As the sound dips in and out the audience are left as confused and disorientated as Ruben as they experience first hand what it is to try and navigate your way through a hearing world.

Riz Ahmed (Best Actor nominee) does a brilliant job of capturing the frustrations and confusion of trying to live with hearing loss. Sharing his life and Airstream with loving girlfriend Lou (Olivia Cooke), Ruben’s life starts to fall apart as he realises that he is struggling to hear. He is unable to continue in his role as a drummer in Lou’s band and is quickly unable to hold a telephone conversation. 

There is so much that is done right in this film in its representation of hearing loss. The scene in the diner as Ruben’s sense of helplessness at being unable to hear the person on the other end of the phone erupts in a frustrated sarcastic monologue is something I often experience.

The same goes for the scene in the pharmacy when again through the clever use of sound the audience get to hear what hearing impaired people don’t hear when we go into a busy shop. However, there’s also so much about the content of this film that left me feeling a bit bemused.

There has been a lot of noise on social media about the important message the film gives us. The message I got, unfortunately, was that the onset of hearing loss will leave you isolated regardless of the choices you make. The final scene for me was particularly hard to stomach. Ruben having made the decision to have a Cochlear Implant is left sitting alone on a bench, ostracised from the Deaf Community for not accepting his hearing loss and also unable to integrate in a hearing world due to the hugely distorted sounds created by his new hearing device.

There is an overriding sense from very early on in this film that hearing loss means you have to surrender all that you hold dear in a normal life (career, relationship) and it’s simply not true. Am I supposed to feel like Ruben has got his ‘just desserts’ in those closing moments for not completing his assignment set by retreat leader Joe, to ‘learn to be deaf’? As he unplugs his implant and absorbs the silence am I supposed to feel that this is what he should have done all along?

Ruben isn’t offered hearing aids for some reason in this film, maybe his loss was too profound for them but that perhaps should have been briefly explained away. Instead the audience is told the very scary tale of rapid hearing loss with no alternative to an implant and no positive outcome for the protagonist.

Despite its issues, I did enjoy The Sound of Metal on the whole. The performances are excellent, the relationship between Ruben and Lou felt authentic and when she leaves him in the parking lot it’s a genuine lump in throat moment. Also excellent was Paul Raci’s intense portrayal of the unflinching Joe. 

It was interesting to share the film with a hearing person and see their reactions to what the world sounds like for me much of the time. I do think anything that raises awareness about hearing loss is a good thing, particularly in today’s world where hearing impaired lip readers face further challenges due to the necessity for face coverings. I just didn’t want Ruben sat alone on that bench at the end, unhearing with nothing to look forward to in life.