While watching the documentary, I was struck by how intensely personal her work was. Before seeing the film I was vaguely acquainted with Amy Winehouse – I knew a couple of songs from Back to Black (Tears Dry on Their Own, Rehab, and You Know that I’m No Good), I recognized her distinctive style in music and fashion, and, lastly, I heard about her death when it happened. Her persona, her upbringing, her journey to stardom and its impact on her life were things I had never learned about or given any thought.

When I gained insights into all of these aspects of her through the documentary, her songs (her lyrics, really) fell into a whole new light. The nonchalant defiance of Rehab is much more difficult to accept knowing the tumultuous events of Amy’s life that inspired the song, and the toll such events ultimately took on her. Lines like “if my Daddy thinks I’m fine”, which are unconcerned and almost playful at first, are painful to the listener who has watched the Amy’s father leave her when she is young, only to return to her later on when she becomes successful, more as a manager than a parent, and goad her into taking on a destructively heavy load. The intense and unstable relationship between Amy and Blake also heightens the impact of songs like Tears Dry on Their Own.

When thinking about Amy’s public persona and private life, there’s no getting around the tragedy that the former helped to cause for the latter. Amy states in the movie that she doesn’t want to be famous, it would drive her mad (or something to that effect). Unfortunately, she had less choice in the matter than that. Amy suffered a great deal on account of her celebrity; it’s sad and frustrating to watch her go down that path.