Ever since the movie The History of Sound was announced, it's been one of the most buzzed-about movies in Hollywood. Sign up for the Out Newsletter to keep up with what's new in LGBTQ+ culture and entertainment — delivered three times a week straight (well…) to your inbox! Not only does it star rising actors Paul Mescal (All of Us Strangers) and Josh O'Connor (Challengers), but it also features the two of them in a historical gay romance.
Directed by Oliver Hermanus, the film is about two men who set out to record the sounds and songs of their countrymen during World War I. Thanks to a new Vanity Fair first look, we know a lot more details. According to Vanity Fair, the movie "examines the seismic impact of a fleeting romantic encounter between Lionel (Mescal) and David (O'Connor), two students at the New England Conservatory during World War I."
When Lionel hears David singing a folk song from his youth at a piano bar, he's instantly enamored. The two try to remain in each other's lives, but world events are getting in the way. "David is vocal, David has ideas, David is wealthy.
And Lionel is kind of just being overwhelmed by this person, but in a very slow-drip way—taking a long time to quantify the impact of this moment in his life and this relationship," Hermanus told Vanity Fair. "That's just relatable to me, I guess. We all have people who define us, but we don’t realize they defined us until it’s too late."
The two meet up again years after college and embark on a trip around the Northeast to collect folk ballads.