This summer at the movies it's all about Amys. Brilliant, legendary Amys. And the startling similarities between two of the summer's most talked about films emphasize that comedy and tragedy can sometimes tell the same important story.
On their surface, the two Amys of this summer's cinema could not seem more different. Judd Apetow and Amy Schumer's hilarious collaboration, Trainwreck, is a laugh-out-loud marathon of clever dialogue, star-studded cameos, and sexual shenanigans culminating in a heartfelt, albeit predictable, love story. Director Asif Kapadia's documentary, Amy, compiles never-before seen footage of Amy Winehouse documenting her rise to stardom and descent into alcoholism. Winehouse's magnificently compiled trajectory is so sad that the man who sold me soda at the concessions stand felt the need to warn me that Amy had caused him to cry in a movie theater for the first time in years.
Trainwreck is marketed as boundary pushing entertainment to such an extent that many of the raunchy scenes in the trailer did not even make it into the film. Amy is playing in art house cinemas and its minimal promotion caters to a niche market of musically-minded, independent filmgoers. Trainwreck has a happy Hollywood ending. As most ticket buyers are well aware, Amy ends in tragedy.
And yet, both films are semi-autobiographical features about a woman named Amy. Trainwreck is written by Amy Schumer, who plays a woman named Amy who, like the comedian, has a father with multiple sclerosis, a sister with whom she is close, and a history of serial hook-ups. Amy compiles footage of Amy Winehouse including home movies from her childhood, videos from her early days on small scale tours and in recording studios, interviews with her parents and former roommates, and handheld footage that appears to be filmed by Amy herself. What results is a heartbreaking portrait of Winehouse's descent into bulimia, alcohol, crack and heroine use leading to her death from alcohol poisoning at age twenty-seven. Both films highlight the relationship between alcohol use and substandard relationships. Both films feature the struggle to get sober. And both pay tribute to a real-life genius -- one comedic and one musical.
Both Amys make substandard choices with men. Interestingly, both Amys make a point, in telling their tale, to connect their emotional struggles experienced in adulthood with being less than ten years old when their father walked out on their mother in order to pursue a relationship with another woman. Both of the fathers of the Amys come across as offensive and self-centered. Trainwreck begins with Amy's father equating his infidelity with his young daughters' desires to play with more than one doll. He then leads the girls to repeat his mantra: "monogamy isn't realistic."
Some may consider the villain in Amy to be her long-standing boyfriend/husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, who introduces her to heroine and crack cocaine. The true villain is Mitch Winehouse, Amy's father.
Mitch Winehouse is featured in multiple interviews captured through the camera crews he allowed to follow him while his daughter was at the height of her fame and the crescendo of her struggles. The footage shows Mitch Winehouse emphasizing the necessity that his daughter perform immediately following a long-overdue stint in rehab, even though she is vulnerable, detoxing and begging to cancel her tour. Throughout the film, footage alternates between Amy Winehouse's unforgettable interviews and performances that highlight her severe emotional pain, her brilliance and her sweetness. A recording of her studio collaboration with Tony Bennett is especially endearing and the interspersed comments of Bennett capture the magnitude of music the word has lost through Winehouse's truncated life.
An obvious takeaway from both films is the powerful impact that fathers have on their daughters' emotional well being and adult choices with respect to dating, relationships and self-care. One reason why Amy is able to get sober in Trainwreck while Amy Winehouse never could, is that even though both have fathers who have let them down, Amy Shumer portrays her father as impossible but engaged and involved. The dynamic portrayed in Amy demonstrates a daughter desperate for her father's love, attention and affection who never, even at her most vulnerable, is able to experience an authentic connection.
A quality film that speaks to personal experience can be both validating and cathartic. Trainwreck and Amy share the potential to impact women struggling with substance use and substandard relationships. If you are struggling with self-care, intimacy and commitment, these two distinct films may resonate on a visceral level for similar reasons.