Billy Connolly once wrote a song called My Granny Was a Cripple in Nashville, poking fun at the misery that is heaped on the protagonists of country music. In The History of Sound, Oliver Hermanus’s second non-South African feature, a character is more forgiving, describing folk ballads as “warm-blooded” music, those plaintive tunes recounting the lives and often sorrows of ordinary people. This film, based on a short story by Ben Shattuck (who adapted it for the screen with Hermanus), follows the lives and often sorrows of Lionel Worthing (Paul Mescal) and David White (Josh O’Connor).
The film opens in rural Kentucky in 1910. Lionel is the narrator of his tale, recounting his musical ability: “My father said it was a gift from God.” A local teacher recognises the boy’s talent and soon he is studying voice at the New England Conservatory in Boston. It’s 1917 and he’s about to meet the love of his life. Hearing a familiar tune one night in a bar, he heads to the piano, where David is playing. A fellow student (of composition), David explains how he came across the song, travelling the world with his uncle in search for folk ballads. The men’s attraction is instant and immediately consummated.
