François Truffaut’s The Wild Child recounts the astonishing true story of Victor of Aveyron, a feral child discovered living in the French wilderness in the late 18th century. While many disavowed the child who seemed to show an inability (or perhaps an unwillingness) to speak or understand language, a physician named Jean Marc Gaspard Itard observed Victor and recognized the boy’s potential for development. Itard’s work with Victor proved integral to new systems of pedagogy for the developmentally delayed. The Wild Child remains a penetrating work, with humanity at its core; that which separates the wild from the tamed is the capacity for empathy – something neither nature or nurture can deny. Featuring striking black and white cinematography by Nestor Almendros and Truffaut himself as the doctor.
“An enduring film of enchanting and provocative revelation.” – Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times
“So often movies keep our attention by flashy tricks and cheap melodrama; it is an intellectually cleansing experience to watch this intelligent and hopeful film.” – Roger Ebert
“Unlike any other film Truffaut has ever made, yet only Truffaut could have made it. It is a lovely, pure film. And it may be a classic.” – Vincent Canby, The New York Times
