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Wild Child

Starring: Robert Cambourakis, Jean-Pierre Cargol Director: Fran�ois Truffaut

4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)

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Product Details

Actors: Robert Cambourakis, Jean-Pierre Cargol, Tounet Cargol, Jean Dast�, Eric Dolbert
Directors: Fran�ois Truffaut
Format: NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Language: English, French
Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Studio: MGM
DVD Release Date: April 1 2003

Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)

ASIN: B00005BKZR
Amazon.ca Sales Rank: #20,133 in DVD (See Bestsellers in DVD)
Popular in this category:
#97 in DVD > Art House & International > By Genre > Drama

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Product Description

Amazon.com Essential Video

François Truffaut's fascinating 1969 film, based on a real-life, 18th-century behavioral scientist's efforts to turn a feral boy into a civilized specimen, is an ingenious and poignant experience. In a piece of resonant casting that immediately turns this story into an echo of the creative process, Truffaut himself plays Dr. Itard, a specialist in the teaching of the deaf. Itard takes in a young lad (Jean-Pierre Cargol) found to have been living like an animal in the woods all his life. In the spirit of social experiment, Itard uses rewards and punishments to retool the boy's very existence into something that will impress the world. Beautifully photographed in black and white and making evocative use of such charmingly antiquated filmmaking methods as the iris shot, The Wild Child has a semidocumentary form that barely veils Truffaut's confessional slant. What does it mean to turn the raw material of life into a monument to one's own experience and bias? The question has all sorts of intriguing reverberations when one considers that Truffaut's own wild childhood was rescued by love of the cinema and that a degree of verisimilitude factors into his films starring Jean-Pierre Leaud--the troubled lad who grew up in Truffaut's work from The 400 Blows onward. (The Wild Child is dedicated to Leaud.) --Tom Keogh

Review

Often overlooked in the Franois Truffaut canon, L'Enfant Sauvage is clearly the work of the man who made The 400 Blows and Small Change. Like both those masterpieces, it is sensitively attuned to the rhythms of childhood, but it is also a more austere and almost formal work. Casting himself as Dr. Itard, the bachelor physician who takes in an abandoned boy and tries to civilize him, Truffaut the actor is appropriately stiff, and the film's view of "Victor," the title character, is one of detached sympathy. Truffaut the director's use of black-and-white cinematography and irises suggests an affinity for silent film, and indeed, much of the story's power derives from its imagery rather than dialogue. (That's of necessity, since the story focuses almost entirely on two characters, one of whom cannot speak.) The film's philosophical undercurrent -- is Itard, the man of science, going to have his way with the savage right out of the pages of Rousseau? -- are never pushed too hard, because, as he always does in his best work, Truffaut is more interested in the emotional content of his characters. Another plus is the use of Antonio Vivaldi's elegant, moving music to reinforce both those qualities in the film. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide

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Customer Reviews

6 Reviews

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
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Average Customer Review

4.8 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)

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5.0 out of 5 stars a wonderful story based on a true tale., Feb 12 2006

By	James Field "jamesfield10" (New Westminster, British Columbia Canada) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This is a wonderful movie based on a true story with an understated but moving theme about what it means to be human. I watched the movie because I have always been interested in stories of so-called wild children. I have a special interest in the origins of language and what happens when children are deprived of human contact. I found the parts of the movie dealing with how Dr. Itard, played by Trauffaut, tried to teach the wild child language, particularly interesting and well done. But, of course, the real story was the child's socialization and his integration into the human family, which was very moving. It is a simple but wonderfully told story which reminds me in many ways of the Miracle Worker.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Deserves to be Discovered, Jul 10 2004

By	Westley (Stuck in my head) - See all my reviews

"The Wild Child" was directed by Francois Truffaut and released in 1970. Truffaut has made some extraordinary movies, such as the Antoine Doinel series and "Jules et Jim." Unfortunately, this movie is given relatively little recognition, even though it truly is first-rate. Based on a true story, the movie concerns Victor, l'enfant sauvage - a boy found in the wilds of France. Truffaut cast himself as Dr. Jean Itard an 18th century physician who helps "tame" and educate the boy. Initially branded an "idiot" and uneducable by local townspeople, Victor is helped immensely by Dr. Itard through his humane treatment.

The story is fascinating and quite gripping. In addition, the movie raises interesting questions regarding "civilized" behavior and ethics, as it compares Victor to various people in the town. Although similar stories has been told elsewhere (e.g., Herzog's "Every Man for Himself"), Truffaut manages to put his own interesting spin on the tale. Further, his direction is masterful, and he won Best Director from the National Board of Review. The film was made in black and white, which adds great realism to the story - it looks terrific (It won Best Cinematography from the National Society of Film Critics). The only debit is the lack of DVD extras.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Boy gone wild!, May 29 2002

By A Customer

No-frills, pared-to-the-bone film by Francois Truffaut concerning the true story of a "savage" pubescent who was captured in a forest in France, living like a beast. The story takes place at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, but, rather curiously, Truffaut makes no political commentary about post-Terror France. All in all, this is a rather excellent idea, one to be emulated by other period-piece makers who clog their movies with "historical figures", famous events, or other data that don't have much to do with whatever story they're telling. Here, Truffaut sticks strictly to the point. (A miracle, considering this director's track-record!) Scarcely deviating from the source-material -- a journal by the doctor who took responsibility for the child, domesticated him, and attempted to train him up into a proper little Frenchman -- the director lets the story itself do all the work. The documentary-feel to the the movie brings many interesting themes, one by one, to the surface. Not the least of which is the relativism of "happiness". Bored of the endless lessons ("match this shape with this object", etc.), the boy runs off only to discover the forest has been spoiled for him forever by the doting doctor and his maid, by the delicious food, by the comfortable sleeping quarters, by the glasses of water and milk, and so on. He returns home willingly, but his face, upon hearing the doctor say, "Tomorrow, we resume our lessons," says it all. (This movie makes a thematic companion-piece to Nicolas Roeg's pessimistic *Walkabout*.) Also of note is that Truffaut reverts to black & white in this film (it was made in 1970), perhaps because he was concerned that the soft, lovely colors of the French countryside would encourage sentimentality. Indeed: the rather grim B&W photography, the clinical approach to the material, the serious implications underlying the story, and even his own wooden performance as the doctor, all combine to shoo away happy-ending seekers.

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