“Full of life” – about the death of a taboo breaker
Basel health psychologist Michèle Bowley died of breast cancer last year. She led an unconventional life. Now “The Taboo Breaker,” a film about her death, is coming to Swiss cinemas.
The Basel health psychologist Michèle Bowley died of breast cancer in 2023. The film “The Taboo Breaker” accompanies her on her final journey.
Image: Langjahrfilm/Zvg
Michèle Bowley was actually only supposed to live for three to six months with the metastases that were discovered in her brain in autumn 2021. Ultimately, the Basel health psychologist only died two years later in November 2023. Just as in life, Bowley went her own way in death. “She always did her own thing,” says Basel grief counselor Eveline Z’Graggen about her long-time acquaintance. “She had a message for the world.”
The message: Don’t be afraid of dying and have the courage to live self-determinedly. Michèle Bowley wanted to break taboos. The health psychologist spoke very openly about her cancer diagnosis, symptoms and treatments. Despite the rapidly progressing cancer (Bowley suffered from very aggressive breast cancer), the end of Bowley’s life was filled with a tremendous urge to create. Dying was her last big life project.
“Hello and goodbye”
Michèle Bowley leaves behind a cancer diary in the form of video contributions, an autobiography, a volume of poetry, a website and a short film with tips for other sufferers, both entitled “Hello and Bye”, as well as the documentary “The Taboo Breaker”, which was released on October 24th is coming to Swiss cinemas.
Erich Langjahr and Silvia Haselbeck accompanied Bowley from the first shave of her head to the cremation of her body. The result is a calm film about the normality of dying: Bowley moves into an assisted living apartment for the elderly, goes to physiotherapy, organizes her estate and meticulously plans her funeral service. For her abdication she chose the song “My Way” by Frank Sinatra. Her favorite motif is the spiral. For Bowley, a symbol of spirituality.
«It is directed inward and outward. “The two belong together,” Bowley says into the camera. There is no life without death and no death without life. Bowley was convinced that those who come to terms with their own mortality live more consciously and truthfully. She herself was confronted with death at an early age. When she was in her early twenties, Bowley cared for her mother, who was suffering from cancer and was struggling with her own death. This experience had a lasting impact on Bowley. Z’Graggen says: “She has decided that she doesn’t want to leave the world like that.”
Until the last breath
Then the shock: no white spots can be seen on the scan. The metastases in Bowley’s brain have disappeared. So radiation again. Rehab. Bowley paints a spiral. She talks about how difficult it is to process the fact that she isn’t dying yet and doesn’t know how long she will live. “Reconciliations have to be approached completely differently when you die,” says the health psychologist, inadvertently causing amusement.
Five months later, Bowley has her autobiography in her hands. New metastases have spread throughout the body. Bowley holds her own retirement ceremony. Immunotherapy works. Bowley gives readings. The metastases return. Now therapy no longer helps.
In the palliative care ward at Claraspital, Bowley says: “I hope that dying will be short and painless.” Last breaths. Laying out. Removal. Ashes that are filled into her self-made urn. The lid in the shape of a spiral.
Always on the go
Michèle Bowley was born in Basel in 1966 and attended business high school in Muttenz. After studying social psychology at the University of Zurich, Bowley specialized in prevention and health promotion. She worked, among others, at the Basel Lung League, the Gsünder Basel Health Promotion Center and the Benevol volunteer platform. From 2018, Bowley also became self-employed as a trainer and coach with a focus on promoting resilience.
Michèle Bowley was still healthy in 2009. The spiral was already a central symbol for her back then.
Image: zvg
“Michèle was extremely unconventional,” says Eveline Z’Graggen. Bowley traveled a lot throughout her life, changed places again and again, and always fell in love with life, with people and with tasks. That had its price. “When you live so independently, you also give up something,” says Z’Graggen. “Long-term friendships, being involved in one place.”
At her request, Michèle Bowley’s ashes were scattered into the Rhine. She lived to the fullest until her last day. Her dying and death were her final task.
Cinema release
Basel: Preview of “The Taboo Breaker” on Saturday, October 19, 2024, at 11:30 a.m. in the cult cinema Atelier Basel in the presence of the filmmakers. Liestal: Sunday, October 27th, at 10.30 a.m. in the Sputnik cinema. Seat reservations possible.
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