Festivals - Cannes 2025 : The History of Sound casts a timeless echo in a breathtaking premiere met with thunderous applause

By Mulder, Cannes, Palais des Festivals et des Congrès de Cannes, 21 may 2025

There’s a certain rare alchemy when cinema transcends the screen and begins to reverberate in the collective heart of an audience. That magic was undeniably alive on May 21, 2025, at the 78th Cannes Film Festival as The History of Sound, directed by Oliver Hermanus, unfurled before a captivated crowd at the Palais des Festivals. For nine uninterrupted minutes, the room swelled with applause—not just polite clapping, but the kind of standing ovation that grows into something almost spiritual, interrupted only by the festival’s logistical necessity to usher in the next screening. This was not just a premiere—it was a communion, a moment etched into the rhythm of Cannes lore.

The journey of The History of Sound to the Croisette has been one of quiet persistence and artistic conviction. Based on a short story by Ben Shattuck, the film was shepherded into being by the passion of production company End Cue, with Shattuck himself penning the screenplay under the careful guidance of producers Lisa Ciuffetti and Andrew Kortschak. This delicate development process, largely navigated remotely during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, saw conversations crisscrossing continents—from Massachusetts to Los Angeles, and from there to Hermanus’ secluded writing sanctuary in Barrydale, South Africa. Such an intimate, geographically scattered genesis seems fitting for a film that explores distance, memory, and the fragile endurance of love across time.

On screen, The History of Sound tells the story of Lionel (played with restrained emotional power by Paul Mescal), a gifted singer from Kentucky who meets David (a quietly brilliant Josh O’Connor) at the Boston Conservatory in 1917. Their budding bond, tinged with both professional collaboration and romantic undercurrents, is disrupted when David is drafted into World War I. When they are reunited in 1920, they embark on a journey through rural Maine to record American folk songs—a mission to preserve sound, even as their own connection teeters on the brink of silence. As Lionel ages and finds success across Europe, his memories of David haunt him like a chorus line he can’t quite forget. The echoes of their brief time together—poignant, formative, and ultimately life-defining—resurface in unexpected ways, much like a melody once thought lost.

The premiere brought a constellation of stars to the red carpet, including Mescal himself, whose arrival alongside Hermanus set off a flurry of camera flashes and festival whispers. O’Connor, engaged with another project, was notably absent—but his presence was nonetheless deeply felt in the film’s reverent reception and in Hermanus’ own words post-screening. “We miss him, we love him,” the director said, voice thick with affection. “This has been one of the great creative collaborations of my very short career.” The audience could sense the gratitude and pride vibrating between Hermanus and Mescal as they embraced on stage, their shared artistic labor finally meeting the world.

Among the crowd soaking in the emotion of the night were cast members Raphael Sbarge, Molly Price, Hadley Robinson, and Peter Mark Kendall, alongside industry stalwarts like Michelle Rodriguez and John C. Reilly. Italian actor Alessandro Borghi, in town for his own Un Certain Regard title Heads or Tails?, joined the gathering, as did Julian Assange, whose own documentary The 6 Billion Dollar Man premiered at the festival. But even among such dazzling names and projects, it was The History of Sound that resonated the loudest—its quiet intensity and lyrical heart standing in bold contrast to the typical high-stakes bombast of festival fare.

The production itself, spanning Massachusetts, New Jersey, and later Italy, was as meticulous as the story it sought to tell. O’Connor reportedly learned to play piano for his role, committing himself with the same immersive depth that has marked his career thus far. Anecdotes from the shoot—such as Mescal and O’Connor being spotted in full costume at the Oakley Farm Museum in Freehold Township—have already begun to feed into the film’s growing mystique. This was not a star vehicle rushed into existence, but rather a work carefully composed like one of the folk songs its characters seek to preserve.

What makes The History of Sound so uniquely moving isn’t just its period detail or its lush cinematography (courtesy of Alexander Dynan), but its core sentiment: that music, like love, endures even when buried under years and silence. O’Connor summed it up beautifully in an earlier interview: “When you listen to a piece of music and it transports you to a certain place or time… if you close your eyes, you can feel like you are actually there.” That sensation—that collapsing of memory and emotion, of time and tenderness—is what Hermanus has captured so deftly.

With distribution secured through Mubi in North America and Focus Features/Universal handling international rights, The History of Sound is poised to make an impact far beyond Cannes. Its French release is slated for January 14, 2026, but the ripples of its premiere are already radiating outward, solidifying it as an early Palme d’Or contender and a future favorite for awards season. The film is not just a quiet masterpiece—it is a cinematic ballad, a love song carried on the wind across decades, as fragile and unforgettable as the sound of a voice you once loved calling your name.

You can discover our photos in our Flickr page

Synopsis : 
Lionel, a talented young singer from Kentucky, grew up listening to the songs his father sang on the front steps of their house. In 1917, he left the family farm to attend the Boston Conservatory, where he met David, a brilliant and charming composition student. But their budding relationship was brutally cut short when David was drafted at the end of the war. In 1920, reunited for a winter, Lionel and David traveled through the forests and islands of Maine to collect and preserve folk songs threatened with oblivion. This interlude would leave a lasting mark on Lionel. Over the following decades, Lionel enjoys recognition, success, and other love stories as he travels throughout Europe. But his memories of David continue to haunt him, until one day a trace of their joint work resurfaces, revealing how much that relationship resonated more strongly than any other.

The History of Sound
Directed by Oliver Hermanus
Written by Ben Shattuck
Based on The History of Sound by Ben Shattuck
Produced by Lisa Ciuffetti, Oliver Hermanus, Andrew Kortschak, Sara Murphy, Thérèsa Ryan, Zhang Xin
Starring  Paul Mescal, Josh O'Connor
Cinematography : Alexander Dynan
Edited by Chris Wyatt
Production companies : Film4, End Cue, Fat City, Tango Entertainment, Closer Media, Storm City Films
Distributed by     Mubi (United States and Canada), Focus Features, Universal Pictures (International)
Release date : May 21, 2025 (Cannes), January 14, 2026 (France)
Running time 127 minutes

Photos : @fannyrlphotography