Welcome to our Colossus Movie Guide for Sound of Metal. This guide contains our detailed library of content covering key aspects of the movie’s plot, ending, meaning, and more. We encourage your comments to help us create the best possible guide. Thank you!
What is Sound of Metal about?
Sound of Metal isn’t so much about hearing loss as it is about addiction, acceptance, and peace. Ruben’s newfound deafness is important but it’s more the mechanism that drives the story as opposed to what the story is about. Even though Ruben’s four years sober, he still hasn’t learned how to be still and alone with his own thoughts. The journey he goes on with hearing loss is what guides him, eventually, to serenity. Music couldn’t be the answer. Neither could Lou or any other romantic partner. Ruben had to find it himself, within himself. Rediscovering a childlike spirit and connecting with nature both play crucial roles in the process.
Movie Guide table of contents
Cast
- Ruben Stone – Riz Ahmed
- Lou Berger – Olivia Cooke
- Richard Berger – Mathiew Amalric
- Joe – Paul Raci
- Diane – Lauren Ridloff
- Harlan – Chris Perfetti
- Jenn – Chelsea Lee
- Written by – Darius Marder | Abraham Marder
- Directed by – Darius Marder
The ending of Sound of Metal explained
Recap
The end of Sound of Metal begins with Ruben’s arrival in Paris. He’s making do with his new cochlear implants but the sound is incredibly tinny and mediocre. He arrives at Lou’s dad’s place and spends some time with Richard. We hear how Richard hasn’t been able to spend a lot of time with Lou and how he initially resented Ruben for being on the road with her. But he’s come to appreciate the balance Ruben provided Lou. There’s the implication, though, that Ruben doesn’t need to take care of her anymore.
When Lou arrives at the house, she wakes Ruben up. The reunion is a bit awkward. Not joyless. But Lou seems preoccupied. They attend a party together and Ruben tries to be normal but the implants can’t handle so many conversations and the ambient noise. It makes conversation for Ruben almost impossible.
Lou performs a song with her father and it’s completely different from the music she had made with Ruben. It’s not metal but a very delicate French song called “Cet Amour Me Tue” (originally by Arthur H and Martha Wainwright). Slowly, the audio switches to what Ruben hears and it’s staticy, thin, and haunting.
Back in the bedroom, Ruben and Lou begin to get intimate, to go back to how things were between them, but it doesn’t last. They change the topic to the performance. Ruben’s impressed and praising. Lou’s hesitant and almost embarrassed. When she mentions how she “told everyone about our little gypsy life together”, Ruben mentions getting back on the road. Going back to how things were with the album and tour. Lou hesitates. And scratches her arm.
Ruben had noted earlier how clear Lou’s arm looked. It seemed she hadn’t scratched the whole time she had been in Paris. But now that he’s there….And he understands what this means. So he tells her “It’s okay.” And “You saved my life. You made it beautiful.” She cries. “You saved my life, too, Ruby.” He cries. They hold one another.
The next morning, he wakes up early and leaves. In a random park, we watch Lou sit on a bench and observe. And hear what he hears through the implants. It’s still aggressive and sharp. Glitchy. When church bells ring, the sound is almost apocalyptic. Frustrated, Ruben removes the hearing device. The world goes silent. Now he looks back at the same sights as before. Kids with a skateboard. A tree and the sun and sky behind it. The people walking by. He looks calm. At peace. The movie ends.
Meaning
You can see the entire point of Sound of Metal when you compare the opening scene to the final scene. The first shot is of Ruben, on the drums, while a lingering, harsh, feedback-ish note plays. We watch him amp up as he prepares to play. And then we descend into the metal of it all. Lou’s scream-singing, Ruben’s heavy drumming. It’s loud. Energized. Angry, even. The dark room makes everything feel closed in.
What do we see at the end? Ruben’s in a park. There are people all around. The world is vibrant, open. The sound reproduced by the cochlear implants is too grating so Ruben takes off the headpiece and simply sits in silence. He is still and comfortable. Alone and okay.
Even though Ruben seems fine at the beginning, before the hearing loss, he’s not. Both he and Lou are still on the move, on the run from their past struggles with addiction. This isn’t something we realize right away. Not until later when Ruben tries to fix the roof at Joe’s place and we see how desperate he is to always be busy so Joe makes Ruben stay in a room and just sit. Later, before Ruben leaves, he explains: “I wonder. All those mornings you’ve been sitting in my study—sitting—have you had any moments of stillness? Because you’re right, Ruben, the world does keep moving, and it can be a damn, cruel place. But, for me, those moments of stillness, that place, that’s the kingdom of God. And that place will never abandon you.”
We didn’t have that context at the start of the movie. We just think Ruben has a morning routine he sticks to and that he and Lou are happily on tour. But, really, those things represent his inability to be still. When Lou goes to Paris, she finally relaxes. She’s away from all the stuff that had been hard on her. She finds her calm. That’s represented in the song she sings with her dad. It’s not the heavy metal sound she had been doing. Because her heart is in a different place. She’s getting back in touch with a version of herself who predates all the pain and trauma from what happened with her mom. And that’s why she hadn’t been itching.
And what happens when Ruben brings up getting back on the road? Making that same music as before? Lou scratches her arm. That moment is a clear statement about how that previous life wasn’t healthy, even if it’s what helped get Ruben and Lou into a better place than they had been before. It’s not what’s best for them moving forward.
Really, that’s also what the relationship represents. They saved one another. But that doesn’t mean they’re right for each other. The relationship was a byproduct of what they were going through. It’s part of the past each of them is ready to move on from. To do that, they have to move on from one another. By letting go of Lou, Ruben gives both of them an opportunity to start fresh.
Which is what we see at the end. The cochlear implants have a metallic sound. That’s not a happy coincidence. It’s supposed to recall the metal music. In general, there’s nothing wrong with heavy metal. But the film uses it to represent the internal turmoil that follows addiction and how the characters both struggle with stillness. The music is essentially the state of their hearts. When the church bells go off, it has, when heard through the implants, that clanging, discordant clashing that recalls Ruben on the drums.
By taking the processor from his head, Ruben stops trying to cling to the past. Instead, he finally embraces who he is now. And with that comes peace. The church goes from the source of this awful cacophony to a stoic, gorgeous piece of architecture. The visual of the tree and the sun through the branches and the blue sky is tranquil, serene. Both shots recall Joe’s words about how in “those moments of stillness” you find “the kingdom of God.”
Even though we don’t know what’s next for Ruben, we get the sense he will be okay. You could imagine a world where he goes back to Joe. Works at the school. Marries the teacher, Diane. And lives a happy life. Regardless, he’s finally ready for his next chapter.
On structure
I do want to note that Sound of Metal uses a simple structure. I call it a “pivot plot”. Essentially the story is flipping a switch from off to on (or vice versa). In this case, it’s “Ruben needs to let go of his past and embrace his future.” With that in mind, you need to have something represent the past that he can let go of. Darius Marder went with Ruben’s relationship with Lou and his hearing. Those choices, especially with Ruben’s history of addiction, give Sound of Metal its texture and flavor.
But they’re ultimately variables. You could change “relationship with Lou and hearing” to “friendship with a childhood friend and online sports betting”. Or “competitive swimming and pet dog”. Or “video games and riding on trains”. Obviously those aren’t profound examples, but they demonstrate how much the variables affect the story. Even though the main pivot is the same—the character lets go and is ready for something new—the variables mean that no two stories are alike.
La La Land is also a pivot plot. Both Seb and Mia start the film at the low points of their careers. They each end at the top (relatively speaking). What do they ultimately sacrifice to get there? Their relationship. But you could retell that same story and have the answer to “what do they sacrifice” be something different each time.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is also a pivot plot. Specifically, Miles has confidence issues and needs to believe in himself the way others believe in him. You could tell that story in many ways. Miles is a tremendous soccer player but gets nervous in front of crowds. He’s a talented musician but is scared to perform live. He cooks amazing BBQ for friends and family but won’t leave his day job to open a food truck because he doesn’t know if he has what it takes. Or, say, he has superpowers and can be the new Spider-Man but keeps comparing himself to other Spider-people and convinces himself he can’t do it. The whole plot revolves around bringing him to the point of pivot, the point when he finally believes in himself.
Anyway, that’s not majorly important, but it’s one of those geeky narrative tidbits that I love.
The themes, message, and meaning of Sound of Metal
Acceptance
Despite Ruben being clean for years, he was still in a very unstable place. The life he and Lou had was chaotic, wayward. And even though they told themselves and others that it was charming and what they wanted to be doing—both were still on edge. Ruben had to be in perpetual motion because he couldn’t be alone with his own thoughts. And while Lou wasn’t using, she was still scratching and had unresolved issues with her father and herself. We see that the moment she’s away from Ruben, the kind of music she makes changes. A big signifier that who she had been with him wasn’t necessarily who she was at her core.
Ruben’s hearing loss isn’t the big problem he has to solve. As Joe tells him, it’s not even a problem or a handicap or something to fix. It’s simply a change. But the hearing loss is what reveals to Ruben how unsettled he really is. He can’t hide in a life of music or by being codependent with Lou. In learning to accept his hearing loss, Ruben has to learn to accept himself, to be with himself, rather than constantly trying to be anywhere and everywhere else.
Connection to something more
Joe makes a case that in stillness you find God. We associate a connection to a higher power with positive feelings. Peace, calm, beauty, joy, possibility. Ruben finally discovers this in a park in Paris. But it seemed like he had, unknowingly, stumbled upon it earlier. Specifically, when he was at the school. The time he spent with Diane and the children in her class was perhaps the happiest we see Ruben the entire film. Being part of that community, learning and bonding with everyone, definitely slowed Ruben down and brought him a sense of happiness.
That momentum dies when Ruben uses Joe’s computer to check up on Lou and sees making music without him. Suddenly, he’s worried about losing her and missing out on what they had. He becomes desperate to recapture the past, to return to the insular life the two of them had shared. That tunnel vision disconnects him from everyone else. He backslides and acts more like an addict. Which Joe calls out. At the end, in that park, Ruben feels connected again. To people. To nature. To himself. Whether you want to call that God or the world or whatever—the feeling is special.
Technology versus Nature
Sound of Metal doesn’t say technology is evil—or anything so severe. But technology does have a slightly negative portrayal. This is most relevant with the cochlear implants. To be clear, cochlear implants can be wonderful. And there was a reaction to Sound of Metal from the CI community because they were afraid it would scare people off from a procedure that could benefit them.
Darius Marder did an interview where he was asked about it. He said, “I have a lot of respect for people in the audiology community, and I am uncomfortable thinking about some people who might watch the film and feel like it’s anti-cochlear implant. This film is literally not. This film, in fact, doesn’t have an opinion on cochlear implants.”
That sounds great. But then he continued on, “Cochlear implants are simply a fact, and some members of the Deaf community, with a capital D, don’t think that they should be given a solution. That’s not my opinion. And cochlear implants do, in fact, sound a lot worse than what is depicted in the movie, by almost all accounts.”
So a compliment followed by a pretty heavy criticism.
Even if Marder doesn’t view cochlear implants as bad, the film takes a pretty strong stance, especially through Joe, that deafness isn’t something to correct. And that stance is confirmed when Ruben’s experience with cochlear implants is presented as negatively as it is. The big turning point for the character is him disconnecting the implant. It’s hard not to read that as critical of the technology.
Regardless, what we see is the film elevating what’s natural over the technological. It’s not just the implants. When Ruben’s at Joe’s place, the big hindrance in his progress is the computer. Every time he uses it, he betrays Joe’s trust. And he just starts spinning himself up and out because he uses it to check on Lou. Which is what drives him to compromise his progress by selling the RV to get the implants then fly out to Paris. Ultimately, it’s that step back that allows him to take the necessary leap forward. So it all worked out in the end. But the computer was a gateway to Ruben’s more negative behavior.
The tension that comes up whenever Ruben’s on the computer juxtaposes the repose and fun he has when attending American Sign Language classes and running around in nature.
With that said, technology isn’t all bad. The text machine helps facilitate communication between Joe and Ruben. And, ultimately, the movie isn’t about deafness or technology. It’s about finding peace.
Why is the movie called Sound of Metal?
Sound of Metal, as a title, has nuance to it. The first scene of the film is Ruben and Lou performing metal music. The marketing of the film reinforced the musician aspect. But things pivot when Ruben loses his hearing. When that happens, you could read the title as ironic, as in “this is what happens when you play heavy metal without hearing protection. You end up not being able to hear anything”.
Drumeo, a drum-centric company, writes that: Over 57% of pro dummers and 44% of amateur drummers have ringing in their ears (tinnitus). You’re almost four times more likely to have tinnitus than non-musicians…. As for general hearing loss, one study showed that it affected almost 40% of percussionists compared to 9% of the reference population.
Jay Weinberg, the lead drummer for Slipknot, a famous heavy metal band, once did a PSA where he described being 14 and spending an afternoon in a jam session with friends and how he had them turn the guitar volume up to 10. In his own words: We had a great day jamming, but then, the next morning, I had no high-end frequencies in my hearing. I thought I honestly lost my hearing altogether, and I was really frightened ‘cause I didn’t know how to deal with that…. So I learned really quickly as a young that hearing protection is an absolute must if you want any sort of longevity and sustainability in playing music. So ever since that day, I’ve never sat down at a kit and played the way I play [heavy metal] without hearing protection. Not even once. It’s not an option, if you want a sustainable life in the creative field of playing loud, rock music, especially if you’re a drummer.
Then, of course, the cochlear implants had that tinny, metallic sound to them. The implants weren’t right for Ruben (though they might have been better for someone else) but he got them anyway because he was desperate. And that metal racket is the sound of his desperation. Heard that way, the church and church bells are clashing, clanging cacophony.
What’s cool about titles is that they can sometimes set-up their own counterpoints. For example, a movie titled Fire contains within it the idea of water. Water doesn’t have to play a role, but if it did…that would be fitting. Same thing if you called a movie Order. At some point, you might expect chaos. Imagine hearing metal scrape on metal. Harsh. Grating. Now imagine that’s all you hear. That’s the state of Ruben’s life. Not because he’s deaf, but because he hasn’t come to terms with his addiction. He hasn’t found acceptance. When all you hear is that sound, all the time, how sweet then is silence?
So the title, in a very subtle way, sets up the silence Ruben exists in at the end of the film. And the relief that comes with it.
Important motifs in Sound of Metal
Children
Thematically, kids usually symbolize youth, innocence, and potential. And we see that in Sound of Metal. When Ruben attends ASL classes, he’s part of a classroom full of kids. Hanging out with them, learning with them, has a positive effect. Ruben relaxes. He gets to act like a kid again. Which lines up well with his journey. Losing his hearing is a new beginning. Life as he had known it is gone. He’s been reborn and has to learn how to be deaf and live with deafness. So him being with kids in school is very fitting.
Once he becomes desperate to reconnect with Lou and be “normal” again, he leaves the kids behind. The peace and joy he had been feeling goes too. All that’s left is that grown up anxiety and desperation. At the very end, though, as Ruben sits on that bench in Paris, what does he observe? Two kids messing around with a skateboard. The one won’t let the other get on it. After Ruben takes the implants out, he looks at the kids again. The other kid is finally on the skateboard and manages to do a beginner-level trick. He smiles and the friend cheers him on. Ruben almost smiles. Witnessing that struck a chord in him. The kid learned to do something new. If a kid can do it, can’t Ruben? In that moment, he comes to terms with his new beginning. And he feels peace.
Questions & answers about Sound of Metal
Why did Ruben and Lou break up? Why does Ruben say it’s okay?
The two were right for each other when each needed someone to help them recover from addiction. But having saved each other, they wanted and needed different things. And the time apart put that into perspective.
Ruben realized that Lou had started a life in Paris and that it wasn’t a world he could really be part of. Or wanted to be part of. And that Lou didn’t necessarily need him anymore. What confirmed that was when he mentioned getting back on the road and Lou scratched her arm. That was one of her stress behaviors. One of the things Ruben had noted upon their reunion was how healthy Lou’s arm was. She hadn’t been scratching. So when she does, in response to him and their life, he knows that’s not the path. That she actually doesn’t want that, whether she fully realizes it or not. And she loves him too much to say it. So he tells her. It’s okay. She didn’t even have to say it. He already knew. And it’s okay.
Why did Joe get mad at Ruben for fixing the roof?
Joe was an addict and helps addicts. He believes that trying to stay busy is a sign that an addict is still struggling, even if they’re not using. An inability to be at ease, to be alone with your own thoughts, isn’t a good sign. Even in non-addicts. You stay busy because you’re afraid of what will happen if you slow down. Joe recognized that tension in Ruben, that’s why he’s mad about the roof. Ruben wasn’t doing it because he genuinely wanted to help, he was doing it because he was trying to avoid being alone with his own thoughts.
That’s why the end is such a big tipping point. Ruben’s finally at the point where he can be still. Where he’s not running from himself.
Do cochlear implants sound like that? Is the surgery difficult?
An article from The Hearing Review discusses the backlash from the CI community. Specifically, issues with the “portrayal of the standard of care.” They talked to Meredith A. Holcomb, AuD, CCC-A, and she said: Typically, patients have one to two lengthy visits with their CI center prior to surgery. Those appointments consist of an ENT evaluation, audiological testing with and without hearing aids, radiographic imaging, and sometimes psychological evaluation and speech/language evaluations. Pre-operative counseling is intense and covers not only the surgery but the realistic expectations for the CI journey after surgery, the need for wearing the CI during all waking hours, the importance of online or in-person speech therapy with the CHI, and the insurance approval process. Fortunately, almost all insurance companies cover the CI surgery. This was another huge problem with the film as it stated multiple times that insurance does not cover the surgery. CI patients have anywhere from 4 to 6—sometimes more—appointments for CI programming, counseling, and testing during the first year after surgery.
How did Joe go deaf?
He mentions that he was in Vietnam, serving during the war, and a bomb exploded by him.
Can you tell me about Ruben’s tattoos?
Darius Marder and Riz Ahmed did an interview with the National Board of Review. They talked about the tattoos.
Marder: …The tattoos were another aspect [of the character’s physicality], and they were a very deep dive. There’s a lot of references in there to punk culture and its history, like “Please Kill Me.” A lot of those tattoos have to do with his relationship to Sean Powell, who is the drummer of a band called Surfbort…. Sean Powell is an incredibly generous soul and was a heroin addict. He has this wonderful sense of humor that I think he wears that as a survival mechanism. He really introduced that to us during the research process.
Ahmed: Yeah, the dark humor within the punk music scene was so important. Ruben is someone, like Lou, who is trying to construct his identity, as many of us do. But he’s doing it very proactively—he’s dying his hair blonde, he’s defining himself with all these tattoos on his body, and this is who he is. This guy, his life is music, he lives in an RV with his girlfriend, tours America, that’s what he does. So he has a clear but almost brittle sense of who he is, a very clear attempt to define himself…. We thought it was really important for there to be a visual transformation of the journey of the character that is almost a stripping back of some of these masks and armor to get back to a place of simplicity and nakedness and to the core of who Ruben is outside of his labels.
Now it’s your turn
Have more unanswered questions about Sound of Metal? Are there themes or motifs we missed? Is there more to explain about the ending? Please post your questions and thoughts in the comments section! We’ll do our best to address every one of them. If we like what you have to say, you could become part of our movie guide!
