Content warning: this article discusses mental health, addiction and eating disorders.

Back to Black is a new biopic about the life of musician Amy Winehouse. It covers the time from when she gets her record deal aged 18, until her tragic death from alcohol poisoning in 2011 at the age of 27.

Ahead of the film’s release, reactions to promotional material suggested the critical response could be mixed. This was borne out in early reviews, which ranged from resoundingly positive to somewhat scathing. Others have and will discuss the filmmaking, musical performances and storytelling, or compare Back to Black’s retelling against existing accounts of Winehouse’s life.

As someone who researches alcohol and its effects, I was interested in how Winehouse’s addiction to alcohol and other substances would be portrayed.

Winehouse died in 2011 of alcohol poisoning and an inquest into her death found that she had a blood alcohol level of 0.416. This level of intoxication is life threatening, and is associated with loss of consciousness and suppression of vital life functions.

The film focuses on Winehouse’s (Marisa Abela) relationship with Blake Fielder-Civil (Jack O’Connell). His substance use is first shown in opposition to Winehouse’s (him: “cokehead”, her: “drinker”), but their behaviour come to mirror each other. Fielder-Civil talks about “toxic codependence” in one scene, when Winehouse visits him in prison.