The only thing in life that’s eternal is the desire to hold onto the present and to reclaim the past, and The History of Sound is, by its very nature, an attempt to do just that—a mission in tune with the one undertaken by its main characters.

Oliver Hermanus’s sterling adaptation of Ben Shattuk’s short story—in theaters Sept. 12, following its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival—captures for posterity the fictional early 20th-century tale of two men with a shared passion for music and each other, as well as the superb performances of its leads Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor, whose nuanced and heartbreaking work speaks to the fleeting nature of joy and the cruel passage of time. It’s both about, and an example of, man’s ceaseless effort to immortalize the ephemeral.

From an early age, L

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