Indochine - 3e sexe (Clip officiel)

JUL 01 1985 · 12:00

Indochine - 3e sexe (Clip officiel) (1985) Director: Pat Le Guen-Tenot Era: French New Wave Golden Age (1985) - Peak of France's synth-pop and new wave cultural explosion; Indochine at commercial zenith with album '3' selling 750,000 copies across Europe Exceptionally high. '3e sexe' (1985) is one of the most culturally significant French music videos of the decade, a document of gender-progressive thought embedded in mass-market pop, decades ahead of its cultural moment. Its fast-cut theatrical aesthetic, warm saturation, and performance-forward grammar make it a definitive artifact of mid-80s French new wave clip production. Essential viewing for researchers of gender history, French popular culture, and music video form. Context: Released in late 1985 as a single from Indochine's landmark third album '3,' '3e sexe' emerged as an anthem of tolerance and gender fluidity at a time when such themes were virtually absent from mainstream French popular culture. Inspired by Nicola Sirkis's observations of London's New Romantic androgynous youth scene, men wearing makeup and embracing femininity, the song became a generational touchstone for French lycéens in 1986. It positioned Indochine as pioneers of social progressivism within French rock, decades before mainstream discourse caught up. The song's frank engagement with gender-nonconformity made it the first significant French pop artifact to openly champion sexual difference, earning it enduring canonical status and a 2020 remix collaboration with Christine and the Queens. Director notes: Confirmed via IMDB (tt14648464) as director of the 1985 official clip for '3e sexe.' The video is a performance-oriented clip produced in France to support the single from the album '3,' which sold 750,000 copies across Europe. The clip was filmed in a theatrical style consistent with mid-80s French new wave production norms, featuring the band performing directly to camera. A separate alternative version of the clip is noted to exist, described as less flamboyant, with footage visible in the 2017 documentary 'L'Aventure Indochine' broadcast on France Télévisions.