Mademoiselle and the Doctor

Clip 3: ‘My final statement’

Taken from the documentary Mademoiselle and the Doctor (2004)

Original title classification MA – this clip chosen to be M

Curator’s clip description

Euthanasia campaigner Dr Philip Nitschke says he advises many people intent on suicide. Seventy-nine-year-old Lisette Nigot writes her final letter.

Curator’s notes

Nigot’s ‘final statement’ is a political protest. She writes, ‘Since lawful assistance to die at one’s chosen moment is not accepted in this cowardly restrictive society, I am taking the matter into my own hands’.

Damien Parer, curator

Teachers’ notes

provided by The Le@rning Federation

This page is printer friendly

This clip shows the view from the windscreen of a car being driven along an inner-city road by Dr Philip Nitschke. While driving, he talks about the decision of Lisette Nigot, a healthy 79-year-old, to end her own life. Lisette Nigot is shown seated at a desk and using a typewriter to prepare what the viewer realises, after a close-up of the title, is her final statement. In a voice-over, Nigot explains her actions as the camera moves around her while she is at work.

Educational value points

Dr Philip Nitschke is one of the best known and most controversial figures in the voluntary euthanasia movement. Born in South Australia in 1947, Nitschke initially considered a career in physics, but then became a medical doctor. He actively supports Aboriginal rights, nuclear disarmament, the peace movement, and people’s right to determine the time and manner of their deaths. Currently it is illegal to ‘assist’ someone to commit suicide in Australia.

Lisette Nigot is one of the people served by the controversial Voluntary Euthanasia Research Organisation, now known as Exit International. Set up by Nitschke in 1997, Exit International supports the rights of individuals to control the time and place of their death through suicide. The organisation perceives this as a basic human right and offers workshops, meetings and information to provide people with options about ways to end life.

The footage, with its comments from Nitschke and Nigot, is of historical interest as it is taken from a documentary made before 2006, when legislation was introduced banning the publication of material that could be considered incitement to suicide. This move was fiercely contested as many people considered it an infringement of the right to freedom of speech. As a result of this legislation, Exit International, which has its office in Darwin, moved its Internet publishing operations from Australia to New Zealand.

Healthy and with no reason to die except for being tired of life, Lisette Nigot committed suicide in November 2002 in her Perth home, leaving a note identifying Nitschke as her inspiration. Her death created a national furore and triggered a coronial investigation by the police. Prime Minister John Howard commented that he was appalled at the events.

Footage of Lisette Nigot writing her final statement creates a powerful portrait of the new phrase ‘rational suicide’. The filmmaker portrays Nigot as a balanced individual who has taken a reasoned approach to dying. The camera considers Nigot from many angles, possibly reflecting her own consideration of the decision to end her life and providing visual interest. She is shown at her desk carefully planning her future, to a background of gentle piano music evocative of the poignancy of her decision. Warm lighting and extreme close-ups are used by the filmmaker to draw the audience into the scene.

This clip offers the opportunity to see part of a controversial production. Mademoiselle and the Doctor was the subject of considerable debate, mainly because of its sympathetic portrayal of a healthy person’s desire to commit suicide. Although there is public support for voluntary euthanasia for the terminally ill, access to assisted suicide for otherwise healthy people who simply wish to die is another matter. A shortened version of the documentary was shown on television, but it was cut even further than planned after objections by Australian Broadcasting Corporation presenter Geraldine Doogue.

These scenes show how Mademoiselle and the Doctor uses some of the conventions of the observational documentary. This form of filmmaking avoids the use of an intrusive narrator and is generally unscripted. The advent of portable cameras and sound equipment enabled the development of observational documentary, allowing cameras to be taken into intimate settings such as cars and people’s homes, as shown here. However, the extent to which any documentary is truly observational, rather than acted, is impossible to judge.

The sensitive portrayal of the relationship between Lisette Nigot and Philip Nitschke earned this documentary considerable respect. Reviewers appreciated its old-fashioned and gentle tone, and found its down-to-earth approach distinctly Australian. It was selected for inclusion in a number of film festivals.