The Wild Child
Dir: François Truffaut
1970
*****
Many have criticised François Truffaut for making Wild Child, claiming that the film is far too clinical and is also of a subject matter that he wasn't academically capable of telling correctly. Many people criticised David Lynch in exactly the same way when he made The Elephant Man, which is now regarded as a classic and the only difference I can see between the two is that it seems more people have seen The Elephant Man - this true story being the better known of the two. First off, the young Jean-Pierre Cargol was fantastic as the Ferrel Victor, I'm amazed he didn't continue a career in acting. Also, the passion Truffaut felt for the story is evident in every scene, it's evident in the fact he didn't trust anyone but himself to star in it. It may have been clinical at time but the source material was from Dr. Jean Itard's notes and diary and actually transferring that to the screen was a very clever and original direction. I can't say I've seen it executed so successfully since other than in the aforementioned The Elephant Man. Personally, I loved it.