2024-04-07 09:46:39
Jackie looks great. Except for hand tremors, she has no visible problems. Nevertheless, at the age of 76, she planned to die voluntarily in two years. He considers his life fulfilled and does not want to wait for health problems to arise. Her son and director Tuki Jencquel, in the documentary Jackie the Fighter, brings an impressive message that unlike the body, the human soul does not age. The film was presented by the One World festival.
How challenging is it to shoot a documentary about your own mother and her decision to die voluntarily? What did you experience behind the camera?
I had no script, no schedule, no plan, just the camera as a sort of therapeutic tool. It was a natural creative process. Listening to your mother plot her own death is not something you want to do on a regular basis. But Jackie had a very strong need to discuss her plans. When the camera was on, she could confide in me anything that was on her mind. I listened to her and then we switched roles. After I turned off the camera, we went back to our daily activities and talked about other things as well. The camera was both our silencer and the means by which we could communicate what we needed.
Have you considered whether you want to make a documentary at all?
It was a simple decision. Other filmmakers also wanted to make a documentary about her, and I realized that if anyone was going to make a film about my mother and her decision, it should be me.
Was it a way for you to understand Jackie better?
Yes. I wanted to understand her and at the same time respectfully question her decision.
Document author Tuki Jencquel. | Photo: Archiv Tuki Jencquel
I was hoping that the date of death would be postponed forever
At the beginning of the documentary, your mother makes a statement that she wants to die in two years. In the end, he postpones his decision by more than a year. Was it not stressful or even traumatic for you?
I never took the date she set too seriously. It was a little naive of her, but I understood that it was her way of putting pressure on herself. I was hoping that he would postpone his death date forever. I didn’t see it as a traumatic period. Every day she was alive was a bonus for me. It wasn’t just me asking her to stop setting dates because it wasn’t helping anyone, least of all her. So she stopped doing that and did not announce her death in advance.
In the documentary, she planned to undergo euthanasia at a clinic in Switzerland, where the procedure is legal. In the end, the documentary does not say how she died. However, we know from the picture that the substance she took her life with was illegally in her home.
She committed suicide in her Paris apartment. She had the same substance that is used for euthanasia. She did not administer it intravenously, but drank it.
At one point, I had the feeling from the documentary that you did not agree with her decision. Was my impression correct? What was it like for you as a son to accept that he wanted to die voluntarily?
I agreed with some of her points, others I didn’t. I agreed with her that each person should make their own decisions about their own death. But I disagreed with her idea that voluntary death should be accepted as a natural choice, even if the person is not suffering from chronic pain and is not in the final stages of a serious illness. I have learned to live with the fact that mother will die sooner or later. She always wanted to prepare us for it.
A single woman addicted to the gaze of men
The documentary shows that while the body ages, the soul does not. After watching the film, I was overcome with sadness, even anger…
My mother took aging very poorly. For as long as I can remember, she always thought she was old and past her best. Before becoming a mom, she had a very wild youth full of sex and drugs and thought she would die young like many of her idols of the time. She very much enjoyed the power she had when she seduced. She lost it when her body aged, and she didn’t take it well.
Jackie is open about her desire for men and criticizes the infantilization of older people. Was it important for you to point out this topic as well?
This theme is her own, it is part of her contradiction. On the one hand, she wanted to be a free woman, on the other hand, she was very dependent on the gaze of men. I think she was a victim of a culture that places such a high value on beauty and sex appeal.
The documentary provides impressive proof that the human soul, unlike the body, does not age. | Photo: Archive of Tuki Jencquel
Were you surprised by any reactions to the documentary?
Reactions to the film vary according to the ideology of individual viewers. I wasn’t surprised by the difference of opinion, but I was surprised at how quick some people are to make moral judgments.
In France, euthanasia, like assisted suicide, is illegal. Did the film in any way influence the discussion about euthanasia?
Euthanasia is still at the top of the political debate in France, but I don’t know if the documentary played any role in the public debate.
In the documentary, it is said that the lesson from the story could be that we should not set the date of our own death. Is this an argument that actually stands against euthanasia?
The film was never intended to be an activist film. My mother was an activist for the legalization of euthanasia and I am a son who challenges some of her views. I always hoped that people would look at my documentary from both sides of the so-called ideological divide. So yes, in a way, this scene can be seen as an argument for people who are against legalization.
Video: Czech man with ALS underwent euthanasia. I try to support patients, said the psychiatrist (7/2/2021)
Martin Přecechtěl, who suffered from incurable amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, underwent euthanasia on Tuesday in Switzerland. | Video: DVTV, Daniela Písařovicová