.In the summer of 1798, a young boy (Jean-Pierre Cargol) is found running naked around a forest. He is captured by hunters and transported to Paris, where he is diagnosed as deaf and placed in an institute for deaf-mute boys. The boy suffers from severe behavioral problems and seems to be uncommunicative and ineducable, and he is almost transferred to a lunatic asylum. But Dr. Jean Marc Gaspard Itard (Truffaut) thinks that he's capable of learning, and takes him to his home. There, he is cared for by housekeeper Madame Guérin (Françoise Seigner) while Itard begins the slow process of educating him.
The Wild Child contains examples of:
- Bridal Carry: Itard carries Victor to bed this way after one of his tantrums.
- Character Narrator: Itard narrates passages from his diary.
- Closet Punishment: When Victor misbehaves, Itard locks him in a closet for about a minute. He is careful not to overuse the punishment, or it will lose meaning for Victor.
- Dedication: "For Jean-Pierre Léaud," because the experience of working with Jean-Pierre Cargol was similar to working with Léaud on The 400 Blows.
- Dramatization: The movie opens with "This is a true story. It begins in a forest in France one summer day in 1798."
- Happy Rain: When it rains during one of Itard's walks with Victor, Victor scampers around a field, squealing with delight.
- Iris Out: Iris in and out are often used as scene transitions.
- Kids Are Cruel: In the village where Victor is originally kept, local kids hit Victor, and he hits them back. At the institute, the deaf-mute kids are initially friendly, but soon they start harassing him and mimicking his odd behavior.
- Left for Dead: Based on a scar on Victor's throat that seems to be from a knife rather than an animal bite, a doctor concludes that Victor's parents cut his throat, then left him to die in the forest, but leaves stopped up the wound.
- Messy Hair: Victor, as shown on the poster, until Madame Guérin gives him a haircut.
- Name Amnesia: Whatever Victor's original name was, he's long forgotten it. Itard names him Victor because he reacts more to "O" than to to other sounds.
- Never Learned to Talk: Victor, although he eventually learns to make a sound approximating "lait."
- The Runaway: After Itard has been sick with fever for a few days, meaning he can't take Victor on his usual walks, Victor escapes out a window and flees into the forest. He returns the next day, choosing civilization over the wild once and for all.
- Soft Glass: The night after his capture, Victor breaks a window by headbutting it. He still can't escape because he's tied up by the leg.
- Tantrum Throwing: Frustrated with his inability to match carved wooden letters with letters written on paper, Victor throws a fistful of letters across the room. Itard tells him to pick them up, which he does, but then throws them again.
- Unable to Cry: It's noted that despite his cruel treatment at the institute, Victor has never been seen crying. He cries for the first time late in the movie when Itard punishes him.
- Wild Child: Victor is believed to have been alone from the age of about three or four. When he's found, he's about eleven.
