The most arresting scene in Back to Black is not the first time we see a young Amy Winehouse (Marisa Abela) strum a guitar or perform for an audience. It is, instead, a shot of her racing through the streets of London, in search of her then ex-boyfriend Blake Fielder-Civil (Jack O’Connell), rushing headlong toward a passionate reunion. Ahead of this moment, Winehouse had been in an on-again, off-again relationship with Fielder-Civil, with whom she was infatuated, despite their underlying issues, which were exacerbated by infidelity and substance abuse. Their split at the time coincided with her beloved grandmother’s death, parallel heartbreaks that fueled the writing and recording of her instant classic album Back to Black.
In the film, following the release of the album, a still forlorn Amy visits her grandmother’s final resting place at a columbarium, when she receives a text from Fielder-Civil, asking her for another chance, their first contact in months. There’s no time for second thoughts; she bounds out of the building to find him. Her emotions are palpable—shock, excitement, joy, desire—and they’re both captured and heightened by wha…