The History of Sound

2025 2h 8m EN

👍

7.0

SOLID

★7.0TMDB · 161

DramaRomanceMusic

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

In 1917, two young music students attending the Boston Conservatory bond over a mutual love of folk music. They reconnect a few years later, embarking on a song-collecting trip in the backwaters of Maine.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Paul Mescal
Lionel Worthing
Josh O'Connor
David White
Chris Cooper
Older Lionel
Molly Price
Lionel's Mother
Raphael Sbarge
Lionel's Father
Hadley Robinson
Belle Sinclair
Michael Schantz
Bob Sinclair
Peter Mark Kendall
Nathan McCloud

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Oliver Hermanus
Writers: Dan West, Ben Shattuck, Ben Shattuck
Languages: English, Italian
Countries: United Kingdom, United States of America, Sweden

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $2.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released last year.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Italian.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 3 countries: United Kingdom, United States of America, Sweden.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CAST

Did you know

216+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Oliver Hermanus, shot by Alexander Dynan. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Oliver Coates. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Chris Wyatt shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Oliver Hermanus directs. Alexander Dynan behind the camera. Oliver Coates scores. Chris Wyatt cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United Kingdom, United States of America, Sweden. Dialogue in English, Italian.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $2.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Released last year.
3Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Italian.
4International production across 3 countries: United Kingdom, United States of America, Sweden.
5216+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
6Directed by Oliver Hermanus, shot by Alexander Dynan. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Original score by Oliver Coates. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
8Editor Chris Wyatt shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
9Paul Mescal and Josh O'Connor and Chris Cooper carry the top of the cast.
10IMDB entry: tt15799524 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 19 themes, including "world war i", "boston, massachusetts", "conservatory", "folk music".

The technical file

Cinematography: Alexander Dynan
Original score: Oliver Coates
Editing: Chris Wyatt
Production design: Deborah Jensen
Costume design: Miyako Bellizzi
Makeup / hair: Michael Buonincontro
VFX supervisor: Agnes Asplund
Sound: Craig Mann
Stunt coordinator: Drew Leary
Runtime: 128 min · 2h 8m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $2,500,000
Box office: $3,220,241
Return: 129% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: The History of Sound (2025)

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Oliver Hermanus

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Community reviews

What people are saying

badelf2025-11-07
★ 9/10
The History of Sound: The Casablanca of the 21st Century "The History of Sound" is an incredibly powerful love story, I'm calling it the "Casablanca" of the 21st century. That's not hyperbole. Like Bogart's immortal line: "If that plane leaves the ground and you're not with him, you'll regret it. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life." Oliver Hermanus's film understands the weight of choices made and paths not taken. Both these love films stay with you long after the credits roll, their emotional resonance deepening with time. Kudos to Ben Shattuck for writing an incredible screenplay, particularly impressive for a beginner adapting his own short story. He's crafted something rare: a narrative that honors both romantic love and the love of music without sacrificing either. Hermanus brings this vision to life with luscious, warm, period filmmaking that feels both intimate and expansive. And he succeeds in making the queer love story so natural that the film doesn't feel like it's making that kind of statement at all. The soundtrack is a treasure chest of Americana, those wax cylinder recordings capturing not just songs but souls, voices that might have been lost to history if not for the devotion of men like Lionel and David. The film understands that preservation is an act of love, whether it's folk songs disappearing into modernity or moments between two people that the world may never acknowledge. "The History of Sound" is cinema that lingers, that reverberates, that refuses to fade.
Bessie2025-11-09
Brokeback for Academics I liked it, but it needed much much much more music. My folk music loving heart is melting.
CinemaSerf2026-01-30
★ 7/10
Man of the moment Paul Mescal also had a hand on the tiller of this drama about a musical prodigy (“Lionel”) who grew up subsistence farming in rural Kentucky. With little to entertain the family but their own skills, he was not only a singer but he could imagine music as something altogether more tangible than most. It’s at a conservatory that he encounters kindred spirit “David” (Josh O’Connor) and swiftly the two are listening to music and exploring not just their shared love of all things acoustic, but their shared love of each other too. When the Great War sees “David” drafted, the exempt “Lionel” (he wears spectacles) focuses on his career until his friend returns and they set off on trip deep into the woodlands of New England armed with wax discs upon which they hope to record examples of just how the locals performed their own traditional tunes. These men appreciate that their relationship is likely to end when their project does, and for one man that means a wife and family and for the other, well he has some demons to deal with. It’s only when “Lionel” attempts to reconnect with his friend after an absence of many years that we start to fill in the gaps and understand a little more of what made this pair tick. Though the gay elements to the story are important, they take their rightful place as a sub-plot in what is essentially quite a moving drama that addresses male bonding, rural poverty, the psychological impact of warfare and most importantly, the role of music in the lives of just about everyone. From barn dances and ceilidhs to mournful ballads, music was so often the currency for people to celebrate or mourn, and there are a myriad of examples for us to hear as they travel together and as “Lionel” works in Rome and Oxford allowing us to hear some grander pieces reverberating around some ancient marble churches. It’s slowly paced and of truth be told, not that much actually happens during this stylishly filmed piece of cinema, but there is chemistry between Mescal and O’Connor and something of community celebration - in the face of conflicts large and small - that I found quite touching.