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Is your work really important to you?
"Imaginary Emotions"
I’m asking because, for me, not so much.
(laughing)
Ok, well, for me, it’s important.
It's about self-esteem.
The general idea would be to address...
what theater actors feel when they’re on the stage.
That is, what are the emotions they’re experiencing, which they don’t feel in their daily life, …
since these are the emotions of the characters that the actors embody.
So, they are imaginary emotions.
And yet, the actors really do feel something.
I thought that philosophy was a good way to help me put into words
the questions I had asked myself when I used to do drama.
My teacher used to tell me – about the role of Elvira in Don Juan –
that he couldn’t see Elvira’s love for Don Juan when I was acting.
I could understand the advice he gave to help me reach the state of mind that she experiences…
when she faces Don Juan and makes this sublime declaration.
So, I could understand the intellectual aspects very well,
but I really couldn’t embody them.
I was struggling with the practical application of this moment where you become one with a script.
The unrequited love…
that’s described in the play is not yours, it’s Elvira’s.
When you’re an actor, you love playing a role.
You love experimenting with sensations that are not real.
That’s what protects you.
That’s how you can actually love and experience heartbreak, whereas it’s terrible in real life.
So, how do philosophers, like Sartre or Merleau-Ponty, address this notion,
this moment where actors start experiencing, with their own bodies,
the feelings of someone else,
but which, still, remain imaginary?
- What about your thesis defense? It’s coming up soon.
And how does that go?
I don’t know yet. Well, I know the set up, but I don’t know what’s going to happen!
How did you organize your work at the beginning? Did you start working on this right from the start?
At first, I read a lot, much more than I wrote.
I studies the philosophers’ perspectives,
but also what we call theater studies, that is, everything concerning dramatic arts today.
Then I started submitting my ideas to my PhD supervisor.
Wait, let me get that.
It’s not too heavy?
For a lot of people, the PhD is like an ideal…?
Let’s be honest: In France, a PhD does not necessarily lead to professional opportunities.
Well, there are opportunities, but you can never be sure that you’ll be hired.
That takes something away from the title, you know?
But I'll be proud to have my doctorate!
I’ve worked so hard to get it.
A PhD is difficult… So, yes!
So, you’ve got to go to the library now?
Yeah.
Well, me too actually…
Let’s go together then!
Which one do you go to?
The BSG. Oh, but you don’t have a library card yet!
Erm… No, but anyway, I go to another one, I guess…
Are you going to work with your colleagues?
Huh? Oh, yeah, yeah.
Well, I’ll leave you to your friends, then.
Oh? Well, ok. Bye Florence! Thanks!
Do you…do you see yourself as a teacher later? Me, I’d like to teach others about my work…
Oh, I can really imagine you as a teacher!