Jackie the Wolf

Portrait of French author and end-of-life activist Jackie Jencquel, filmed by her son Tuki. Jackie causes great controversy when she announces in an interview the date on which she wants to die. ‘Old age is unavoidable, death is unavoidable,’ she says. ‘Suffering is not.’

‘I should be telling you: don’t do it,’ Tuki Jencquel says to his mother Jackie. ‘But what gives you the right?’ asks Jackie. ‘I love you and I’m your son,’ says Tuki. ‘The biggest gesture of love that you can give me,’ Jackie answers, ‘is to help me go without suffering at the time of my choosing.’ According to Jackie Jencquel, aging is an incurable illness. She causes shock and debate when she announces her intention to die, not because she is terminally ill but because she refuses to live beyond a certain age.

Jackie hopes that her decision will prompt changes in French law and give others the choice to die, based on a personal decision instead of a diagnosis. In an unconventional conversation, Jackie and Tuki record her thoughts concerning individual liberty, desire, autonomy, vanity and money. Whether you agree or disagree, Jackie the Wolf raises crucial points about self-determination and aging, about a person’s right to choose, and specifically a woman’s right to make autonomous decisions about her own body.