94
Metascore
15 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertSo often movies keep our attention by flashy tricks and cheap melodrama; it is an intellectually cleansing experience to watch this intelligent and hopeful film.
- 100TV Guide MagazineTV Guide MagazineProbably the director's most ambitious film, The Wild Child spins a modern myth with resonances for parents and children, teachers and students, and even filmmakers, actors and audiences.
- 100Time OutTime OutUnlike the acting-histrionics competition in Hollywood’s The Miracle Worker (1962), Truffaut never upstages the astounding Cargol; both performers underplay in perfect harmony, turning the story into a duet of paternal affection and paradise lost.
- 100Los Angeles TimesKevin ThomasLos Angeles TimesKevin ThomasAn enduring film of enchanting and provocative revelation. [09 Jan 2009, p.E15]
- 90Time OutTime OutIt's as lucid and wryly witty a film as you could wish for, uncluttered by superfluous period detail. A beautiful use of simple techniques - black-and-white photography, Vivaldi music, even devices as outmoded as the iris - give it a very refreshing quality.
- 90The New York TimesVincent CanbyThe New York TimesVincent CanbyUnlike any other film Truffaut has ever made, yet only Truffaut could have made it. It is a lovely, pure film. And it may be a classic.
- 90It progresses slowly but absorbingly. Truffaut underplays but exudes an interior tenderness and dedication. The boy is amazingly and intuitively well played by a tousled gypsy tyke named Jean-Pierre Cargol. Everybody connected with this unusual, off-beat film made in black-and-white rates kudos.
- 80Chicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumChicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumOne of Francois Truffaut's best middle-period films, albeit one of his darkest and most conservative.
- 80Village VoiceNicolas RapoldVillage VoiceNicolas RapoldRather than present a clichéd fall from grace, Truffaut elicits ambivalence by closely tracking the Enlightened scientist’s optimism; after the fascination, our inchoate sadness seeps in.