Cuties
Cuties (French: Mignonnes) is a 2020 French drama film written and directed by Maïmouna Doucouré in her feature directorial debut. The film's ensemble cast is led by Fathia Youssouf who portrays Amy, a Senegalese-French girl with a traditional Muslim upbringing who is caught between traditional Muslim values and Internet culture when she joins a twerking dance crew.
This article is about the film. For the island, see Cuties Island. For other uses, see Cutie (disambiguation).Cuties
Mignonnes
Maïmouna Doucouré
Zangro
- Fathia Youssouf
- Médina El Aidi-Azouni
- Esther Gohourou
- Ilanah Cami-Goursolas
- Maïmouna Gueye
Yann Maritaud
- Mathilde Van de Moortel
- Stéphane Mazalaigue
Niko Noki
- France TV Cinéma
- Bien ou Bien Productions
- 23 January 2020 (Sundance)
- 19 August 2020 (France)
96 minutes[1]
France
French
$692,459[1]
Doucouré was inspired to write the script upon seeing a suggestive youth talent show one day, as well as from her experience as a Senegalese-French person. She said that it is intended to criticise the hypersexualisation of pre-adolescent girls, and that she logged over 18 months of research on the topic. The script later won an award at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. Casting took six months, with 700 girls being auditioned for the role of Amy. Principal photography lasted three months, with a psychologist assisting the child actresses throughout.[2]
Cuties premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival on 23 January, where Doucouré won the Directing Award. It was released in France on 19 August 2020 by BAC Films and internationally on 9 September 2020 on Netflix. While critical response to the film was mostly positive, including some award nominations, it became a subject of controversy, starting from Netflix's initial promotional poster that was widely considered inappropriate. Following its release on Netflix, the film polarized audiences, in part due to sexually suggestive scenes involving the child actors. Cases of review bombs and subscription cancellations surged, emboldened by the hashtag #CancelNetflix, though Netflix has defended the film.
Plot[edit]
Amy, an 11-year-old girl from Senegal, lives with her mother Mariam and two younger brothers, one of them named Ishmael, in an apartment in one of Paris' poorest neighbourhoods. She is angered by her polygynous father, who is preparing to return with a second wife. She is also bored with Islamic culture that her aunt seeks to impose on her. Amy is fascinated by her disobedient neighbour Angelica's pre-teen twerking clique, the Cuties, which is in stark contrast to Mariam's Muslim customs. They do not hesitate to adopt revealing outfits against their older rivals, the Sweety Swags. In the quest for online recognition, Amy decides to incorporate suggestive dance moves into the choreography. After getting pantsed for fighting with Sweety Swags, she steals her cousin’s phone and sends a photo of her vulva online to a social network in an attempt to look mature, backfiring heavily with her being ostracised, also causing a rift between her and the Cuties who kick her out, replaced with former member Yasmine. Her mother also confronts her for committing such indecency. She and her aunt tried performing exorcism on Amy, but it failed.
While her father's wedding day corresponds to the finale at the Parc de la Villette, she is determined to dance with them, and sneaks out of the house. She pushes Yasmine into a canal, so the Cuties have no choice but to allow her to dance with them. The highly suggestive dance routine polarizes audiences. Suddenly thinking about her mother during the routine, Amy bursts into tears and leaves before their performance ends. Upon her return, she runs into her aunt, who blames her for her outfit and recent attitude. Amy's mother intervenes by telling her to leave her daughter alone and then hugs her to reassure her. Amy's aunt implores her mother to not allow her to attend the wedding in order to demonstrate her disapproval. Amy's mother permits her not to go, but states that she herself must go to fulfill her duty as a wife. In the end, Amy abandons both the traditional wedding dress and her provocative dancer's outfit, living a normal youth lifestyle.
Production[edit]
The film was announced by filmmaker Maïmouna Doucouré as her feature debut directorial venture.[3] She rose to prominence with her 2016 short film Maman(s), which was selected and premiered in over two hundred film festivals, and won around sixty awards in several international film festivals.[4]
Doucouré penned the script for Cuties, taking her life experience as a refugee girl into account. The script eventually won Sundance's Global Filmmaking Award in 2017.[5] Doucouré says her inspiration for the film was a talent show in Paris that she happened to see.[6] She says that the contrast of the dancing and the traditional garb of the families in the audience was fascinating.[7] She also based it on her own experience with the contrast of the cultures of France and Senegal.[8]
Doucouré spent nearly 18 months researching studies on how young and pre-teen children are being exposed to adult content and sexualised images on social media in order to showcase the accurate reality in the film.[9] She spoke to many young girls about these issues.[8] She says that the film deals with self-image and social media. "Our girls see that the more a woman is overly sexualised on social media, the more she's successful. And the children just imitate what they see, trying to achieve the same result without understanding the meaning, and yeah, it's dangerous."[10] She says that although watching the film may be difficult, it is important to have a conversation in society about these issues.[8]
Casting for the film took nearly six months. Approximately 650 girls auditioned for the main character Amy; ultimately, 11-year-old Fathia Youssouf was chosen.[11] Principal photography took place in various locations around France over a period of three months.[12] Doucouré said she "created a climate of trust" between the young actors and herself during filming. She stated while working on the film, "I explained to them everything I was doing and the research that I had done before I wrote this story. I was also lucky that these girls' parents were also activists, so we were all on the same side. At their age, they've seen this kind of dance. Any child with a telephone can find these images on social media these days." She also stated that a child psychologist was on staff during filming.[13]
Initial release[edit]
Cuties had its world premiere in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition section of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival on 23 January,[14][15] where Doucouré won the Directing Award,[16] and was one of three French films to be screened at festival.[17][18] Originally set for a theatrical release in France on 1 April 2020, the film was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in France,[19] and was eventually released on 19 August 2020 by BAC Films.[20][21] The film earned US$692,459;[1] in its opening day it earned US$644,309 at 169 theaters.[22]
Critical response[edit]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 87% based on 82 reviews, with an average rating of 7/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "A thoughtful look at the intricacies of girlhood in the modern age, Cuties is a coming-of-age film that confronts its themes with poignancy and nuance."[96] At Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 67 out of 100, based on 16 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[97]
Monica Castillo of RogerEbert.com gave the film four out of four stars, stating that "Cuties is a difficult and challenging film, pushing the idea of 'depiction does not equal endorsement' to its limit."[98] In a review for IndieWire, Kate Erbland wrote, "Although Doucouré steeps Cuties in emotion and experience, she abandons its grace to make crazier gestures."[99] Variety's Amy Nicholson wrote: "Newcomer Youssouf has an anchoring presence. Occasionally, Doucouré lets her light up the screen with a smile, and at the director's most expressionistic, the girl floats", though it stated the film is aiming to gain more "gasps than laughs" with its dance numbers.[100] Other reviewers commented that the film is intended to criticise "a culture that steers impressionable young girls toward the hypersexualisation of their bodies" and "seems to want to provoke censure".[101][102] Clarisse Fabre of Le Monde praised the film and said that it avoids judging the sexualised dances of the girls.[103]
French newspaper Libération described the film as "endearing but too demonstrative", adding that "the film remains on the threshold of the discomfort that it intends to press each time it meets the male gaze, as if it was afraid to blame it head on".[104] According to France Info, "Mignonnes' words are a subtle reflection on the condition of women when childhood and innocence discreetly recede" and a "female cast carried by the intensity of the young Fathia Youssouf, a revelation".[105]
David Fear of Rolling Stone rated the film 3 out of 5 stars, calling it a "sensitive portrait of growing pains that deserves to be seen".[106] Common Sense Media gave the film 4 out of 5 stars and wrote that "Maïmouna Doucouré has created an evocative, compassionate portrait of young girls finding their identity and values".[107] Alyssa Rosenberg of The Washington Post defended the film, stating that the film would be liked by those who have not seen a glimpse of it yet, and she also criticised the remarks made against the film.[108][109] Carlos Aguilar of TheWrap compared Cuties to films such as Girlhood (2014), The Fits (2015) and Atlantics (2019).[110]
Fionnuala Halligan of Screen Daily, however, commented on the close-up minor shots: "Doucouré seems to want to provoke censure, but fails precisely because she's trying so hard." She also called the musical shots "outrageous", but also said that "[a]ll four Cuties members give excellent performances."[111] Yvonne Bohwongprasert of the Bangkok Post stated that the film's storyline "sexualises the girls in a manner that would pander to the desires of a paedophile" with "a plot that really does not make sense."[112] Brett McCracken of The Gospel Coalition argued that "People on every point on the political spectrum should be able to say it is wrong for a film—any film, however well-intentioned—to depict close-up, lingering shots of scantily clad 11-year-olds twerking."[113]