The History of Sound

Oliver Hermanus (Living) chronicles a decades-spanning romance centered around the power of music, starring an electric Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor.

Lionel (Mescal) is a talented singer from rural Kentucky raised on the songs his father would sing on the front porch. In 1917, he leaves his family farm to attend the Boston Music Conservatory. There he meets David (O'Connor), a charming composer who is soon drafted into World War I. In 1920, the two spend a winter walking through the forests and islands of Maine, collecting folk songs in order to preserve them for future generations. Lionel drifts through Europe in his twenties and thirties, building a new life of profound success and happiness, and experiencing new loves. Yet he is constantly drawn back to memories of his brief time with David, trying to understand the impact of their relationship. Eventually, a reminder of their work together reveals why their connection rang loud.

Crafted with breathtaking restraint, Oliver Hermanus’ film of quiet textures and haunting silences, sees landscapes echo memory and sound itself becomes a vessel of longing. The History of Sound is both an intimate love story and cultural elegy, a tender meditation on music, memory, and the ways love endures through loss.

Screening at Luna Leederville and Luna on SX from December 18.