Fritz Lang’s Secret Beyond the Door takes the Bluebeard legend and turns it into a brooding psychological noir. Joan Bennett plays Celia, a wealthy young woman who impulsively marries an enigmatic architect and moves into his secluded country house. There she discovers a series of carefully preserved rooms, each recreating a famous historical murder. One door remains locked – a forbidden space that seems to hold the key to her husband’s disturbed inner life.

Lang’s film is saturated with dreamlike touches: drifting voiceover, expressionistic shadows, sudden flashbacks and a haunted, fairy-tale atmosphere. It feels like a blueprint for the Lynchian home, where respectable surfaces conceal obsessive fantasies and violence. Celia’s journey through corridors and locked doors anticipates the women of Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive, drawn toward truths that may destroy them. As an opening to Not By Lynch, Secret Beyond the Door reveals how the seeds of the Lynchian were already planted in Hollywood’s golden age.

With an accompanying essay and introduction by season curator, Arta Barzanji.

Doors open at 18.30, for a 19.30 start.

Refreshments will be available in our licensed cafe/bar.

TICKETS & PRICING

Tickets £10.

Advance tickets may be purchased from Ticketlab, or direct from the Museum by calling 020 7840 2200 in office hours.