A film that was probably as personal a project for Francois Truffaut as The 400 Blows. The Wild Child is about a feral boy found in the French countryside and the attempts of a Dr. Itard played by Truffaut himself to reintegrate the child back into society
Francois Truffaut had a very troubled childhood and obviously related to the story of Victor of Aveyron. Mostly due to parental neglect, Truffaut grew up an unwanted child himself. He always felt that his education in literature, music and film saved him.
Truffaut and his cinematographer Néstor Almendros, visual approach to this film was to reproduce the look of an old silent movie something like a D.W. Griffith pastoral film. This is particularly effective with the old iris in/iris out transition technique to move from scene to scene. Truffaut was also a highly skilled director of actors, particularly child actors. Jean-Pierre Cargol as Victor The Wild Child gives a very fine performance that could have looked pretty ludicrous.
Besides directing and playing one of the leads, Truffaut also wrote the screenplay. An impressive accomplishment.
83 minutes
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