One morning, Nora decides to leave Philippe, determined to offer his three sons a better life, far from the marginal existence of their father. She gets custody of her children, but Philippe is sure he has more to offer them and takes the 6 and 7-year-old from her. And so begins 11 years of life out in the countryside, far from society and normal existence…

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Although he has an established career, Cedric Kahn’s Vie sauvage suffers from the inevitable comparison with La Belle Vie, the charming debut of Jean Denizot that came out a few months ago, also inspired by the Fortin affair. With a more realistic approach, Vie sauvage makes sure to roll out the facts so that the scope of this family drama can be more easily understood. But the script has the strange idea of concentrating on the father, a character with no depth, played without much passion by Mathieu Kassovitz even though he has to carry the entire movie. His co-star Céline Sallette is excellent, as the mother brings much more emotion to her few scenes at the beginning and the end than the entire film has. With a difficult rhythm, unconvincing children and many phoned-in performances, this Vie sauvage is nothing but a lame escapade.