![]() ![]() ![]() There is no getting away with the fact that this is a sad story one that is all the more shaming when you consider that it played out so visibly in the public eye. This was only exacerbated by her bouts of depression and her problematic relationship with her dad. So much of her success was derived from this well of emotion but it was one that could equally destabilise her. Throughout the film, as her songs play, her lyrics are displayed on screen and it is obvious that much of her music was based on highly personal emotional songs that constantly were sourced from her experiences in relationships. The problem was that she loved him and it was this that made the situation so destructive. He came across as a hanger-on who led her onto hard drugs and who then had little self-interest in getting her off them. It seems pretty clear that her attachment to her husband Blake Fielder was inextricably linked to this. This phase coincided with her downward spiral with drink and drugs. ![]() ![]() Her appearance became more intense and she quickly covered herself with an assortment of harsh tattoos. The contrast between the Amy of the early years to the one latterly seen is pretty pronounced. After the release of her definitive album Back to Black in 2006, Winehouse basically retreated and conducted next to no interviews which of course posed the film-makers some problems and the effect is that as the film goes on she becomes increasingly remote and we feel like we know her less. The film is made up of home video and TV clips of Winehouse and fills in details with recollections of people who were close to her in the form of voice-overs, as opposed to a more traditional talking heads format. And one in which we in the audience know only too well how it ends. But in reality the Amy Winehouse story is a much darker one, with its central character going on an extended path of self-destruction. When you consider that that film was also about someone at the top of their field who died young in a dramatic and sudden manner, you could say that there are some similarities between both stories. This documentary about her has been made by Asif Kapadia who directed the film Senna (2010) which remains one of the most highly respected documentaries of recent years. The combination sent her spiralling on a downward trajectory. What complicated matters so fatally was that in amongst all of this, she had a predisposition for drink and drugs. Hers was life in a goldfish bowl by the end and for a person who never wanted fame in the first place this made her life all the more difficult. The media had made a meal out of her problems documenting them at every given opportunity and her increasingly emancipated appearance was publicised for all to see, courtesy of the lowlifes of the paparazzi. I remember when Amy Winehouse died back in 2011 it had a certain inevitability about it yet was still shocking and very sad. ![]()
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