The film Across the Universe is many things, and among them my favorite film of all time. The movie directed by Julie Taymor came out in 2007 to much acclaim; it most prominent feature was that it had a sound track purely by the Beatles. The film follows the stories of various youth in the 1960’s who face different hardships from the death and family troubles to immigration issues. The film gives a clear picture of the life of the youth of the sixties and the turmoil of the times. However the most remarkable thing about Across the Universe is the very nature of the film. This movie could be classified as a musical, but it is like no musical that has been made before. Where most musicals use the music to tell the story of the film and aide in the development of the story Across the Universe does the exact opposite; it uses the film to tell the story of the music. The film takes songs that were already made in the sixties by the popular band The Beatles and forms a story by using everything from the song, from the lyrics to the titles. Everything in the film from the music itself, to the narration to the miss-en-scene makes this movie absolutely spectacular and contributes to the story that is put together and developed straight from the songs.
Everything about the staging of Across the Universe is absolutely fantastic and transports the viewer to a completely different world. The story created from the music is, like The Beatles and music itself, set in the sixties a completely different time in the world. Often it is hard for a film to transport its viewers entirely to such a different, yet similar point in history. This is because the observable differences in the culture of the time compared to those of the present are very subtle. This however is not an issue for Across the Universe and as a viewer’s we seem almost completely immersed into the time period. Various things in the film help transport us to the sixties, of these however the most prominent ones are the lighting, costume design and props.
The lighting throughout the movie is very well done with the different scenes having appropriate lighting. From the brightly lit cheerful scenes, such as the circus scenes, to sad scenes with harsh lighting and high contrast, such as the strawberry fields scene. The lighting work is great but what truly transports us to the proper time period is the use of color lights to form the psychedelic feel of the sixties. During scenes such as “I am the walrus” and “I’ve just seen a face” the use of psychedelic effect lighting to show mood or the use of drugs gives the clear message to the viewer that they are no longer in the present
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The costume design throughout the film compliments the lighting to complete the transportation of the viewer to the time period. The costume for the characters is not radical; instead the subtle choices in dress give the feeling of the era. The use of slacks over jeans or newsboy caps over baseball caps let the audience know through the fashion the era that the film is set in without directly stating the year. The fashion also varies according to geography taking into account that the fashion of 60’s Liverpool as not the same as that of New York in the same period. The costume design in Across the Universe done by Albert Wolsky is brilliant in its subtleness and ability to transport the audience.
Just as brilliant and the costume design in the movie is the use of props that are adequate to the time period. Again the brilliance here is in the subtleness of the choices, obvious things from the choices of car models to hidden things such as the posters placed on the walls give us a time period without screaming out “HEY IT’S THE SIXTIES!!!” The props in the film not only help the time period but also aid in the recognition of subtle points in the scenes such as drug use and financial condition of the characters.
So what plays the biggest role in a musical? Well it obviously would have to be the music, but when the music is so intricately connected to the plot as it is in Across the Universe the music does not only become important in itself but also in the ways that it is used. Apart from being the backbone of the plot and providing moments of entertainment, music in this film is represented in other ways. The musical scenes in this movie act as more than entertainment and provide a bigger depth to the story. Also the songs play a more subtle role in the movie that is easily missed without a slightly deeper knowledge about The Beatles and their music.
The musical scenes in the movie serve deeper purposes than they do in regular musical films. Most of these scenes serve to deepen the plot of the story that is based on the lyrics of the music. Often though these scenes we find deeper aspects about the characters, such as when we find out that Jude has fallen in love with Lucy thanks to the song “I’ve just seen a face”. The musical scenes also serve as both montage scenes and Segway scenes into the different stories of the characters. By using pieces from the different stories going on at once in one musical montage the filmmakers are able to parallel and compare the situations that each character faces. This Montage of stories also allows for an easily digestible Segway from one point of the movie to the next.
The Beatles songs also play a deeper role in the movie than just plot and musical scenes, the songs are deeply interwoven in the movie itself. The most obvious of these deep interactions are the naming of the characters. Most of the names in this movie come from the songs themselves even if those songs are not directly in the film; some of these names include Jude, Lucy, Sadie and Prudence. A deeper still interweaving of little importance but that gives the true Beatles fans a giggle are the use of lyrics from lesser known songs in the regular dialogue. The most notable of these is when Phil from the docks uses the phrase “When I’m 64, I will be long gone from here” with “When I’m 64” being one of the less popular Beatles songs. These small inclusions are not of major consequence but do show ingenious and witty script writing.
The most important part of the scene which makes it my all-time favorite movie actually extends as a consequence of the plot being set from the music of The Beatles. The plot of the film provides an excellent peek into the trouble times that the world lived in during the 60’s and 70’s. The film properly showcases everything from the political turmoil of the time with the Vietnam War and draft to the drug culture and progressive thinking that was going on. The different plot twists such as Prudence’s lesbianism and Max’s draft into the army are used along with the songs to give the audience a proper glance into what it was like for all kinds of people to live in such a chaotic era. Because of this along with its uses of the music and setting, Across the Universe has gained its spot in my mind as my favorite film of all time.
