TV & Movies
Director Pola Rapaport talks with Bustle aboutAddicted To Life.
Pola Rapaport knew shed have to say goodbye to Marieke Vervoort, but she didnt know when.
Like many athletes stories, Vervoorts was one of perseverance in the face of adversity.
But unlike most, shed already chosen how hers would end.
She was going to die by doctor-assisted euthanasia, and she would pick the date.
Vervoort lived with reflex sympathetic dystrophy, a chronic condition that causes extreme pain.
Toward the end of her 30s, she started to lose strength, and the pain was becoming excruciating.
Rapaport, who developed a close friendship with the athlete, followed her subject-turned-friend through to the very end.
(Vervoort passed away in October 2019.)
She had control over her situation.
Below, Rapaport talks about some of the most difficult and triumphant moments of filming.
What drove you to pursue this story?
It was toward the end of 2016.
I saw an article about a press conference given by Marieke.
It really caught my attention.
I found her incredibly captivating and charismatic.
Her message I found both paradoxical and yet it made total sense.
Did you know from the beginning that you would want to follow Marieke until the very end?
Can you describe the moment that you realized Marieke had set a final date?
It wasn’t shocking for me, because I knew her so well by that point.
She had given me other dates and talked about it on three other occasions.
I didn’t know if she was really going to go through with it.
What do you hope viewers take away from Mariekes story?
She found reasons to keep living in the face of an incredibly challenging life.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
