If paedophilia wasn't a parent's most dreaded fear, Netflix coming-of-age tale Cuties, a controversial French film that takes on the difficult subject of how young girls are impacted by societies' sexualising of women in a way teens learn from, would have made the audience more receptive to the movie's unflinchingly candid treatment of its subject.
The movie, which has whipped up a frenzy of fury from the public for sexualising little girls, focuses on an 11-year-old who is raised in a traditional Senegalese Muslim household, later finding herself torn between traditional family values and today's internet culture which does not bat an eyelid when it comes to the hyper-sexualisation of young women.
The doll-faced preteen character is Amy. Her growing femininity plus dysfunctional family environment exacerbates her rebellious streak as she embarks on the tumultuous journey of becoming a teen.
While reserved, she desires to take her developing interest in pop music and dance, and a deep-rooted need to feel like she belongs, to the next level by joining a dance crew her age called Cuties: a budding troupe whose leader also resides where her family lives.
The girls first meet in the laundry room where the long-haired spectacled dancer can be seen practising her steps while waiting for her clothes to get washed, unaware of Amy watching her intensely from behind.
The intrigue for the outwardly awkward Amy is understandable when the dance crew and she come face to face. Their personalities clash: where Amy is shy, they are bold, where she is modest, they're brash and in your face.
The fickle-minded affections of prepubescent girls are at play as we watch how the girls move from their extreme adoration for each other to their dreadful ability to bully Amy at the drop of a hat.
Stealing a mobile phone on a whim, she uses this to wiggle her way into the group by becoming their videographer for their dancing escapades as the girls prepare to vie for a place in a dance contest.
It is here they meet their much older rivals, who are more physically developed and needless to say sexualised in their moves. Amy and her crew seem oblivious to the fact that they are at the mercy of a hyper-sexualised culture and its pressures.
Soon enough, we see the Cuties are unfurling their own fresh routine helmed by Amy, who while seeming to remain tuned in to what is unfolding around her has no inkling into what it actually means.
It is here I find the storyline becomes murky as it sexualises the girls in a manner that would pander to the desires of a paedophile.
The characters' suggestive dance moves are filmed up close, while their skimpy attire and talk about sex and rape bring more disgust to the viewer than an actual understanding of their misconceptions that reveal their innocence.
Technically this raw unfiltered film strings together a plot that really does not make sense. To begin with, none of the characters' names are directly given and characters are often introduced and/or tossed out randomly breaking any momentum they might have formed in the audience's mind. There are also moments where it is unclear what anybody is talking about to bring you to the assumption that a particular incident is about to happen.
Putting things in perspective, I feel that we reside in a world where women and children are subjected to all sorts of cruelty -- rape, slavery, prostitution -- making it all the more obvious that in no context is it permissible to watch the hyper-sexualisation of children.
All this does is give an excuse for perpetrators to feel justified to defile a child. Maybe, say, because they were aroused by watching little girls gyrate to loud music in skimpy clothes … is anyone's guess.
- Cuties
- Starring Fathia Youssouf, Médina El Aidi-Azouni, Esther Gohourou
- Directed by Maïmouna Doucouré
- Now streaming on Netflix
