L'enfant sauvage
- 1970
- Tous publics
- 1h 23min
Dans une forêt française en 1798, un enfant est trouvé, incapable de marcher, de parler, de lire ou d'écrire. Un médecin s'intéresse à l'enfant et tente patiemment de le civiliser.Dans une forêt française en 1798, un enfant est trouvé, incapable de marcher, de parler, de lire ou d'écrire. Un médecin s'intéresse à l'enfant et tente patiemment de le civiliser.Dans une forêt française en 1798, un enfant est trouvé, incapable de marcher, de parler, de lire ou d'écrire. Un médecin s'intéresse à l'enfant et tente patiemment de le civiliser.
- Réalisation
- Scénario
- Casting principal
- Récompenses
- 5 victoires et 5 nominations au total
- Aveyron Countryman
- (non crédité)
- Boy at Farm
- (non crédité)
- Boy at Farm
- (non crédité)
- Girl at Farm
- (non crédité)
- Visitor at Institute
- (non crédité)
- Child at Farm
- (non crédité)
- Police Official in Rodez
- (non crédité)
- Aveyron Countrywoman
- (non crédité)
- Dr. Gruault - Itard's Doctor
- (non crédité)
- Madame Lémeri
- (non crédité)
- Monsieur Lémeri
- (non crédité)
- Baby Lémeri
- (non crédité)
Avis à la une
An incredible film, mainly down to the incredible performance of Jean-Pierre Cargol as the boy recovered from the forest, who leaves you under no illusion that he could literally have grown up in isolation, in the middle of nowhere, with only the flora and fauna of the forest for company. Still holds up all these years later, which is not as common as you might think for many films made around this time - well worth further investigation.
Truffaut's main concern is studying what humans really are when you strip away the socialization process. Do we have morals? Language abilities? Compassion? This was also the main question for Dr. Itard who raised the boy after he was found.
However, the legitimacy of the wild child is called into question early in the film. Is Victor a normal human child or was there something abnormal about him that caused his family to abandon him? If he was abnormal to begin with, then we really can't conclude anything about what humanity would be like without the socialization process.
Reading through Dr. Itard's notes, many have concluded that Victor was an autistic child. His parents probably found him uncontrollable and abandoned him in the woods. So while Dr. Itard believed he was seeing the results of a normal boy with no socialization, he was probably seeing the results of a normal autistic child.
Despite this problem, the film is still interesting to watch but it ends up raising more questions than it answers.
NB:In France,in primary school,a lot of pupils read Victor's story.
Is it possible to feel bad watching a Truffaut film? And even better than making you feel good, he's not being sneaky about it -- instead of crass manipulation (and what kind of film could be more easily made manipulative than a one about boy left to survive in a forest and how he learns to be "human"?), he imbues each frame with soft, gentle love; so instead of jerking our emotions around via contrivance of the characters, he trusts us enough -- and his own talent enough -- to allow us to latch on to feeling his respect and love for cinema itself. (And he wisely keeps the film in mostly medium shots.) Nothing is really highlighted, but occasionally a particular image will be so fine that it's hard not to notice it, like the one where the camera is raised above Victor as he slouches back to his room after being told he can't accompany Truffaut to the doctor. (Or the sly visual gag where Truffaut is teaching Victor letters with the boy's fingers, and he manages to basically flip the audience the bird -- then has Truffaut swat his fingers with a cane.)
Truffaut isn't interested in the kind of acting displays that normally accompany this kind of film; the acting is subdued and realistic (but then again, how would we ever know how a wild child would act?). The boy is limited to acting without words, and it's a very good performance: whether he's grinning wildly in a bath or swaying back and forth or opening his mouth as wide as it can go in an act of effrontery, it's a performance that refuses to indicate how we should feel. There are some scenes that portray confusion so well but don't rub our noses in it, like the one where he's trying his hardest to follow instructions and eat his soup properly, but can't help himself and sticks his face in the bowl. After Victor makes a craft and impresses Truffaut with it, Truffaut writes in his ongoing journal how joyful he is but to forgive his enthusiasm over such a small triumph -- that's the best way to describe how the film feels: a series of small triumphs of gentle subtlety. 9/10
Le saviez-vous
- AnecdotesTruffaut remained true to Dr. Itard's written accounts in most respects. A few variations are: (1) Victor was not stark naked when first captured; he had the shreds of a shirt around his neck. (2) Victor's hair would have been much longer, because he was indifferent to hygiene or how he looked. (3) Jean Itard was merely a young medical student, while the film suggests that he was on an equal basis with Pinel. (4) Madame Guerin became almost a mother to Victor, always attending to him, whereas the film suggests that she merely helped to train him and to clean up after him. (5) Itard would rub Victor's back to relax and comfort him, but then had to worry about sexual responses. Victor also often wet his bed, but Itard never punished him; he decided to allow Victor to learn whether he preferred to lie in a wet bed or to get up to relieve himself. These problems are not shown. (6) In the scene in which Victor throws a tantrum about learning the alphabet, his and Dr. Itard's responses were different than are shown in the film. Real-life Victor bit his bedsheets and began to throw hot coals around the house before falling to the ground and writhing/screaming/kicking; and Itard (Truffaut) did not merely put him into the closet for a few moments. Itard admits [in translation] that he actually "violently threw open the window of his room, which was on the fifth floor overlooking some boulders directly below ... and grabbing him forcibly by the hips, I held him out of the window, his head facing directly down toward the bottom of the chasm. After some seconds, I drew him in again. He was pale, covered with a cold sweat ... I made him gather up all the [alphabet] cards and replace them all. This was done very slowly ... but at least without impatience." Viewers may thank Truffaut for choosing the lesser of two evil punishments! (7) Finally, Dr. Itard took care of Victor for 5 years; in 1806, Victor moved into Madame Guerin's house and stayed there for the rest of his life, with the French Government paying for his care. It is believed that he died there, without ever marrying.
- GaffesIn the US subtitles, the opening says that this is a true story that happened in 1978. It should have read 1798.
- Citations
[last lines]
Le Dr Jean Itard: I'm glad that you came home. Do you understand? This is your home. You're no longer a wild boy, even if you're not yet a man. Victor, you're an extraordinary young man with great expectations. Later, we'll resume our lessons.
- ConnexionsEdited into Histoire(s) du cinéma: Une vague nouvelle (1999)
Meilleurs choix
Détails
- Date de sortie
- Pays d’origine
- Langues
- Aussi connu sous le nom de
- The Wild Child
- Lieux de tournage
- Aubiat, Puy-de-Dôme, France(Dr. Itard's house: Chateau Montclavel, Aubiat)
- Sociétés de production
- Voir plus de crédits d'entreprise sur IMDbPro
Box-office
- Montant brut aux États-Unis et au Canada
- 65 560 $US
- Week-end de sortie aux États-Unis et au Canada
- 11 206 $US
- 25 avr. 1999
- Montant brut mondial
- 65 560 $US
- Durée1 heure 23 minutes
- Couleur
- Mixage
- Rapport de forme
- 1.66 : 1