ÉLODIE EMERY

Seen from a Western perspective, it appears the exception, but Buddhism is in fact a religion like any other, with its followers and excesses.  A former manager at L’Oréal who switched careers to become professionally unemployed (see her successful website Mon amie chômeuse, or “My unemployed friend”) and ultimately a social affairs columnist for a national weekly, Élodie Emery has spent fifteen years writing articles about personal development, perhaps also in search of an optimal inner balance for herself.  Almost by chance, she uncovered criminal acts committed by Buddhist “masters” who were engaging in manipulation, kidnapping, and sexual violence. This moving, funny, and thoroughly documented one-woman show is the fruit of an eleven-year investigation and its chilling conclusions, which she made public in the form of a book and a documentary film, Buddhism, The Law of Silence (honourable mention, Prix Albert-Londres 2023). It also examines our idea of what happiness is. This journalistic investigation narrated live by its author follows the principle of the “Live Magazine” evenings that La Villette hosted in 2024 for a special sports edition – the ideal format for listening to a reportage, as if you were hearing a story, namely as a lively, shared experience.

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