Julie Taymor’s ‘Across the Universe’ is an Underrated Artistic Triumph

We, as a society, are failing. Big time. We’re just straight biffing it, you guys. For a lot of reasons, sure, but most importantly because we are not worshipping Julie Taymor—director of the 2007 jukebox musical Across the Universe—as the absolute visionary that she is.

Let’s talk about Across the Universe, shall we? Because I just rewatched that film on Netflix, I had a lot of feelings. I laughed. I cried. I had one of those moments where, for a brief second, I felt I understood the truth of humanity. Using 34 covers of Beatles’ songs, Across the Universe tells the story of Jude (Jim Sturgess), a young British man from Liverpool who travels to the United States in search of his father. There, he befriends a rebellious Princeton student named Max (Joe Anderson), falls in love with Max’s sister, Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood), and together, the three stumble into a group of Bohemian misfits living in New York City at the cusp of the ’60s counterculture movement.

Across the Universe didn’t enjoy the same critical acclaim as Taymor’s 1997 Broadway adaption of The Lion King, which earned her the Tony for Best Director, or her 2002 biopic Frida, which was dubbed one of the best films of the year by the American Film Institute. That is because some critics are dead inside and can’t feel love. (It’s true, ask a critic.) Entertainment Weekly’s Owen Glieberman called it a “goofy, pompous, annoyingly boomer-myopic Fab Four musical.” (Admittedly, some critics, like Roger Ebert, loved it.)

Here’s the thing: Taymor is a true believer in the beauty of art, and she has no time for your cynicism. She smartly eases viewers into her more out-there imagery: An early number, “I’ve Just Seen Face,” is, for all intents and purposes, pretty normal… Sliding down on bowling alley lanes! Haven’t you always wanted to do that? Later, when the young, romantic Prudence (T.V. Carpio), is moping—lovesick over the Janis Joplin-esque den mother named Sadie (Dana Fuchs)—her friends cheer her up with a rendition of “Dear Prudence” and an anti-war protest, where we get a taste of Taymor’s signature, surreal giant puppets. The puppets return full-force in the truly weird, psychedelic rendition “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!” sung by none other than British comedian Eddie Izzard. In perhaps the most visually clever number, “I Want You,” Taymor turns John Lennon’s crude love song into an aggressive recruitment anthem for the U.S. government, pairing it with imagery of drafted soldiers stomping over a miniature Vietnam, the Statue of Liberty on their shoulders.

By the end of the film, you’ll have gone on a journey so fantastically odd that it’s painful to return to boring, mundane reality. Across the Universe gets this, too, and offers comfort: The final number, “All You Need Is Love,” is performed on a rooftop (a nod to The Beatles’ famous last concert) with no puppets, lighting or other visual frills. But as Jude and Lucy gaze at each other across opposite rooftops, you realize it’s true: Love really is all you need! Is it cliche? Yes. Is it beautiful? Also yes.

Despite all this, Taymor never received the same respect as similarly stylistic film auteurs like Quentin Tarantino or Wes Anderson. She famously fought Sony executives to keep her “long” cut of the film—2 hours, 13 minutes—and though she came out on top, she was rewarded with a reputation for being unreasonable and hard to work with. In a 2018 interview with Vulture, the director noted the studio wanted to get rid of the politics, including a scene about the Detroit riots and the fact that Prudence was gay, adding that now, “I have the scarlet letter of ‘A’ on me — not ‘adultery,’ but ‘art.'”

Across the Universe is a cult hit these days, perhaps thanks in part to its current home on Netflix. Last summer, Fathom Events staged a rerelease of the film, for three days only, across 450 theaters. Taymor has said she hopes to stage another rerelease, timed with the 2020 presidential election. (Mirroring the original release, which hit right before the 2008 election.) In the meantime, Taymor is set to direct an upcoming Gloria Steinem biopic, My Life On The Road, starring Julianne Moore and Alicia Vikander, who will play the feminist activist at different stages in her life. So do me a favor, society, and let’s not mess up this time around. Give Julie Taymor—who is, as Wood calls her, “a true artist”—the god damn respect she deserves.

Stream Across the Universe on Netflix