[Portrait to read in the winter issue of the Têtu magazine, available at your newsstands or by subscription.] The South African director Oliver Hermanus signs the most anticipated gay film of the start of this year: The History of Sound, with Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor. In theaters from this Wednesday, February 25.
Bringing together Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor in a romance, we dreamed of it, and he did it! With The History of Sound (The History of Sound) in theaters this Wednesday, February 25, presented in official competition at the last Cannes Film Festival, Oliver Hermanus gives us a dream pairing between the two handsome brunets who have already set our hearts aflutter, just as much through blockbuster productions as through more intimate films: Paul Mescal, from the heartbreaking Sans jamais nous connaître (Normal People) to the very muscular Gladiator II, and Josh O’Connor, from the rural Seule la terre (Only the Earth) to the sultry Challengers.
The 42-year-old South African filmmaker is far from new to the game. In 2011, his second feature, Beauty, a magnificent tragedy about the violence of desire, won the second Queer Palm at Cannes, following Gregg Araki’s Kaboom. In 2019, his very beautiful Moffie tackled compulsory military service in his homeland, through the eyes of a young gay man during apartheid. In 2022, Alive tackled the intimate drama of an older man discovering a serious illness in post-World War II London. With The History of Sound, Oliver Hermanus offers another period piece, but for the first time ventures beyond the Atlantic by adapting the eponymous short story by Ben Shattuck. Set in 1917 New England, the story follows two men, Lionel and David, who grow closer during a journey through Maine to record traditional folk songs of the local communities. The director talks to us about this adaptation, told through music and tears…
Your two leads are among the most sought-after actors right now!
When we started working on this film, they had participated in interesting projects, such as Only the Earth, for Josh, or Normal People, for Paul, but they didn’t yet have the popularity they have today. In five years, they’ve broken through everything! Nevertheless, their fame never weighed on the production, and I felt that we shared a strong and sincere interest in the story we are telling.
When people ask me to summarize the premise of The History of Sound, I talk about missed opportunities and regrets… Does that sound right to you?
Without revealing the ending, I would say there are two ways to view this film. One could say it is indeed a story of regrets, of “what if I had done that?”, but at the same time, the ending brings a real sense of understanding and a cathartic resolve necessary to turn the page and move forward. Although it takes place in the early 20th century, the film does not arc into a narrative about the repression of homosexuality.
Why make this choice?
It’s almost a theatrical twist, the fact that this film does not talk about homophobia at all! [Laughter.] Moffie already addressed the idea of the danger linked to homosexuality when you find yourself in very masculine spaces. With The History of Sound, I wanted it to be almost a non-issue. For a long time, queer cinema has largely focused on our sufferings, in order to urge the world to consider us and feel empathy for us. Today, this kind of narrative is no longer an obligation. The History of Sound is simply a story of universal feelings—love, regrets—told through a gay lens.
The real source of tension in the film is a very timely topic: mental health.
Absolutely! Audiences will surely expect that it is the era’s homophobia that will separate Lionel and David. But it is war, time, and above all traumas that will distance them. And it is well known that men do not really talk about their emotions, not even during the war, a century ago…
Between love and music, the two main themes of the film, which speaks to you the most as a filmmaker?
It is the romance that struck me upon reading the short story on which the film is based. Its writing is particularly delicate, as if the author had attained a kind of wisdom about the nature of life. For me, this story is a bit like a house whose foundations would be the relationship between the two main characters and the music, the bricks needed to build it.
In a monologue, one of your characters speaks of the power of folk music to translate and elevate the human experience. Do you have a song in mind that touches you this deeply?
I grew up in the 1990s in South Africa, where there was a large cultural eruption after apartheid. The first song that comes to mind is “How to Disappear Completely” by Radiohead. When I think back to that song, I have a clear image of the period when I listened to it, of my state of mind, of my aspirations at the time… For me, music is a timestamp of life. It is an integral part of our daily lives and marks key moments in our lives. That’s why you choose a song specifically to begin your wedding, because you know it will always recall that exact moment.
