Tanya’s Score: Good-and-a-half*
Rated: 14A
Starring: a bunch of French people
Plot: Amy, an 11-year-old girl (Fathia Youssouf) joins a dance troupe of girls calling themselves The Cuties – which awakens the power of her own sexuality while causing problems in her home life.
Tanya’s Verdict: This Netflix movie has been getting so much negative press that I just had to sit down and watch it for myself. Here’s what I have to say:
Yes – it deals with young girls sexualizing themselves in mature ways that they probably don’t even understand. But so what? This sort of thing happens. And so they made a movie about it. To be clear – in no way do I feel Cuties glorifies underage sexuality. It’s simply exploring it by telling a story in a thought-provoking and highly controversial way.
Main character Amy feels some level of control over her life – by changing her clothes, learning some suggestive dance moves and behaving in a certain manner. But it is soon apparent that she has no idea how to wield this power and it threatens to overwhelm her.
There are several interesting contradictions within Cuties. Despite being raised within a religious and modest community, Amy is told about older female relatives being married off at her age. Her family is also preparing for the arrival of her father from Senegal as he returns with his second and newest wife and Amy’s mother seems to be suffering in silence over the entire matter.
So how’s that for sexualizing little girls at a young age? Preparing them for marriage before puberty and preaching the double-standard between men and women; reminding them to remain modest and pious for God yet desirable so that their husband isn’t inclined to take on a second wife. And while you’re at it, be sure not to dress scantily and dance in a provocative manner.
Cuties is a good movie – following the supposed simple storyline of one girl and opening up entire cans of contradictive worms as it progresses.
And here’s a major double standard for you to wrap your heads around: portray a bunch of little girls behaving older than their years and angry mobs will scream “Cancel” but do the same with little boys and you got yourself a raunchy comedy that no one shakes a stick at.
Before you judge it . . . watch it.
Four score descriptions: Sh**; Okay; Good; Great