Z'Oiseau

***This page contains spoilers for the newly-released Vide Noir film. It is highly recommended to watch the movie before reading.***

## Appearances

### Appears in

*Vide Noir*

**Z'Oiseau** is a mysterious, charming, and dangerous club owner in *Vide Noir*. He dates Lee Green, helps her start her singing career, and gets her addicted to Vide Noir.

According to Frankie Lou, "he is not someone you wanna mess around with." Johnnie Redmayne echoes this sentiment, saying that the man is "different" and that he has "a real evil inside him."

## Description and appearances

Z'Oiseau is a man with dark hair and a moustache who wears a dark suit. He lives in a mansion on the top of Mt. Monroe in L.A. So far, he exclusively appears in the *Vide Noir* film, although his influence reaches far.

His mother nicknamed him Zozo, meaning "black bird" in Euskara for his dark hair, but his brothers liked its alternative meaning "fool" so he changed it to "Z'Oiseau" which also means "bird" in French.

He was in the Vietnam before the war really started, doing reconnaissance for the army. His unit was ambushed by guerrilla fighters and he disappeared for two years, the only trace found was his hand, until he resurfaced at a US base in Cambodia. He claimed he was held captive and suddenly let go. During this time in the jungle, he found a black fluid substance in the earth, which he called "Vide Noir," though it has other more ancient names in Cambodia.

Z'Oiseau hired Frankie Lou to work in his club after seeing her perform and coming to her dressing room to chat her up in Khmer. She claims he could be charming, but expresses regret that she helped him, because he used her.

Z'Oiseau deals Vide Noir in his club and his henchmen use it to murder people, through a forced overdose they call "black-braining." He had Lou and her lover black-brained in their car. He also had Johnnie Redmayne killed in this manner and his body left in the desert. Z'Oiseau gets Lee Green addicted to the drug while they are in a relationship.

He is fascinated with legends. He references the Tartalo, a Basque one-eyed giant, explaining it was an old legend where his family comes from. He gave Lee Green her stage-name Fleur, after another legend.

## Trivia

* In the video for "The Night We Met", a split-second shot of a film clapperboard is shown with the director's name listed as "Z’Oiseaux", for the 1967 production *Suivrez L'Étoile Émeraude.* This translates from French to "Follow the Emerald Star." This was likely a teaser for the Vide Noir album and film, not an indication that he is actually a film director, given his status during the events of the film.
* On the Vide Noir hotline, various voices speaking the album tracklist in French also say "Z'Oiseau."
* Lee Green's "Blackbird’s Song" is presumably about Z'Oiseau.

## Questions and fan theories

* What happened to Z'Oiseau in the jungles of Vietnam and Cambodia?
* Did Z'Oiseau kill his brothers?
* If Z'Oiseau did lose his hand in Vietnam, is the presence of both his hands when he later encounters Buck Vernon a continuity error or a side effect of Vide Noir?
* What did Frankie Lou help him with? Did her assistance help create his Vide Noir drug empire?
* Why is he so fascinated with legends?