This vintage video of a singing, suit-wearing Jodie Foster is peak butch excellence

Before she was Clarice Starling, wunderkind of the FBI, before she scandalized the world by having straight intercourse on True Detective: Night Country, Jodie Foster was pursuing a career as a French chanteuse.

You heard that right: at the age of 15, Jodie Foster appeared on French TV singing a variety of songs—some of them by Serge Gainsbourg—while seeming to astral project different versions of herself as backup singers. The 1970s were a trippy time, and also a great time for butch icons wearing incredible outfits.

I know what you’re thinking: how did this come about? Why was Jodie Foster fluent in French? Where can I get all those outfits? Sadly I can’t help you with that last part: go thrifting. But as to the others, I can confirm that according to Dangerous Minds, Foster spent her formative years at a French school, and after her controversial stint in Taxi Driver, she attempted a short, but fascinating bid at pop stardom. The single “Moi, fleur bleue,” aka “Stop Calling Me Baby,” might have launched Foster into baby butch pop stardom. But fate had other plans for the Nell actress.

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Even though Foster’s performance is impeccable, the siren song of Hollywood was too strong to resist. We could have had another Charlotte Gainsbourg on our hands, but no. ‘Twas not to be.

On Twitter, folks who are just seeing this footage for the first time are understandably perplexed, awed, and amazed. “I get why he shot Reagan,” one commenter wrote.

The singing is great, but let’s be honest: it’s mostly about the ‘fits. That plaid and bowtie number? The Newsies cap and vest? The SINGLE BRAID with not one but TWO bows? The Liberace-style white tux? It’s lesbian culture.

If you want to hear Jodie Foster speak more French, here you go:

And if you’d like to see her in another fabulous outfit that would make any gay man jealous, I humbly offer up this clip:

There’s nothing wrong with having a French era. Nothing at all!