Trailers

First Trailer for ‘The History of Sound’ with Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor

Erik Anderson July 24, 2025

MUBI has released the first trailer for The History of Sound, the gay romance starring Academy Award nominee Paul Mescal (Aftersun) and Josh O’Connor (Challengers) and directed by Oliver Hermanus (Living).

In 1917, Lionel (Mescal), a young, talented music student—meets David (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.

In my review of the film out of Cannes, where the film world premiered In Competition, I called it “heartbreaking and beautiful” and that “Lionel and David don’t quantify their relationship, just that it exists, and they express affection publicly in a careful but largely unchecked way. It’s a refreshing take on period gay films and Hermanus, who has run the gamut here from Moffie to Mary & George, finds a beautiful and melancholic middle here.”

Based on the short story by Ben Shattuck (who adapted his work for the screenplay), the film, which also stars Academy Award winner Chris Cooper, releases in U.S. theaters only on September 12th through MUBI.

A Note From Director Oliver Hermanus:

“I’ve been living with this film, this story, for five years. This film has been a personal and defining journey; it has moved me to a new country, educated me about the power of music and song, it has conjured a re-evaluation of love and the bonds that last a lifetime.

The History of Sound is not simply the story of queer lives hidden due to a time of denial, of shame and secrecy. It is the story of a man’s life, expressed through the power of sound — as memory, as emotion… As family.

Our film is an offering of an idea, a very potent one – what if one’s first love, one’s great love, and one’s last love are all in one, and all too soon in one’s life…? What is it to live a life that is an echo? What does it sound like, in retrospect? And if offered a choice, would you change the course of your life’s path?

Made with a deep affection for cinema that does not shout or scream its intention, our film invites you to enjoy song and spirit, to celebrate life in all its wonder — its losses, its grief, its remembrance, and most of all, its undeniable and indelible mark – love.”

‘The History of Sound’ Review: Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor’s Tender Romance is a Silver Dagger to the Heart [A-] Cannes

See the trailer and poster below.

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.