Emmanuelle Laurent
Auteur, Paris
Nude
Emmanuelle Laurent is not what you would imagine when you think of a psychologist. When she started her Youtube channel, back in 2015, she was seriously planning on becoming the next popular make-up influencer. She didn’t plan on going emotionally nude over the Internet and mix her daily beauty routine while talking Freud and elaborated theories of psychoanalysis, the end result though, is astonishing and hilarious. It is Mardi Noir, Black Tuesday when translated in English. Her honesty, transparency and unapologetic comfort with who she is, makes us feel at ease right away. For us, she carried one of our cameras through her life and routine in Paris, sharing once again, her emotional nudity.
Who are you and where do you live?
My name is Manu, I am 35 years old, graduated in clinical psychology, and I live in Paris.
We love your youtube videos, not only do we laugh, but we learn a lot too. How did that adventure start exactly?
When I graduated in psychology, I had no desire to practice it in a conventional way. My old love for acting and theatre came back to me and I decided to merge both passions: psychoanalysis and staging!
How did cross the line of undressing yourself (emotionally speaking) on the internet?
I think it was vital, I had a fantasy to be in the spotlight for a while already, only I wanted the process to have sense. I didn’t want to show myself, just to show myself. But this project, to transmit my reflexions definitely fed and satisfied my narcissism hahaha!
Can you describe your experimentation with your roll?
I was on tour for the launch of my book, I took the camera with me everywhere. It felt very weird to have a disposable camera with me at all time, and yet to have no idea of the result right away. We really got used to the instantaneity. And indeed when I saw the result I told myself “ damn I should have used the flash at all time!!!”
What are you next projects, or dreams for the future?
A comic book is in preparation, about the affective wandering of a woman in her thirties who puts herself in precarious situations. Another book too (that one isn’t signed yet, but it seems promising!)
Bedside table books?
At the moment: Ruptures by Claire Marin and Glaise by Franck Bouysse.
What do you do when you can’t sleep?
I masturbate (lol) hoping to tire myself out.
Do you collect?
Tortures.
Tea or coffee?
Café au lait
What is the strangest thing you believe as a child?
That my life was the dream of someone else and that my death would indeed be their wake-up… (I still believe it sometimes)
Color?
Hard … GREEN!
A city?
Paris
What are you plans for the weekend?
Make love, visit a friend, and get some train tickets with my co-writer for comics, so we can write under the sun this summer.
Your idea of happiness?
A mix of encounters, personal satisfactions meeting the longing for the other which maintain desire.
Idea of misery?
Love break-ups.
If not yourself, who would you be?
Joan of Arc, but at the end I kill all of them and escape!
Your heroes?
Jacques Lacan, Jessie Pinkman in Breaking Bad, Peggy Olson in MadMen.
Your current state of mind?
Excited.
A song?
« Marins, amis, amants ou maris » from The Young Girls of Rochefort.
Left or right-handed?
Right handed.
Best dish?
Revenge, loving it ice-cold!
Middle name?
Catherine
Free-time?
Walking around Paris, meet my friends on a terrace, I also read and watch movies and series.
What inspires you?
Vacuum.
What do you do for a living?
I write.
What do you do for pleasure?
I write too, and I feed my sense of humor.
What do you eat for breakfast?
Cereals.
If you could live in another era?
The 60s, to participate to the great social fights of 1968.
Favorite fictional caracter?
Caporal Blutch from les Tuniques bleues.
Time travel is possible, where/when do you go?
In a far far future to see if humans are still around.
Skirt or pants?
Both!