L'enfant sauvage (1970)

Director:

François Truffaut

Writers:

Jean Itard (novel)
François Truffaut (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

11 September 1970 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

At last an adult film to which you can take your children.

Plot:

1798. In a forrest, some countrymen catch a wild child who can not walk, speak, read neither write. The Doctor Itard is interested by the child...

Plot Keywords:

Manners | Directed By Star | Feral Child | Child Nudity | Institution

Awards:

5 wins

Cast

Jean-Pierre Cargol	...	Victor, l'enfant sauvage
François Truffaut	...	Le Dr Jean Itard
Françoise Seigner	...	Madame Guerin
Jean Dasté	...	Professor Philippe Pinel
Annie Miller	...	Madame Lemeri
Claude Miller	...	Monsieur Lemeri
Paul Villé	...	Remy
Nathan Miller	...	Baby Lemeri
Mathieu Schiffman	...	Mathieu
Jean Gruault	...	Visitor at Institute
Robert Cambourakis	...	Countryman
Gitt Magrini	...	Countrywoman
Jean-François Stévenin	...	Countryman
Laura Truffaut	...	Girl at farm
Eva Truffaut	...	Girl at farm
Guillaume Schiffman	...	Boy at farm
Frédérique Dolbert	...	Girl at farm
Eric Dolbert	...	Boy at farm
Tounet Cargol	...	Boy at farm
Dominique Levert	...	Child at farm
Misse Theaudiere
Jean Mandaroux	...	Itard's Doctor
René Levert	...	Police Official
Pierre Fabre	...	Orderly at Institute

Directed by
François Truffaut

Writing credits
Jean Itard		(novel "Mémoires et rapport sur Victor de l'Aveyron")
François Truffaut		(screenplay) and
Jean Gruault		(screenplay)

Produced by
Marcel Berbert	....	delegate producer

Cinematography by
Néstor Almendros		(as Nestor Almendros)

Film Editing by
Agnès Guillemot

Set Decoration by
Jean Mandaroux

Costume Design by
Gitt Magrini

Makeup Department
Nicole Félix	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Claude Miller	....	production manager (as Claude Miler)
Roland Thénot	....	unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Suzanne Schiffman	....	assistant director

Art Department
Jean-Claude Dolbert	....	property master

Sound Department
René Levert	....	sound
Alex Pront	....	sound mixer

Camera and Electrical Department
Philippe Théaudière	....	assistant camera
Pierre Zucca	....	still photographer (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Yann Dedet	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Antoine Duhamel	....	musical director
André Saint-Clivier	....	musician: mandolin
Michel Sanvoisin	....	musician: flute

Other crew
Christine Pellé	....	script girl

Production Companies

• Les Films du Carrosse
• Les Productions Artistes Associés

Distributors

• United Artists (1970) (France) (theatrical)
• United Artists Corporation (1970) (UK) (theatrical)
• United Artists (1970) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Film Desk, The (2008) (USA) (theatrical)

Other Companies

• Franay L.T.C. Saint Cloud  film lab

Also Known As:

The Wild Boy (UK)
The Wild Child (USA)

Runtime:

83 min

Country:

France

Language:

French | French Sign Language

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:S | Sweden:11 | UK:U | USA:G | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Aubiat, Puy-de-Dôme, France

Company:

Les Films du Carrosse

Trivia:

The film isn't based on a novel; it was a technical report or, more precisely, medical notes, entitled "Rapport fait à son excellence le Ministre de l'intérieur sur les nouveaux développemens et état actuel du sauvage de l'Aveyron." [More or less: Report to the Minister of the Interior about new developments and current state of the wild child of Aveyron.]

Goofs:

Factual errors: In the US subtitles, the opening says that this is a true story that happened in 1978. It should have read 1798.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Making of 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' (2001) (V)

Well done but a bit misleading

For those unfamiliar with the history of "the wild boy of Aveyron," this film will be intriguing and informative. It follows the known facts of "Victor's" life closely, but does not reveal, even in an epilogue, that its terminus represents about the furthest that Victor ever progressed. In fact, Dr. Itard, who adopted the boy and attempted to educate and "civilise" him, abandoned the project soon afterward, and Victor died at about age 40 in a public institution. Whether or not it would have been better to allow him his "nasty, brutal and short" -- but free -- life in the wild presents a genuine moral dilemma.. Both Francois Truffaut's direction and the cinematography of Nestor Amendros are stark, and emphasize the paradox of intellectual riches and emotional poverty said to have been the lot of bourgeois children in the eighteenth century.