Famous faces at the premiere of Amy Winehouse film ‘Back to Black’: “Criticism of the actress is completely unjustified” (Borgerhout)

A lot has been said and written about it in recent months Back to black. The film is said to come too early – Winehouse died just under thirteen years ago -, leading actress Marisa Abela is poorly cast and the tone is too sensational. A lot of bile has already been spread on the internet based on photos and short fragments.

“It is typical of a biopic that there is a lot to do in advance,” says StuBru presenter Stijn Van de Voorde. He was allowed to introduce the film. “No biopics are made that everyone is happy with, because there is always too much to discuss. Does the character match the image you have? Who is behind the story? Who should come out on top? For me, a biopic should draw you into the artist’s life. It will never be one hundred percent correct, but if it is seventy percent correct you will have a better idea of ​​who that person was. As a music lover, I think it’s worth it.”

Gers Pardoelen was by his new girlfriend, influencer Lie Meurs, asked along to the premiere. “I am especially interested in Amy Winehouse’s love life,” Lie says in advance.

Knokke Off-actor Kes Bakker was barely eight years old when Winehouse died. It is his father who gave him the album Back to black Met. “It was always set to home. Amy Winehouse is one of my father’s favorite artists, so I asked him along.” The young actor has not heard anything about the controversy, which is taking place on Tiktok, among other places. “I deleted Tiktok a year ago. I’m glad I haven’t heard an opinion yet, because that makes it difficult to keep an open mind.”

Q presenter Vincent Fierens expected in advance “a lot of music and a lot of sadness”. “Amy Winehouse had so much talent, but also so much difficulty in expressing it and finding her place in the world. I like those kinds of figures. I don’t expect it to be super cheerful.”

MNM DJs Sander Gillis and Cato Peeters are aware of the criticism of actress Melisa Abela’s singing voice. “But who really sounds like Amy Winehouse?” Cato asks himself. “You’ll never find that person. Her voice was so special. An exact copy can only be achieved with artificial intelligence, I think.”

“Totally unfair”

“To get back to your question earlier: her voice was super good!” Sander Gillis After the two-hour film, he is enthusiastic about Marisa Abela’s singing performance. Cato agrees with him. “The criticism of the leading actress is completely unjustified. The whole thing about a superstar like Amy Winehouse is that she can’t be copied. But this is a very good attempt.” The story left the couple a bit hungry. “You get to see the disguised version of her life,” says Sander. “The reality was more painful and raw, I think. I missed that a bit.” Cato, on the other hand, missed a complete story. “I have the feeling that I still have to do my own research, because not everything has been told. That shouldn’t be allowed after a biopic.”

Oski, son of Tine Embrechts and artist, is also positive about Abela. “I thought the casting was great. You can hear how much effort the actress has put into learning the correct singing techniques and copying her voice. It was spot on.”

MNM DJ Laura Govaerts is more critical. “I had the feeling that I was watching someone who was trying very hard to imitate Amy Winehouse. She did that well, but she just couldn’t grasp the essence. I thought that was a shame. Sometimes I even felt like I was watching a Netflix Christmas movie or something (laugh). But it was really fun to learn about her again. I’m going to watch all of Amy Winehouse’s YouTube videos at home now. All the interviews and performances I saw in the film, I want to see in real life. So I know what to do!”

Stijn Vandevoorde believes that the intense criticism the film received in advance is largely unjustified. “I certainly didn’t spend two hours being annoyed by how poorly this was done. Not at all,” he said afterwards. “If you want to know roughly who Amy Winehouse was and how her music came about, this gives a good general idea. I’ve seen worse biopics.”

Vandevoorde was annoyed at times. “Father Mitch Winehouse is presented very positively. He worked on the film. In the documentary Amy (who won an Oscar in 2015, ed.) he is depicted very negatively. The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle.” Producer Mark Ronson was then cut from the film. “I find that a very strange choice. The movie is called Back to black. Ronson was hugely important to that album.”

The fact that the film remains more on the plain is probably a commercial choice. “If you want to delve deeper, you have to choose one moment, but then you don’t make a broad film. You can’t sell that to a major studio. No one would go and look at it. You need to have an overall story. And preferably a poetic interpretation of it, a kind of Romeo and Juliet story. You have that here.”