The Wild Child

The Wild Child
Theatrical release poster
FrenchL'Enfant sauvage
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Directed byFrançois Truffaut
Screenplay byFrançois Truffaut
Jean Gruault
Based onThe Memorandum and Report on Victor de l'Aveyron
by Jean Marc Gaspard Itard
Produced byMarcel Berbert
StarringJean-Pierre Cargol
François Truffaut
Françoise Seigner
Jean Dasté
CinematographyNéstor Almendros
Edited byAgnès Guillemot
Production
company
Les Films du Carrosse
Distributed byLes Artistes Associés
Release date
  • February 26, 1970 (1970-02-26) (France)
Running time
85 minutes
CountryFrance
LanguagesFrench
French Sign Language
Box office$800,000
1,674,771 admissions (France)

The Wild Child (French: L'Enfant sauvage, released in the United Kingdom as The Wild Boy) is a 1970 French historical drama film co-written, directed by, and starring François Truffaut. It is based on the true events regarding Victor of Aveyron (Jean-Pierre Cargol), a late 18th-century French child who spent the first eleven or twelve years of his life with little or no human contact.

The film was released in France on February 26, 1970. It was a critical and commercial success, earning Truffaut several accolades including the Prix Méliès and the National Board of Review Award for Best Director. The film also won the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Cinematography (for Néstor Almendros).