In 1917, Lionel (Paul Mescal) — a young, talented music student — meets David (Josh O’Connor) at the Boston Conservatory, where they bond over a deep love of folk music. Years later, Lionel receives a letter from David, leading to an impromptu journey through the backwoods of Maine to collect traditional songs. This unexpected reunion, ensuing love affair, and the music they collect and preserve, will shape the course of Lionel’s life far beyond his own awareness. Based on a short story by Ben Shattuck and directed by Oliver Hermanus (LIVING).
“Hermanus’s beautiful 2022 film LIVING was a masterclass in tender restraint, and the same can be said for his pitch-perfect Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor starrer, steering a quietly epic love story between two young musicologists against the backdrop of WWI… Back in the ’90s, we used to get this type of high-brow yet accessible prestige picture often enough. Today, it feels like a rare treat to luxuriate in.” —Tomris Laffly, elle.com
“There’s a quiet lushness to this story of a romance between two music scholars, played by Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor, one a Kentucky country boy, the other a New England sophisticate…The performances are remarkable, particularly Mescal’s—just to watch him listening is galvanizing.” —Stephanie Zacharek, TIME Magazine
“If you tap into THE HISTORY OF SOUND’s soulful undercurrents, the soaring spiritual dimensions of the music — in songs more often about people than Divinity — and the depth of feeling in Mescal and O’Connor’s performances, this is a film of lingering melancholic beauty.” —David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter