About this Event
As part of our programme of events to celebrate our exhibition 'Leonora Carrington: The Symptomatic Surreal', join us at the Freud Museum for a screening of Josh Appignanesi's “feminist odyssey” Female Human Animal (2018), followed by a discussion and Q&A with director Josh Appignanesi and star of the film Chloe Aridjis (who was friends with Leonora Carrington), chaired by Gareth Evans.
In addition to the screening and discussion, you will also have the opportunity to see our exhibition outside of visiting hours.
About Female Human Animal
Shot in the real-life contemporary art world, Female Human Animal is a psychothriller about a creative woman disenchanted with what modern life has to offer her.When the novelist Chloe Aridjis curates the Tate retrospective of surrealist icon Leonora Carrington, an elusive, brooding man appears to her, seeming to offer more. Emboldened by the artworks' defiant mystery, Chloe pursues him. But as she descends into a world of obsession, is she hunter or hunted? A darkly romantic docufiction of a woman who goes beyond societal norms, it enacts the lurid unconscious of our new sexual politics.
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Speakers:
Gareth Evans is a London-based writer, curator, producer, publisher and event host. He works on special projects for The London Review of Books.
Chloe Aridjis is the author of novels Book of Clouds, awarded the Prix du Premier Roman Etranger in France, Asunder, and Sea Monsters, which won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction in 2020. Her fourth novel, The Shadow of the Object, will be published by Chatto & Windus in April 2026. Chloe writes for various art journals and was guest curator of the Leonora Carrington exhibition at Tate Liverpool. In 2014 she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship. Her most recent book is the collection Dialogue with a Somnambulist: Stories, Essays, and a Portrait Gallery.
Josh Appignanesi is a filmmaker. As director, his features include acclaimed docufictions Husband (2022) and Female Human Animal (2018), parenting documentary The New Man (2016), ethno-religious comedy The Infidel (2010) scripted with David Baddiel, and religious psychodrama Song of Songs (2006). Most recently, climate documentary Colossal Wreck (2025) about the COP conference in Dubai screened widely in theatres, preceded by acclaimed climate activist documentary My Extinction (2023). His films have been screened in over thirty territories, and on BBC, Channel4, and MUBI, gaining competition slots at Tribeca, Rotterdam, Cannes/ACID, Berlin, London, Edinburgh and Sheffield festivals, as well as Kodak, BIFA, BAFTSS and BAFTA nominations. His work spans fiction, documentary and the space inbetween, with cultural figures like Zadie Smith, Hisham Matar, Slavoj Zizek, Chloe Aridjis, and John Berger appearing ‘as themselves’, while also directing talent like John Malkovich, Tom Hiddleston, David Tennant, Miranda Hart, and Omid Djalili, and collaborating with artist Martin Creed. He is Associate Professor at Roehampton University.
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Tickets: £15 Standard Ticket / £25 Solidarity Ticket
Freud Museum Members and Patrons receive 20% off the standard ticket price on all events, courses, conferences and On Demand programming.
A limited number of £10 bursary tickets are available for those under financial hardship. Priority will be given to UK unemployed and PIP/ESA claimants. Please email [email protected] to apply for a bursary.
The purpose of this event is to raise funds for the Freud Museum London, which receives no regular Government income. We are grateful to you for supporting our independent museum as generously as possible.
The event will be held on the first floor of the Museum during regular opening hours. Unfortunately the Freud Museum does not have step-free access at this time. Advance booking is highly recommended as capacity is limited.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Freud Museum London, 20 Maresfield Gardens, London, United Kingdom
GBP 16.40 to GBP 26.94
