Was this film really about deafness...

That was what I got out of it.

are you guys saying there's no Live performances / metal music in this film ?

I saw the film to be more about acceptance. He saw deafness as something totally negative - a handicap, a condition that ruined his life.

But really, he needed to accept the condition and learn to see the pluses of being deaf (eg being able to shut off the noise in Paris at the end). I think the ending shows that realization, when he takes off the hearing equipment and just sits in silence. The movie gives the impression that he will embrace being deaf

I don't think so. It showed how deafness can actually be a gift...a way of being able to find peace, a naturally meditative state of being, I'd say.
And this guy being an addict, all the drugs he'd used to drown out the "noise"...he was someone who could have used that, or may have even needed it.
And my guess is that's why Joe was crying in the end there.
Jesus, I'm going to have to watch that again...because he brings it up, right? Asking him something about whether or not he'd ever found peace in that silence...
Great observation btw.

The way I read it is yes, it was about deafness. More so accepting it. Ruben is fighting it the whole way. Unfortunately for him the life he has chosen (and wants) absolutely requires him to be able to hear. He tries the "rehab" facility - but he just can't accept not being able to hear and losing the life he wants. So he keep fighting it and fighting it and fighting it until the end of the movie. Those last few moments, when he takes his hearing aids off, you see the look on his face. To me that was the look of a guy that finally accepted what happened to him.

Co-dependence