Cuties
Cuties is a 2020 French coming-of-age 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.
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.
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.
Plot
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 try performing an exorcism on Amy, but it fails.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 implores her mother to not attend the wedding. 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.
Cast
- Fathia Youssouf as Amy
- Médina El Aidi-Azouni as Angelica
- Maïmouna Gueye as Mariam, Amy's mother
- Esther Gohourou as Coumba, a member of the Cuties
- Ilanah Cami-Goursolas as Jess, another member of the Cuties
- Myriam Hamma as Yasmine, another member of the Cuties
- Mbissine Therese Diop as Amy's aunt
- Demba Diaw as Ishmael, Amy's brother
- Mamadou Samaké as Samba
Production
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. Doucouré says her inspiration for the film was a talent show in Paris that she happened to see. She says that the contrast of the dancing and the traditional garb of the families in the audience was fascinating. She also based it on her own experience with the contrast of the cultures of France and Senegal.
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. She spoke to many young girls about these issues. 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 is successful. Children just imitate what they see, trying to achieve the same result without understanding the meaning. It is dangerous." She says that although watching the film may be difficult, it is important to have a conversation in society about these issues.
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. Principal photography took place in various locations around France over a period of three months. 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.
Initial release
Cuties had its world premiere in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition section of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival on 23 January, where Doucouré won the Directing Award, and was one of three French films to be screened at festival. Originally set for a theatrical release in France on 1 April 2020, the film was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in France, and was eventually released on 19 August 2020 by BAC Films. The film earned US$692,459; in its opening day it earned US$644,309 at 169 theaters.Netflix release
In January 2020, prior to the film's Sundance premiere, Netflix purchased the worldwide rights to the film, excluding France. It was released internationally on Netflix on 9 September 2020. Cuties was removed from Netflix's catalogue on 8 September 2024 after Netflix's license to stream the film expired.Marketing
Prior to its release on Netflix, the film had not been deemed controversial when it was screened at Sundance and released in France. After Netflix acquired Cuties, its international promotional poster and trailer for the film were criticised for allegedly sexualising 11-year-old girls and were different from those used to promote the film in its original release in France. The Parents Television Council requested that Netflix remove the film entirely, and a Change.org petition calling for people to cancel their Netflix subscription gathered more than 600,000 signatures. Followers of QAnon on social media also criticised the film, and a moderator on the movies and television board of 4chan banned images pertaining to the film from being posted on the imageboard site. In Latin America, NetflixPedofilia trended on Twitter prior to the film's Netflix release.In response, Netflix replaced the poster with a new one, stating, "This was not an accurate representation of the film so the image and description has been updated." The new poster was replaced with that of the original theatrical release, depicting the girls running in the street with shopping bags while celebrating.
Amidst the controversy, American actress Tessa Thompson came out in support of the film when it was criticised on social media, stating that "Cuties is a beautiful film" and said that the film "gutted me" when she saw it for the first time during the Sundance premiere.
In Turkey, the Ministry of Family asked Radio and Television Supreme Council to take the necessary precautions and evaluate the film; RTÜK subsequently demanded the film be removed from the Netflix catalogue. Netflix removed the film from its catalogue in Turkey two days before its release. In September 2020, Pakistani actor Hamza Ali Abbasi signed one of the petitions and demanded Netflix cancel their planned release of the film. Adriana Martínez Bedini, vice-president of Buenos Aires' Consejo de los Derechos de Niñas, Niños y Adolescentes, called for "being very careful not to eroticize childhood. Its consequences in society can be serious", adding that the topic would be included in the council plenary.
In an interview with Deadline Hollywood, Maïmouna Doucouré stated that she received numerous death threats and personal attacks following the backlash on social media. She claimed that things happened fairly quickly ; she was focusing solely on the film's theatrical release in France, and at the time was not consulted about the controversial poster unveiled by Netflix. She said that she was notified of the film's poster controversy after being informed of negative feedback and reviews from the public on social media, and that the co-CEO of Netflix phoned her directly and apologised for the poster release.