Breaking Down The Amy Winehouse Biopic: ‘Back To Black’

Written by Michael Lee

*All Media used in this article is courtesy Focus Features

Photo courtesy Focus Features

Back to Black Official Movie Trailer

Video courtesy Focus Features

Back to Black opens as varying scenes of Amy Winehouse’s family life and their beloved Jewish traditions, which include both her grandmother “Nan” (Cynthhia Winehouse) and her father (Mitch Winehouse) and her other extended family singing and listening to music, detailing just how interwoven the Winehouse family is with music and performing. The year is 2022 and Amy Winehouse is already a relatively established singer and performer, though she is definitely still up-and-coming. Her parents are now separated and Amy lives in a small flat with a tiny bedroom with her mother, Janis, who suffers tragically from multiple sclerosis. We see Amy and her father Mitch duet “Fly Me To The Moon” by Frank Sintatra in their living room, belting out the tune joyously and in perfect harmony.

Marisa Abela stars as Amy Winehouse in director Sam Taylor-Johnson’s ‘Back to Black’ ● Photo Courtesy of Dean Rogers/Focus Features

Amy’s father and herself are now en route to her mothers to drop off Amy after the celebration, talking about their family and their love for jazz. Amy asks her father to come inside and greet her mother, but her father declines, as the divorce does not seem amicable. We see Amy in her element, composing her music alone, guitar in hand in the dead of night. We then see her intertwined with her daily life; scenes with her on again off again boyfriend and their fraught relationship along with Amy and her closest friends as they navigate London. Amy’s close friend, Tyler James, another musician, hands Nick Schmanntsky, his manager, a tape of Amy’s and Nick calls Amy to tell her he wants to hear her live, if possible. Amy agrees, but promises Nick “I ain’t no fuckin’ Spice Girl”.

Marisa Abela stars as Amy Winehouse in ‘Back to Black’ ● Photo Courtesy of Dean Rogers/Focus Features

Amy opens her club gig with a brand new song of hers, “Stronger Than Me”, where Nick Schmanntsky is in attendance. Nick asks where the inspiration for the song comes from and she slyly hints that it's about her now boyfriend, who is sitting with them having a drink. She then signs a contract with Island Records and we see her recording for what would become her first album, Frank. Her and her grandmother watch her first television interview together, laughing and celebrating her recent success, both dumbfounded at the speed in which her career is taking off.

Marisa Abela as Amy Winehouse and Eddie Marsan as Mitch Winehouse in ‘Back to Black’ ● Photo Courtesy of Dean Rogers/Focus Features

Amy and her father are at odds with her love of marijuana, with Mitch warning her off drugs of all kinds and Amy only laughs. Amy then meets with her producers and record label along with her father who are all concerned with how her debut album might perform in the United States and if the U.S will ‘buy it’. Her record label wishes to alter some changes with her stage act, which Amy strongly disagrees with. Amy leaves, telling them she needs more time to live in her songs. Amy then meets a man in a local pub named Blake Fielder-Civil and the two get along well, as Blake buys her a drink and the two proceed to drink and smoke together, slowly but surely falling in love in the process.

Marisa Abela stars as Amy Winehouse in ‘Back to Black’ ● Photo Courtesy of Dean Rogers/Focus Features

They are ill-fated lovers, however, as Blake suffers from a severe cocaine addiction while Amy is struggling with her alcoholism and bulimia. The two fight with each other constantly, always on the defense around each other as they both become enablers to each other’s addictions. Amy is struggling with her newfound fame and grows more and more irritable and Blake decides the two would be better off as friends which leaves Amy heartbroken. Ben instead reveals he wants to work on his relationship with his ex-girlfriend named Becky, which devastates Amy even further. To make things worse, before Amy departs for NYC, she learns that her beloved grandmother is dying of lung cancer. These events, as well as her crippling addictions, form the bulk of her sophomore album, Back to Black.

Jack O’Connell stars as Blake Fielder-Civil in ‘Back to Black’ ● Photo Credit: Olli Upton/Focus Features

After the album is released to high critical and commercial praise, Blake and Amy finally reconcile. We see them wed in Miami, much to the dismay of her father Mitch, though Amy refuses any criticism on the matter. Not too soon after the two wed, Blake is arrested and is sentenced to a two year stint in prison for ‘perverting the court of justice’ on another charge. While Blake is in prison, Amy falls deeper and deeper into her dependency on alcohol and soon begins experimenting with drugs, slowly but surely becoming an addict to both substances, as she grapples with fame, the pressures of the music business and unfortunately, her failing personal life. Amy is floundering and uses unhealthy coping mechanisms to try to overcome her grief and satisfaction. Once Blake is released from prison, he tells Amy he has been through many counseling sessions and requests the two of them divorce, as he wants a fresh and clean start at life.

(L to R) Jack O’Connell as Blake Fielder-Civil and Marisa Abela stars as Amy Winehouse ‘Back to Black’ ● Photo Credit: Dean Rogers/Focus Features

Amy is worse than ever before, often blacking out throughout the day and drinking and abusing drugs for a majority of the night. Amy is also struggling with self-harm, bulimia, and depression. Her tour for the Black to Black album is ill-received and she struggles with the constant and difficult pressures of fame, including paparazzi, her self-image, as well as the pressures of having a music career, which have completely depleted her independence. She agrees to check into rehab at the behest of her family. As of 2008 she is clean of all drug dependencies but is still struggling with alcohol. She goes on to win five Grammy Awards and is celebrated wholeheartedly for her album Back to Black.

Marisa Abela stars as Amy Winehouse in ‘Back to Black’ ● Photo Courtesy of David Giesbrech/Focus Features

Though her troubles persist and her dependence on alcohol grows larger by the day. Amy is still very much struggling with her sobriety. As she is leaving her fathers home, paparazzi reveal to Amy that Blake has a new girlfriend and they are expecting a child together. The film concludes with Amy singing her song “Tears Dry On Their Own” to herself, walking up the staircase to her untimely death. The screen fades to black.