Film Viewing Guide

Title of film: The Wild Child (French: L'Enfant Sauvage)

Background and Plot:

This is a 1970 French film directed by François Truffaut. It tells the story of a young
boy discovered in a forest, living a feral existence among a pack of wolves and spending
the first 11 to 12 years of his life with little or no human contact. Captured by hunters, he
is sent to Paris and placed in a school for deaf-mute children. There he is observed by Dr.
Itard (portrayed by François Truffaut himself), who concludes that the boy, who is given
the name Victor, is neither deaf nor intellectually stunted but has simply been deprived of
normal, humanizing influences. With no shortage of tenderness, patience, and ambition,
Itard devotes himself to educating and civilizing the boy.

The film is based on true events related to Victor, the “Wild Boy of Aveyron,”
reported by Jean Marc Gaspard Itard.

Synopsis:

One summer day in 1798, a naked boy of 11 or 12 years is found in a forest in the
rural district of Aveyron in southern France. A woman sees him and then runs off
screaming. She finds some hunters and tells them that she has seen a wild boy. They hunt
him down with a pack of dogs, which, upon picking up the boy's scent, chase him up a
tree. A branch breaks off and the dogs attack him when he falls. He fights them off,
leaving one wounded, and then flees and hides in a hole. The dogs follow his scent,
eventually finding his hiding hole. The hunters arrive and force him out of the hole using
smoke to cut off his air supply. After he emerges, the men grab him.

Living like a wild animal and unable to speak or understand language, the child has
apparently grown up in solitude in the forest since an early age. He is brought to Paris
and initially placed in the National Institute for the Deaf and Dumb. A scar on his neck
suggests that whoever abandoned him as a young child tried to kill him and left him for
dead. Dr. Jean Itard, a young doctor who specializes in ear-nose-throat physiology and
the education of deaf-mutes, observes the boy and believes that he is neither deaf nor, as
some of his colleagues view the boy, an “idiot.” Itard is convinced that the boy's behavior
is a result of his deprived environment and his lack of contact with society, that he has
normal mental capacity, and that he can be educated.

Itard takes custody of the boy, whom he eventually names Victor, and brings him to
his house on the outskirts of Paris, where he begins a long and arduous attempt to educate
the boy. The boy has been so traumatically affected by his forest life that he can hardly
comprehend the idea of language. At first, it is not clear whether he can hear. It turns out
he can but the boy makes little makes little connection between the sounds of words and
their meanings. Itard makes slow progress, or none, for months at a time. He teaches the
boy the alphabet, associates words with objects, and waits for signs of comprehension

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 that stubbornly refuse to come. But the boy achieves small breakthroughs, all of which
the doctor dutifully records in his journal. Under the patient tutelage of Itard and his
housekeeper (Madame Guérin), Victor acquires the rudiments of language and gradually
becomes socialized, gaining the ability to have social relations by losing his capacity to
live as a savage.

For Itard, however, one vital hurdle in Victor’s education remains: whether the boy
can grasp the abstract concept of “justice,” thereby showing that he has a moral sense. So,
the doctor stages an ostensibly unfair and abominable act (putting the boy in a closet as
an undeserved punishment), to which Victor responds—to Itard’s delight—in a way that
shows he is offended by the “unjust” treatment he has suffered.

But soon the boy runs away to the woods, although keeping his clothes on and falling
asleep in them. Feeling hungry, he tries to steal a chicken and is furiously pursued by
farmers. The boy eventually returns to Itard’s house. As Madame Guerin leads Victor
upstairs to his room, Itard declares to the boy, "You are no longer a savage. You are an
extraordinary young man, of great expectations. Tomorrow we will begin our lessons
again."

Cast of Characters:

Jean-Pierre Cargol as Victor

François Truffaut as Dr. Jean Marc Gaspard Itard
Françoise Seigner as Madame Guérin, Dr. Itard’s housekeeper

Guide Questions for Discussion

1. How would you describe the mindset of Victor at the start of the movie (i.e., when he
was discovered and captured in the forest)?

2. What do you think happened to Victor after he returned to Dr. Itard’s house?

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 3. In your opinion, would it have been better for Victor if he had been freed right after
he was captured, instead of having had to go through everything else depicted in the
film? Why or why not?

4. If you were in Dr. Itard’s place, would you have handled Victor’s “education and
asocialization” differently? Why or why not? If differently, how would you have gone
about it?

5. What insights can be drawn from film in relation to the question “What does it mean
to be ‘human’”?

IMPORTANT: In answering questions #3 and #4, steer clear of “presentism”—i.e., the

tendency to interpret and judge past events in terms of present-day knowledge, concepts,
values, attitudes, and experiences.