The History of Sound is Too Silent
Picture two soulful men played to perfection by the gorgeous Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor. The melancholy post-war western world is the backdrop and the focus is melancholy folk music that is quietly moving. It is a love story about two musicians and a love story about music. And yet neither of these love stories, despite containing all the elements needed for heartbreaking success, actually deliver on the promise of wistfulness and tragedy.
I saw The History of Sound at the Avon with a friend. We both were excited to see another Paul Mescal film and the old-timey aesthetic of the Avon seemed perfect for an artsy, historical romance based on music, but within the first 20 minutes of the film, I found myself getting distracted. The film was failing to draw me in. There were various possibilities proposed – historical romance, depression in the post-war world, tragic queer romance, etc, but neither of them seemed to lead anywhere.
The film starts with music students Lionel (Paul Mescal) and David (Josh O’Connor) meeting at the New England Conservatory. They have sex, become close and Lionel clearly falls in love with David. He seems enthralled by him. David is more reserved and harder to read. He reveals glimpses of himself whenever Lionel urges him with questions. We learn he is an orphan who grew up all over the world. Josh O’Connor plays him with fine-tuned sensitivity and just enough suggestion of quiet sorrow hidden behind a charming demeanor.
The war approaches. Lionel is ineligible to enlist, so he goes back to the family farm. His father dies. He becomes lonely, living an isolated and mundane existence. When he gets a letter from David with an invitation to collect folk songs with him across America (he mentions having become a professor of music after the war) for a project funded by his university, Lionel is ecstatic. They meet again and Lionel is fascinated by David yet again. But David doesn’t talk about the war. His sorrow is left unexplored and the film doesn’t even properly delve into their love story.There is the suggestion of heartbreak and sadness for the two men who live in a world where their love has to be secret. There is a flirtation with the concept of folk music across America and its importance, but that too is only touched upon. The pair meet people from various localities and villages in the US with different and unique hardships that are not properly discussed or portrayed.
Meanwhile, the pair’s love story is a confusing mess. David is clearly not planning on making the relationship permanent but only years later will it be revealed why. Without revealing too much, I’ll just say that it has to do with his shell shock and depression from the war. There are definitely hints of this throughout the film, but for the tragic aspects of the film to truly work, more details into the characters’ psyche, their backgrounds and actions need to be given. Due to the aesthetic appeal of ambiguity, the film oversells the confusion and fails to use it to say something meaningful. On love, on hope, on sadness, the film remains silent like David and like Lionel. The film is mellow, a tepid glass of water that fails to inspire any strong emotion.
The ending doesn’t feel earned even though there is a vague sense of loss and love and beauty due to Mescal and O’Connor’s sheer screen presence. These actors are at the top of their game. But I couldn’t help but feel like the filmmakers were overly dependent on that fact. They aren’t using the actors’ charisma to make a beautiful film, but relying on it to give beauty to an underdeveloped storyline. There is no getting away with bad scripts or poor storylines. Even the best actors can only do so much with material that is contrived and tired. The truly tragic aspect of The History of Sound had nothing to do with the plot but the fact that the film had the opportunity to be great, and it failed to take it.