Netflix took to Twitter to apologize for the “inappropriate artwork” it initially used to advertise the French coming-of-age dramaCuties. Netflix’s poster depicts the film’s four leads, all of whom are 11-year-old girls, in skimpy dancing costumes and sexualized poses. At time of writing, it’s been replaced on the service with a still from the film.
Directed and written by Maïmouna Doucouré,Cutiesmade its world premiere atthis year’s Sundance Film Festival, where it won the World Cinema Dramatic Directing Award. The film is about Amy, a young French-Senegalese Muslim girl from a poor family who joins her neighbor’s dance crew. That puts Amy in the center of a conflict between her family’s traditional values and the world of modern social media.
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Doucouré based much of the film, her first feature-length production, on her own experiences as a French woman of Senegalese ancestry. Inan interview with Cineuropa, Doucouré said thatCutiesalso draws inspiration from her discomfort with the hyper-sexualization issues that surround modern pre-adolescent girls. “I saw, at a neighborhood party, a group of young girls aged around 11 years old, going up on stage and dancing in a very sensual way while wearing very revealing clothes. I was rather shocked and I wondered if they were aware of the image of sexual availability that they were projecting. In the audience, there were also more traditional mothers, some of them wearing veils: it wasa real culture shock. I was stunned and I thought back to my own childhood, because I’ve often asked myself questions about my own femininity, about evolving between two cultures, about my Senegalese culture which comes from my parents and my western culture.”
FollowingCuties' debut at Sundance, Netflix purchased its world rights, excluding France, where its distribution was handled by Bac Films.Due to COVID-19,Cuties’s theatrical debut in France was canceled, so its Netflix debut is also its first wide release. After translatingCutiesinto over 40 languages for release, Netflix began its advertising for the film on August 18th with the debut of the controversial poster. It promptly spurred a widespread backlash, including a Change.org petition forCutiesto be canceled that, at time of writing, had almost 53,000 signatures. Doucouré has made no public statement regarding the controversy, though she’s locked her social media down.
By accounts out of Sundance,Cutiesisoften an intentionally uncomfortable filmto watch, meant as an examination and criticism of the cultural trends that surround young girls in France and elsewhere, as well as the negative impacts of social media exposure. If the plan at Netflix was to make a poster forCutiesthat was just as uncomfortable to look at, then by that metric, mission accomplished.
Cutiesis scheduled to make its global premiere on Netflix on September 9th.
