Mathilde Zasinger, nine years old, living in Paris, is a little girl like who would be like all others if she did not have a mother suffering from mental disorder. Madame Zasinger is a loving mother but her behavior is unfortunately erratic and unpredictable. She does strange things like wandering at night in a wedding dress or take the train all the way to Normandy not knowing why. The best thing she has ever done is to have given Mathilde a wonderful present, an owl which the faculty of speech. From the day the bird entered her life, the troubled little girl has had a friend and confidante that helps her bear the situation as best as she can.
Paris, 1967. Jean-Luc Godard, the maker of "A bout de souffle", "Le Mépris" and "Pierrot le fou", idolized by critics and intellectuals, is shifting from revolutionizing cinema to becoming a revolutionary tout court. Isn't he shooting "La Chinoise", more a political tract in favor of Maoism than an actual movie? His female star is Anne Wiazemsky, writer François Mauriac's granddaughter, sixteen years his junior. Anne and Jean-Luc have been dating since 1966 and they marry this very year. She admires Jean-Luc's originality, intelligence, wit and boldness while he loves Anne's freshness and - admiration of him. But May 1968 puts their marriage to the test. Godard, who is more and more involved in the revolution, indeed becomes less and less available to his young wife, which does not prevent him from acting jealous. It also looks as if the genius is losing his sense of humor.