Yesterday and the What-If Question

In a corner of quantum mechanics lies the many-worlds theory which posits that in a given situation, all possible outcomes exist in parallel universes.  Erwin Schrödinger first discussed the theory in a lecture in 1952, and Hugh Everett elaborated upon it in 1957 just three years before four lads from Liverpool, England came together to form the Beatles.

Yesterday (2019), a film directed by Danny Boyle starring Himesh Patel as a down-on-his-luck busker and Lily James as his best friend-manager Ellie, asks the question what if the Beatles and their music were unknown except to a few people who had the mysterious knowledge of the other universe where John, Paul, George and Ringo did exist.  This opens the door for Patel’s character, Jack Malik, to step up to his microphone in an alternate reality and become an overnight sensation by performing and recording the Beatles’ extensive catalogue of songs as his own.

Patel is excellent in the film.  He does his own guitar playing and singing, and although not blessed with an incredible vocal range, does manage to pull off the gritty journey of a street and small venue performer who suddenly makes it big.  Ellie suffers with Jack as she watches his heartbreaks and crushed hopes while finding herself unable to give up her teaching job to follow him into the spotlight once he begins to get noticed.  Ed Sheeran plays himself with a solid performance and comic timing.  With his manager, played by the multi-talented SNL star Kate McKinnon, he gives us a clear view of the venal, cynical, morally bankrupt music industry.  It is these two characters who bully Jack into renaming “Hey Jude” as “Hey Dude” because it will be more marketable.  They give the film a bitter and comic note, thereby avoiding overt sentimentality.  Joel Fry, Jack’s roadie and confidant Rocky, is also hilarious in a supporting role.

The major what-if question here is the dominant thesis of the movie:  what if the four individuals existed but never came together to write songs or become the cultural force known as the Beatles?  Boyle does rely on the tired trope of a blow to the head that initiates the alternate reality:  Jack is hit by a bus while riding his bike home from a gig during a worldwide power outage.  I prayed throughout the movie that Jack would not be subjected to some other cranial mishap cliché to restore the prime timeline, but thankfully, that did not happen.  When Jack gets back on his feet, Ellie gives him a new guitar and he slides into “Yesterday,” to try it out.  When he is finished, his friends are so astonished that they immediately want to know when he wrote the song.  And then we are off to the races as Jack begins to comprehend that in this universe, the Beatles do not exist, and neither does Harry Potter, Coke, or cigarettes.  Saturday Night Live is Thursday Night Live.  Jack spends some time scratching his sore head in consternation before writing every song he remembers from the Beatles on post-it notes and sticking them on his bedroom wall.  He then must recreate the lyrics from memory, no easy task, but once he starts performing the songs, his fame quickly grows.

At no time do Boyle and screenwriter Richard Curtis delve too deeply into the why and how of the dimensional shift.  It is clear this is irrelevant, and the two are after something deeper and more profound.  Do they get there?  Sort of.  The movie is about the choices we make in life, and how fragile the idea of fate and destiny really is.  The movie is an exploration of the what-if question.  Without the moment of epiphany when Jack realizes no one knows the Beatles or their music, he would never have become famous.  If he had not been on the bike when the bus struck him, he would not have come back to life in this altered universe.  So we come to the question, is fate something set in stone for us or a plan of action that is ultimately determined by circumstances and choices?  Both physics and life seem to say that we determine our fate with our choices, as Jack does here in the film.  He finds himself in this different world, decides to go with it and introduce music written by others as his own; then comes to regret that and must make other choices based on what he wants from life, namely the love of a woman he realizes truly loves him.

The most poignant scene in the film is also the most controversial:  Jack Malik finds himself, through a number of plot twists, with John Lennon, not a musician in this world, but a 78 year-old artist.  Because he lacked the fame of the Beatles, he was never assassinated.  In this reality, he lives by the sea and paints, and the two characters discuss life while sitting on an overturned boat called Imagine on the beach.  The language is spare and the scene beautifully shot.  Lennon tells Jack to “tell the truth to everyone you know,” precipitating a major epiphany for the younger artist.  Curtis originally scripted the scene to be much longer and filled with platitudes; we can be thankful that version was discarded.  These scenes with Lennon lift the movie.  Robert Carlyle, a veteran of other Boyle films, plays Lennon in an uncredited role.

The movie is a different universe yet the rules and parameters remain.  The real issue here is the choices we make in life.  In these days of staring at cell phone screens and sleepwalking through life, are we as conscious as we need to be to face the consequences of the paths we choose?  In looking back down the long and winding road, we must know the reasons why we are here.  We are the architects of our lives.  John Lennon tells Jack to tell the truth, to himself and to everyone he meets.  Can we live up to this nugget of wisdom?  In an age of cynicism, phoniness and greed, it will be difficult, but it is the most profound way to live.  Therefore, forward we must go.  Life goes on.