The History of Sound premiered at the Cannes Film Festival with the period love-story generating mixed reviews…
Last night, Cannes Film Festival premiered another queer romance that generated mixed reviews, emotional reactions and comparisons to Brokeback Mountain. Oliver Hermanus’ The History of Sound received a six-minute standing ovation and had audiences weeping according to Variety.
Starring Paul Mescal (All of Us Strangers, Aftersun) and Josh O’Connor (Challengers, The Crown), the film is an adaptation of Ben Shattuck’s short story by the same name. The narrative follows Lionel (Mescal), a talented singer from Kentucky, who leaves his family farm in 1917 to attend the Boston Music Conservatory. It’s here he meets a charming composition student named David (O’Connor), who he bonds with over folk music. The film follows the relationship formed between the two men as they record and collect American folk songs. The story continues decades later as Lionel reflects on the impact David had on his life.
The film has been getting both praise and critiques from critics with The Guardian and BBC giving it two out of five stars, with the latter saying the romance film is “too polite.” The Hollywood Reporter called it a “restrained, but heartfelt queer love story.”
In a post to X, The Globe and Mail’s Barry Hertz said his opinion of the film changed at the halfway mark. “Was ready to write this off as another admirable but dry and dusty Hermanus period pic. But about an hour in, it gets deeper and tricker, with Paul Mescal going AFTERSUN to the power of 10. The (too many) ending(s) will turn you into a puddle of mush.”
One thing critics do agree on are the performances by Mescal and O’Connor. Outlets have praised their chemistry with Deadline saying the pair “make beautiful music together in a moving love story.”
Critics were also quick to compare the film to Brokeback Mountain, Ang Lee’s queer cowboy love story starring Jake Gyllenhaal and the late Heath Ledger. Variety called it “Brokeback Mountain on sedatives,” while The Times declared it as “A Brokeback for today.”
At a press conference for the film, Mescal shot back at critics calling the comparison “lazy.” “This film is fundamentally pointed in the opposite direction. To be honest, I find those comparisons relatively lazy and frustrating,” he said. “I think the relationship I have to the film is born out of the fact that it’s a celebration of these two men’s love, not a film about their repressed relationship and their sexuality.” He went on to say he personally doesn’t see the parallels between the two films other than a scene in a tent.
Director Oliver Hermanus stated the Ang Lee film wasn’t on their minds during production, but said it “just shows there should be more forms about these nuances of queer relationships, beyond the context most movies deal with.”
With no trailer or theatrical release date yet, we’ll have to wait and see if we agree with critics.
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