Back to Black – Film Review
by Frank L

Director – Sam Taylor-Johnson
Writer – Matt Greenhalgh
Stars – Marisa Abela, Eddie Marsan, Jack O’Connell

Amy Winehouse (Marisa Abela) won 6 Grammys and a host of other awards during her short life. She was only twenty-seven old when she died of alcohol poisoning in 2011. This biopic of her life written by Matt Greenhalgh concentrates on the relationship she had with her grandmother Cynthia Winehouse (Lesley Manville), her father Mitch (Eddie Marsan) and her first husband Blake Fielder-Civil (Jack O’Connell). Given her fame, it also deals with the brutish intrusiveness of the gutter press’s paparazzi. The story is played out primarily in North London (in particular Camden Town) with New York and Miami making short appearances.

Cynthia Winehouse was immensely proud of her recalcitrant granddaughter Amy and managed to keep communications open with her as she shunned school and immersed herself in her music. Amy was fascinated by the bee-hive glamour of the world her gran had inhabited in the sixties. She too would wear her hair in an extravagant bee-hive. It was part of who she became. The family had an intense Jewish bond even if Winehouse was not religious. As her career began to take off in her early twenties she had close contact with her father Mitch who had separated from her mother when she was young and who had a penchant for singing Frank Sinatra songs. Cynthia and Mitch were her mainstays but she was not predictable. There were of course boys in her life but as told by Greenhalgh and Taylor-Johnson, Blake was the critical one.

Marisa Abela has a vast task in recreating such a complex and magnetic character as  Winehouse. She is in control of the part at all times, particularly when she encounters Blake for the first time in a Camden pub. There is an intense chemistry between Abela and O’Connell as they pursue their drug-filled romance and marriage. Inevitably given the stresses and strains that each imposed on the other the relationship shattered. Abela sings various of Winehouse’s well-known songs where she does not try to mimic Winehouse as a singer but she puts her own slant on the songs so they become a natural part of the story. Abela succeeds, which is no mean feat.

O’Connell is irresistible as Blake, as he oozes trouble and sexual danger from every pore.  He manages to be engaging despite or because of his serious addictive problems. It is easy to understand why Winehouse was so smitten. This central relationship in the film is well supported by Mandeville as Cynthia and Marsan as Mitch. It is understandable that both Winehouse and Mitch were in awe of Cynthia.  Mandeville portrays her as a mature woman still of considerable style and elegance. She desperately tries to provide structure to young Winehouse’s life. She was a comforting, stylish rock in her life. Marsan too is in awe of Cynthia as her son. His skills as a father are debatable but he certainly tries once fame and stimulants entrapped Winehouse. Taylor-Johnson provides an insight into a family which was under strain long before Winehouse’s celebrity and notoriety magnified the problems.

Taylor-Johnson has a keen eye for the grungy, hip streets of Camden about which Winehouse moved with her own inimitable style. She portrays the essence of its own particular edginess in the early part of the noughties. You can understand why Winehouse does not leave the borough even if she does move to a more substantial and elegant house than the one she had initially occupied in Jeffrey’s place.

By concentrating on Winehouse’s relationships with Cynthia, Mitch and Blake, Taylor-Johnson manages to give a particular context to the world in which Winehouse lived and give some insights into the complexities within which she lived and performed. It is not the complete depiction of Winehouse but how can it be. It is however two hours of engaging film-making which keeps you gripped throughout.