-looking gathering. Backstage there are sessions on restoration and conservation. The film is confident enough to linger over technical aspects that turn out to be fascinating: a restorer's analysis of Rembrandt's distinctions between dark and darker, perceptions of depth, volume and spatial recession, is absorbing. A wood expert shows how carving ebony reveals a ripple effect. One guide reminds visitors that the gallery was "founded on slavery", like the Tate and the British Museum, "all founded for money" in Britain's "very, very shameful past". With friends like these who needs the anti-Shell banner hoisted on to the facade by activists?

Among the institution's less-known activities are helping the blind feel the "raised images" of paintings, while a speaker describes a pool of colour, light and shapes. There are piano recitals, poetry reading, ballet. Penny, a former lunch (well, breakfast) guest of the FT's Jackie Wullschlager, has been a hugely successful director. This gently peripatetic, unjudgmental movie charms and intrigues, despite choppy waters ahead.

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