A historical romance starring Josh O’Connor and Paul Mescal, two of Hollywood’s most popular stars at the moment, could easily be a film that leaves a lasting and hard-hitting impact. 

In the weeks leading up to the film’s release, I could not have been more excited to see “The History of Sound,” not only as a fan of the two leads, but because the subject matter sounded compelling. Unfortunately, for a movie about music, many of the notes fell flat. 

Directed by Oliver Hermanus, the film follows the life of Lionel Worthy, played by Mescal, spanning from 1917 to 1980. The majority of the movie focuses on the 1920s, centering around the relationship between Worthy and David White, played by O’Connor. Their romance meets its peak as the two embark on a trip together, during which they collect songs from rural, small towns across Maine. 

For what it’s worth, Mescal and O’Connor’s performances were great. From the first moment the two encountered one another in a Boston bar, to the vulnerable conversations they shared trekking through the forests of Maine — their chemistry is palpable. 

Mescal’s performance in particular stands out as he manages to almost single-handedly control the emotional impact of the film. His acting accurately represents the ups and downs of life that everyone experiences, namely love and loss.  

While the acting is worthy of praise, the true star of the film is the soundtrack. Underneath the overarching theme of the perseverance of love is a touching homage to traditional folk music, a genre not frequently highlighted in contemporary cinema. 

As the two travel across Maine to collect songs, the audience gets to hear a host of different folk songs and the stories kept within them. For example, the song “Silver Dagger” perfectly echoes the story shown on screen as it reoccurs throughout the movie. 

Yet the film’s plot was underwhelming. Multiple long stretches were partially helped by the performances of the actors, but the storylines felt mundane and uninteresting. One particularly dull moment was during Lionel’s time spent as a music teacher overseas in Italy and England. 

While I understand the intention behind this time was to illustrate the influence David had on Lionel’s life, I thought these scenes dragged on for far longer than necessary, and I would have rather that time be used to supplement other moments of the film. 

These scenes also contributed to the disjointed feeling of the film, which highly contrasted with the emotional environment the film was intending to create. Despite the story being primarily linear and marketed as a love story, romance is only prevalent during the first half of the film. 

I would have preferred more time to be spent on David and Lionel’s relationship as opposed to some of the other scenes Hermanus chose to focus on.

Although “The History of Sound” is enjoyable as a whole, it is not worth a trip to the theater. The plot falls short of evoking the strong emotional response a story of this nature should, and the film drags on for too long. Instead, I suggest it as a good movie to watch curled up on the couch when you need a good cry. 

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