Back to Black: new biopic only bolsters the Amy Winehouse ‘trainwreck’ narrative carved out by noughties tabloid media

By Nathalie Weidhase, Lecturer in Media and Communication, University of Surrey

When Amy Winehouse died at the age of 27 in 2011, many felt the world had been robbed of one its greatest stars who had barely shown us the extent of her talent. The new biopic Back to Black – directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson and named after Winehouse’s seminal second album – attempts to make sense of her tumultuous life and musical output.

The film follows Winehouse – played by Marisa Abela – from the early days of her career in early-2000s London, through to global stardom. In the…

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