search

Wild Child

Truffaut's Compassionate Story of French Boy Raised by Wolves

Wild Child

In 1798, a feral boy is discovered outside the town of Aveyron, France. His origins are unknown, but a scar on his neck suggests that he was possibly stabbed by his parents when abandoned as a young child. Diagnosed as mentally impaired, he is relegated to an asylum. A young doctor named Jean Itard, who specializes in ear-nose-throat physiology and the education of deaf-mutes, becomes convinced that the boy has normal mental capacity, but that his development was hindered by lack of contact with society. He brings the boy home, names him Victor, and begins an arduous attempt at education over several years.

Francois Truffaut’s The Wild Child (1970) reflects the director’s lifelong fascination with childhood and his deep commitment to reforms in child-rearing. While his celebrated feature debut The Four Hundred Blows (1959) depicted a semi-fictionalized version of his own adolescence, for this film Truffaut turned to a widely-studied historical case that he encountered in a 1964 review of a book on feral children by Lucas Malson. That book has been translated into English under the title Wolf Children and the Problem of Human Nature and includes translations of Jean Itard’s two reports (from 1799 and 1806) on the wild boy of Aveyron.

Jean Itard (1774-1838) carried out his work against a background of recent philosophical and scientific debates about the relationship between human nature, the natural order and society, including the writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and David Hume, and the taxonomy of Carl Linnaeus. In that respect, one of his goals in educating Victor was to promote his theory that “man is only what he is made to be by his circumstances.” Although his progress with Victor was ultimately limited--Victor learned to execute a few basic tasks but never learned fully how to speak--Itard’s observations contributed greatly to the education of deaf-mutes in general and even influenced the educational theories of Maria Montessori.

According to biographers Antoine de Baecque and Serge Toubiana, after Truffaut had decided to film the project and assigned the script to Jean Gruault, he viewed films such as Arthur Penn’s The Miracle Worker (1962), conducted further research on the education of deaf-mutes and even observed an actual autistic child. Some 2,500 boys were considered for the role of Victor. Truffaut finally decided on Jean-Pierre Cargol, who was of Romani (Gypsy) origin and was related to a noted guitarist. It is worth noting that Truffaut listed Cargol first in the credits as the ultimate gesture of respect.

For the role of the doctor Truffaut decided to cast himself, as he explained in a 1970 interview: “The Wild Child is a two-character film. It seemed to me that the essential job in this film was not to manage the action but to concern oneself with the child. I therefore wanted to play the role of Dr. Itard myself in order to deal with him myself and thus avoid going through an intermediary.” Admittedly, Truffaut’s performance is not the film’s strongest suit compared to Cargol or its luminous black-and-white cinematography (by Nestor Almendros) and scrupulous period detail. However, in retrospect he was probably correct in his intuition that he needed to play the doctor in order to elicit the best performance from Cargol.

After the film’s release, Alfred Hitchcock sent the following telegram to Truffaut: “I SAW THE WILD CHILD WHICH I FIND MAGNIFICENT PLEASE SEND ME AN AUTOGRAPH BY THE ACTOR WHO PLAYS THE DOCTOR HE IS TERRIFIC […]” Hitchcock knew very well, of course, “the actor who plays the doctor.”

— James Steffen, Turner Classic Movies

Wild Child

Thu April 16, 2009, 7:00 & 9:00, Muenzinger Auditorium

France, 1970, French, B&W, 83 min, unrated, 35mm (1.66 : 1) • official site

recommend

Tickets

10 films for $60 with punch card
$9 general admission. $7 w/UCB student ID, $7 for senior citizens
$1 discount to anyone with a bike helmet
Free on your birthday! CU Cinema Studies students get in free.

Parking

Pay lot 360 (now only $1/hour!), across from the buffalo statue and next to the Duane Physics tower, is closest to Muenzinger. Free parking can be found after 5pm at the meters along Colorado Ave east of Folsom stadium and along University Ave west of Macky.

RTD Bus

Park elsewhere and catch the HOP to campus

International Film Series

(Originally called The University Film Commission)
Established 1941 by James Sandoe.

First Person Cinema

(Originally called The Experimental Cinema Group)
Established 1955 by Carla Selby, Gladney Oakley, Bruce Conner and Stan Brakhage.

C.U. Film Program

(AKA The Rocky Mountain Film Center)
First offered degrees in filmmaking and critical studies in 1989 under the guidance of Virgil Grillo.

Celebrating Stan

Created by Suranjan Ganguly in 2003.

C.U. Department of Cinema Studies & Moving Image Arts

Established 2017 by Chair Ernesto Acevedo-Muñoz.

Thank you, sponsors!
Boulder International Film Festival
Department of Cinema Studies & Moving Image Arts

Looking for a gift for a friend?
Buy a Frequent Patron Punch Card for $60 at any IFS show. With the punch card you can see ten films (a value of $90).

We Want Your Feedback

Cox & Kjølseth
: Filmmaker Alex Cox & Pablo Kjølseth discuss film topics from their own unique perspectives.

Z-briefs
: Pablo and Ana share Zoom-based briefs on what's currently playing at IFS

Search IFS schedules

Index of visiting artists

Mon Apr 1, 2024

Hot Shots! Part Deux

At Muenzinger Auditorium

Sat Apr 20, 2024

Super Mario Bros.

At Muenzinger Auditorium

more on 35mm...