A star rating of 4 out of 5. A tender, decade-spanning love story, exquisitely told by director Oliver Hermanus, The History of Sound is yet another wonderful showcase for the considerable talents of Josh O’Connor and Paul Mescal. The British actor O’Connor, best known for his work as Prince Charles on The Crown, and the Irish-born Mescal, famed for Normal People and, more recently, Gladiator II, are already dizzyingly popular; this first collaboration is only likely to deepen their fanbases. Premiering in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, The History of Sound begins, briefly, in 1910, as Mescal’s Lionel narrates about his unique appreciation of music. “I thought everyone could see sound,” he intones. But it won’t be for another seven years that he meets a man who is similarly in tune with sound. In a bar one night, David (O’Connor) is playing a piano. They will soon become firm friends and more. David, we learn, grew up in Newport, then London, and comes from a wealthier background than Lionel, who was raised up on …