The Movie: The History of Sound
The Cinema: The Rivoli, Camberwell
Runtime: 128 minutes
Stars: 4.5
This film is going to haunt me for a while. It's beautiful. Stunning. Clear. No wonder it got a nine-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival. I saw this last night and can't stop thinking about it.
When you think about it, it has the hallmarks of a winner. Two British actors at the top of their game. A gentle love story that encompasses war, music, loss and searching. Some might say it's a Brokeback Mountain with ethnomusicologists. I'd call The History of Sound an epic love story.
The story is simple. Lionel (Paul Mescal) is the son of Kentucky dirt farmers. His prodigious musical talents send him to school in Boston, where he excels. It's there that he meets David (Josh O'Connor), a young man with similar talents but from a very different background. David's uncle in England introduced him to collecting songs from across the country - little known songs that are dying out thanks to the progress, relocation and the Industrial Revolution.
World War One begins. David enlists and goes to the front. Lionel, thanks to poor eyesight, returns to the family farm where he is under-stimulated by the simple existence.
When David returns from the war, altered from his experiences, the two embark on a journey on foot to collect songs from the people in the far North-East, making a pilgrimage into the great beyond, their relationship growing under the adversity. As David's mental health fails, Lionel is at a loss. When they return to civilisation, Lionel goes back to the far, David to his teaching job. And the two never see each other again.
The second half of the film shows Lionel's story as he returns to the world of music. In Rome and in England, he tries to reconcile himself with his loss. He goes on pilgrimage to places David spoke of. He tries to keep a normal sort of life. Finally, he goes to the college where David taught to find the truth.
Based on a short story by Ben Shattuck under Oliver Hermanus's direction, this is a quiet film filled with depth and beauty. The cinematography is stunning. It's one of the most visually stunning movies I've seen this year. The scenery, both in the country and the city are just gorgeous.
Most of all, this quiet little love story set in the early twenties rings true. Like Lionel, who hears music in everything he sees, this movie shows a true meeting of lives and hearts, portrayed by two amazing actors. This is going to be a classic.
This is definitely worth a view, if you can find it at the arthouse cinemas away from the blockbusters which grace our screens.
P.S. Ethnomusicologists capture the songs of the past, keeping them fresh and relevant. As a South Australian of Cornish descent, I had to provide this song as song of the day. I've been singing it since my childhood. My ancestors from St Austell and Redruth would have sung it too.
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