ROGER SHATTUCK
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of the word "documentary." Comparatively few reviewers in France
and elsewhere treated it as anything more complicated than a fiction
film based on a historical case. Few of them appear to have consulted
the original documents, though they were available and in print in
both French and English. The film's faithfulness to the known facts,
however, has a bearing on its meaning and value.
hard, the doctor who defied the expert diagnosis of idiocy to work
with Victor for five years, wrote two carefu l reports. Truffaut followed
these documents soberly and almost classically, with constant attention
to contemporary detail in costume, furniture, and setting. The fact that
Truffaut himself took the "role" of Itard with a minimum of acting,
somehow authenticates the whole effort to respect historical truth.
"The experience has left me with the impression not of having acted a
role," writes Truffaut, "but simply of having directed the film
in front
of the camera." The spoken narrative (but not the dialogue) comes
directly out of Itard's two reports. Nothing was added merely for effect.
In fact the tone of the film remains so restrained and detached that it
omits the most melodramatic scene of all : in a moment of near
desperation Itard held Victor (who was terrified of high places) out the
fifth story window in order to arrest the boy's tantrums by a form of
shock treatment. The scene shou ld have been included. At the same
time Truffaut felt free (or obliged) to give the film a h opeful ending
and to change the setting.
The historical facts are these. After five years of training from one
of the most patient and imaginative teachers of all time, Victor reached
a plateau. He became manageable and responsive, but he never learned
to
ta lk. The boy whose origins had set people arguing all over France
lived on in obscurity with a guardian or keeper, dropped out of Itard's
life, and died without notice aged about forty. Truffaut cuts things
short before the plateau and implies continued progress for the future.
(At the close of the film Victor returns of his own accord after running
away. Itard tells him, "You are a young man of great expectations. In a
little whi le we'll go back to work." T he boy sm il es as he walks slow ly
upstairs. The ending str ikes a distressingly false note for anyone who
knows the record.
However Truffaut's film survives these flaws. It portrays the
genuine scandal of a completely unsocialized child whose behavior
removed him much further from our understanding than most ani –
mals. It also shows the devotion of a highly civi lized doctor to
rehabilitating this child again st nearly insuperable odds. The conduct
of both individuals can be seen as truly remarkable. Solitude and
society come into very close contact in this historical documentary. I
