Amy Winehouse documentary wins over Cannes Film Festival critics

An Amy Winehouse documentary has received glowing reviews after its debut at the Cannes Film Festival in France on Saturday (16May15).

Amy, which charts the singer's rise to fame, substance abuse battles, and subsequent death in 2011, was marred by controversy ahead of its premiere after some members of the Winehouse family withdrew their support, claiming it painted them in a bad light.

However, most critics have now given the film stellar reviews, with Robbie Collin, for Britain's The Sunday Telegraph newspaper, hailing it as "a commemoration of her colossal talent, and a moving tribute to a brilliant, witty, vivacious young woman".

Geoffrey Macnab, for Britain's The Independent on Sunday, newspaper gives the film five stars and adds, "(The film) is steeped in regret and grief over what became of its subject, but it never loses its sense of awe about what she achieved."

Stephen Dalton at The Hollywood Reporter writes, "A tender, intimate, nuanced portrait of a pop idol with an appetite for destruction" and critic Peter Bradshaw also give a five-star review on Guardian.com, calling Amy "a tragic masterpiece" which is "stunningly moving and powerful: intimate, passionate, often shocking, and almost mesmerically absorbing".

Winehouse died in 2011 of alcohol poisoning, aged 27.