IR Interview: Oliver Hermanus For "The History Of Sound" [MUBI]

The Inside Reel

Director Oliver Hermanus talks to The Inside Reel about approach, intent, musicality and rhythm regards to his new film: “The History Of Sound” from MUBI.

Transcript

00:00There was a moment when I realized that I had probably never been as happy as I was

00:18when collecting songs.

00:20I am silver and...

00:25Emotion in song.

00:27I want all of it.

00:30She says that I can't be your bride.

00:45There's a subtlety to the film that is brimming with heart and yet with like drops of dread,

00:51you know, in many ways.

00:52But it's hard to maintain that balance psychologically considering all the characters, Chris, Paul,

00:58Josh, and even the two ladies.

00:59Can you talk about that balance of energy and psychology within the film?

01:05Absolutely.

01:05You know, I think the sort of cut through for me was trying to keep it focused on the perspective

01:11of Paul's character, of course, you know, because it's a reflection of his life.

01:15And there's always that challenge of trying to essentially tell the story of a person's

01:19entire life.

01:20Because in theory, I have three actors playing the same character because there's the young

01:24boy and there's Paul, there's Chris Cooper.

01:26And so you do go like, okay, in a movie, how do you balance out what parts of somebody's

01:31life you show and which parts you sort of skip through?

01:33And for me, it was just trying to show that there were these collection of relationships

01:38and some of them were incidental and small, but there was this one that had a short amount

01:44of sort of interaction, but a huge amount of impact.

01:47And that is what I hope the sort of film kind of demonstrates, that you can have something

01:51small.

01:52You can have a brief encounter, although the famous film, that can really echo through

01:57the rest of your life.

01:57My father said it was a gift from God, how I could see music.

02:06I thought everyone could see sound.

02:09I crossed the rocky mountain, I walked for miles and miles.

02:17Ronald Worthing.

02:19David White.

02:19I mean, the music is so integral to this, too, because it reflects in many ways what's

02:25going, what's happening with them and how time passes and yet does not.

02:29Can you talk about the notion of music and time?

02:32Because it's all about sort of that rhythm between these two men.

02:37I think that's the amazing and fascinating thing about our relationship with music, wherever

02:41we are in the world.

02:42Like music is something that we use to highlight moments in our lives, to celebrate things.

02:46We associate so much with our relationship with music.

02:49We all wear headphones.

02:50We, you know, we, we move around with music and, and I, I think it's an interesting idea.

02:56I thought it was an interesting idea at the onset of this film to remind an audience that

03:01our relationship with recorded sound is, is this modern privilege, you know, a hundred

03:05years ago, more people couldn't do that.

03:07And if we imagine the power you can have when you hear something that takes you right back

03:11to, to your childhood or to your, to your most loved connections, I think is, is the, is

03:18the hope of History of Sound.

03:19Across the Rocky mountain

03:23Don't sing love songs

03:31You'll wake my mother

03:33She's sleeping here right by my side

03:38But it's also when they're going out to get the, this music, it's about the stories

03:43being told, which is sort of interesting in a reflection of celluloid of films telling

03:47stories in the future.

03:49There's that dichotomy.

03:50Can you talk about sort of that thematic and the importance of that, you know, for future

03:54generations, because we're hearing those sounds and reflecting back on them as well.

03:58And what I always think is the most amazing thing about cinema is that it lasts.

04:03Well, in theory, it lasts forever.

04:04We don't know what will happen to the human race in a hundred years.

04:07We'll see, but the idea that somebody can see the history of sound today, or somebody

04:11can see the history of sound in 10 or 15 years, and it'll have this, it in itself becomes

04:16a kind of timestamp of, of a place and time.

04:18And cinema does that, you know, the, the, I, when I watch older films that are 50 years old

04:24or 40 years old, it's amazing how it's also kind of a reflection of the world at that time.

04:29I mean, I, I love that time traveling through cinema.

04:32If I have what you had, I'd leave.

04:35I'd go far away, flee.

04:36In her right hand, a silver dagger.

04:42She says that I can't be your bride.

04:47Don't die.

04:50Don't sing love songs.

04:53Put your hand on your throat.

04:56Now, huh?

05:01Feel something.

05:03And my last question, because the thing is, there's such a sense of, of, of heart, as I

05:08said, love, loneliness, so many things going through in this performance, especially between

05:13obviously, um, Josh and, and Paul.

05:16Could you talk about finding sort of that sort of rhythm?

05:19Because it's all about even how they move in and about a frame with them and also the

05:24other actors.

05:24I mean, and it's beautifully costumed, photographed, all these things, but these all have to work

05:29together.

05:30Can you talk about finding sort of that motion and that dance, if you will?

05:33I was very lucky because Paul and Josh had become such good friends by the time we started

05:37shooting the film, because we had just taken so long to get the movie together that we

05:41had all, we had a lot of time to get to know each other.

05:42And I found that they had a very natural way of, of being in spaces together and connecting.

05:49And that's the kind of joy and brilliance of, of brilliant actors is that they, they, they,

05:54they generate an energy, they generate a chemistry.

05:56And that is something that they do in spades here.

05:59And I, and I, my job is just to make sure the lights are on and the camera's rolling in

06:03some sense.

06:03I got vibration.

06:06The sound is invisible, but it can be physical.

06:11It, it can, it can touch something, it can make an impression.

06:21I guess I feel like I'm at the end of something.

06:27What was the beginning?

06:28The end hop.

06:41The end hop.

06:43What was the beginning?

06:47The end hop.

06:48It was the end hop.

06:49It was the end hop.

06:51And could that be the end hop.

06:53The end hop.

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