Official Trailer
Our Review
- Paul Mescal, Josh O'Connor, Chris Cooper
- January 23rd 2026
- 128
- Oliver Hermanus
Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor play two students who meet at a music conservatory and embark on an illicit romance.
Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor have been trying to work together for several years and their wish finally came true with The History of Sound.
In this romance drama, which begins in America in 1917, they play Lionel Worthing (Mescal) and David White (O’Connor), two students who bond over folk music while studying at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.
They begin a secret romance, but this is soon scuppered by David being drafted to fight in World War I.
However, after David returns home from the war, he invites Lionel on a trip across Maine to collect folk songs on wax cylinders and their connection deepens.
Mescal and O’Connor, two of the most in-demand actors of their generation, give beautiful, powerful performances that seem ripe for awards buzz.
However, the film has received such a mixed response that any hope of awards recognition was soon dashed after its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival last year.
Unfortunately...
