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The History of Sound streaming

2025 Movie Sweden, United States, United Kingdom Drama, History, Romance, Musical, Music 128 min Ages 15+
By: Oliver Hermanus With: Briana Middleton, Gary Raymond, Michael D. Xavier, Emma Canning, Emily Bergl

Lionel Worthing is a music prodigy from a poor Kentucky farming family, he who is able to visualize sound. Despite being orphaned at a point in his growing up, David Smith has a more privileged background under the guardianship of an uncle in Newport. Both students at a music conservatory in New England, they meet for the first time in 1917 at a bar. It is their shared love of folk music that initially brings them together, that bond eventually romantic and sexual. While the Great War separates them, they are brought together postwar when David, who works as a researcher at an Augusta, ME college, asks Lionel, who has been back at the family farm for the intervening years, to accompany him on a several month project to collect folk songs through rural New England. The question becomes what will happen with their relationship after the conclusion of the project with they only knowing what each has chose to divulge to the other in their so far limited time together regarding the other's hopes and dreams. Despite both arguably believing working on this project the happiest each has ever been, Lionel does muse about a traditional family life with a wife and children, while David has his own more hidden issues outside of their time together.

Filmium rating
69%

Mood

Melancholic
Reflective
Romantic

Cast & Crew

Oliver Hermanus
Ben Shattuck
Dawn McGee
Leo Cocovinis
Emma Canning
Briana Middleton
Aidan Redmond
Tom Nelis
Chris Cooper
Hadley Robinson
Brian Hutchison
Aedin Moloney
Paul Mescal
Gary Raymond
Emily Bergl
Michael Schantz
Michael D. Xavier
Molly Price
Alessandro Bedetti
Alison Bartlett
Raphael Sbarge
Peter Mark Kendall
Josh O'Connor

Adaptation

Based On Short Stories
Literary Adaptation
Original Screenplay

Cinematic Technique

Atmospheric
Authentic Set Design
Filmic

Narrative Structure

Epistolary
Flashback
Nonlinear

Pace

Deliberate
Meditative
Slow-Paced

Soundtrack

Folk Music
Melodic
Period Score

Style

Artistic
Cinematic
Period Drama

Time-Period

1920S
Early 20Th Century
World War I Era

Central Conflict

Loss Of Connection
Love And Separation
Memory And Mourning

Characters

Music Prodigy
Romantic Partners
War Veteran

Ending

Bittersweet
Memorial
Reconciliation

Historical Context

Early 20Th Century
Post-War America
World War I

Key Plot Points

Death Of David
Discovery Of Wax Cylinders
Folk Song Collection
Meeting At Conservatory
War Draft

Plot

Music Preservation
Romance
War Impact

Setting

Boston Conservatory
Europe (Rome, Oxford)
Rural Maine

Shooting Location

Main
Massachusetts
Oxford
Rome
Tarquinia

Theme

Cultural Preservation
Love And Loss
Memory

Genre

Music Film
Period Drama
Romance

Audiences

Adults
History Enthusiasts
Romance Lovers

Titles

The History Of Sound

Awards

Palme D'Or Contender

Critical Reception

Positive Reviews
Visually Stunning
Well-Acted

Festivals

Cannes Film Festival

Ratings

Metacritic 63
Rotten Tomatoes 69%

Reception

Critical Acclaim
Festival Premiere
Melancholic Tone

Production Countries

Italy
South Africa
United States

Release Year

2025
mowizz ID: 17979707-9f09-4819-a876-32ab80e360be
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