Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor are objectively some of the most impressive and notable rising stars from the last 5 years, creating beautiful and emotionally moving work across both film and TV. So it was incredibly disappointing to see them in a film that felt so static, when it had the ability to hold so much passion.
The History of Sound follows the relationship between two men, Lionel (Paul Mescal) a son of a farmer in Kentucky whose synesthesia broadens his love and understanding of music, and an aspiring composer named David (Josh O’Connor). They meet in 1917 whilst attending the Boston Conservatory, quickly forming a relationship grown from their mutual love of folk music. It’s a gentle love, full of yearning and desire. And for the time period they’re in, we can only assume that they are keeping their relationship as private as possible, given that most of their more intimate interactions are away from prying eyes. But when men begin to be recruited for the war, David is drafted while Lionel stays behind due to his bad eyesight.
They are reunited 2 years later, when David invites Lionel on a trip (seemingly funded by his place of employment at a college in Maine) to collect folk songs from different people across America. Months of travel lead to discovery, and a revived love, until they once again part ways with a peculiar argument leaving their last moments feeling bittersweet.
The second half of the movie are what feel like vignettes of Lionel mindlessly moping across different cities around the world and being entirely selfish and unlikable, purely fuelled by his untethered connection to David. He is successful in the music industry in Italy and London and is highly commendable amongst his peers, but it isn’t enough for him. He also forms relationships with people that seem fulfilling and whole, yet is completely disconnected to them and leaves them abruptly each time, consumed by thoughts of David. We see these memories in flashback moments that we had never seen before, only giving viewers more depth to their relationship the further we get into the film – which is a choice that falls flat because we already barely see any of their relationship in the first half to personally establish something half as meaningful as they see it.
Maybe the intention is to make him unlikable, but maybe that could have also been justified if the characters were depicted as more than star crossed lovers with one shared interest. And because ultimately we don’t know anything about either of them except for their surface level familial situations and their shared love for folk music, why should we care if the stakes are already so low? Especially when the foundations of their love and the more tender moments are only shared with us in the second half of the film through these flashbacks.
I can understand the emptiness that comes with heartache and the utter lack of motivation in just being, because it is something most of us have experienced; it’s ugly and can turn you into someone you can’t recognise. And if done well onscreen, it’s a universal emotion that can be felt by the audience and gives us a sense of relatability to the character. But the missing context and the lack of depth of the characters, just makes Lional seem ungrateful and unwilling.
The chemistry between Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor is palpable, and the foundations set up in the first half are heartbreaking and leave you craving more. But it isn’t enough to carry the rest of the storyline that lacks substance or any semblance of emotional depth. The History of Sound constantly feels like it is about to reach its stride – effortlessly building up to tender and soft moments between the characters, including the relationships between Lionel’s family, and scenes between the folk musicians – only to be suddenly cut off to move onto the next scene.
But what this movie does well is let the music tell the story. A lot of the time, the love between the two men are shared in silence, a muted type of love, which only intensifies the moments they share. Where, fortunately, the evolution of music and how it can bring people together is done really well, albeit the sometimes unnecessarily lengthy songs played from start to finish. It adds a lot of depth and weight to what music means to both characters, but again feels lacklustre with a weaker and slow second half.
Star power and a visual aesthetics are just not nearly enough to save a movie that feels so emotionally empty. The performances are great, but the story doesn’t lend to the abilities of these brilliant actors. The History of Sound is fundamentally let down by the ambitions of what it wants to be versus what was produced.
