It’s easy to explain what happens in this film, but even a detailed plot spoiler can’t give you much idea of what to expect, or indeed reveal any of the film’s secrets, as there isn’t really a plot to spoil and the secrets are woven into the fabric of the film in so many moments that they are too numerous and too diverse to describe.

Anne, a middle aged Canadian tourist, travels to Vienna to visit her cousin who she has not seen for many years, and who is in hospital there, in a coma. While on a visit to the city’s grand old museum, she encounters Johann, one of the attendants. An easy and heart warming friendship develops between this unassuming, kindly man, who, after working with rock groups in his earlier years, now enjoys the quiet of the Museum, and Anne, who is rather stranded in unknown territory both geographically and emotionally. Each find their own form of comfort in the companionship.

This tale of two people, each on a little life journey, works mainly as a device to bring the audience along, as tourists in a foreign land, and give ear to Johann’s musings. Delivered in the form of a voice over, Johann describes the artefacts and paintings he sees and wonders at every day, but also the tableaus of his daily life in the city.

Johann’s narration, along with actual recordings from museum audio tours, fly-on-the wall style snippets, filmed in the museum, of teachers and guides, explaining the paintings to bored teenagers and one extended scene in which a museum lecturer tries to enlighten a group of somewhat cynical tourists to the mysteries of Bruegel, combine to give something of an art history and appreciation lesson.

As slow and contemplative as Museum Hours is, there are moments of visual surprise that keep you wide eyed and wondering what else you’ll see. Blink and you will miss the moment the museum visitor, who has been silently and ponderously regarding an out of shot picture, turns suddenly to stare into the lens, with an expression that acknowledges the camera with faint amusement, for just a fraction of a second before the scene is cut. And then there are the ‘scenes of natural nudity’ to look out for. If only to find out what that even means, it’s worth giving Museum Hours the time of day.