Paul Mescal returns to the theme of queer desire with Oliver Hermanus’s handsome adaptation of Ben Shattuck’s short story of the same name. The Irish star plays Lionel, a soulful Kentuckian who, thanks to perfect singing pitch, lands a musical scholarship to Boston Conservatory in the early 20th century.
There, he falls for David (Josh O’Connor), a musicologist with a particular passion for ballads. Upon David’s return from the first World War, the pair embark on a journey to collect the regional folk songs of New England using a wax cylinder. Their idyllic traipsing becomes an idealised romance from which Lionel cannot move on.
Those yearning for the carnality and heartbreak of All of Us Strangers will be sorely disappointed. The sexually coy History of Sound is neither as moving as Hermanus’s 2022 tear-jerker Living, nor as arresting as the director’s LGBTQ classics Beauty and Moffie. Unlike those films, there’s no sense of historical queer jeopardy as Lionel moves between America, England and Rome, all swooningly captured by cinematographer Alexander Dynan.
The big gestures that linger after reading Shattuck’s story are intact. Lionel’s spurned Italian lover storms off with a one-word condemnation: “Americano!”. Lionel and Daniel’s meet-cute over a piano is joyful. The narrative beats noticeably adhere to the structure of Brokeback Mountain, albeit without any sense of historical risk. There is even a wounded wife scene placed exactly where Anne Hathaway cried snot into the telephone during Ang Lee’s film.
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Despite Mescal’s best efforts and achingly melancholy, and much contemplative voiceover, the script fails to locate the main characters, who are as underwritten as a micro Grindr profile: swipe right for “very good looking, wounded, and loves a sing-song”.
The wafer-thin characterisation and over-reliance on musical recitals make it hard to buy into the film’s premise of enduring love. Are we supposed to wonder if this is all a nostalgic projection? Supporting players are flimsier still. Lionel’s Pa (Raphael Sbarge) is introduced with a parlour trick, then instantly killed off. A doomed English fiancee (Emma Canning) comes and goes far too quickly. Chris Cooper, playing the older Lionel in a lovely coda, is better defined than anything in the preceding two hours.
