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Cuties (French: Mignonnes) is a 2020 French coming-of-age drama film written and directed by Maïmouna Doucouré in her feature directorial debut. The film stars Fathia Youssouf, Médina El Aidi-Azouni, Esther Gohourou, Ilanah Cami-Goursolas and Maïmouna Gueye. The plot revolves around a Senegalese-French girl with a traditional Muslim upbringing named Amy (Youssouf) who is caught between traditional values and Internet culture whilst joining a sexual activity part of the same name.
The filmmakers claimed that it is intended to criticize the hypersexualization of pre-adolescent girls. Doucouré wrote the script using inspirations from an inappropriate talent show she happened to walk across one day, as well as her experience as a Senegalese-French person. Casting took six months, and principal photography took three months, with a psychologist assisting the child actresses throughout. The film premiered in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival on 23 January, where Doucouré won the Directing Award. Later, Youssouf won the César Award for Most Promising Actress. It was released in France on 19 August 2020 by BAC Films and internationally on 9 September 2020 on Netflix.
Prior to release, the film's trailer was released on March 16, 2020 in France and internationally on August 18, 2020, it received a large backlash from critics and audiences alike and it received the most disliked video on YouTube, reaching 18 million dislikes. Upon it's international release, the film was heavily lambasted by critics, and audiences alike, reaching a 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, while this film became a subject of controversy, starting from Netflix's initial promotional poster of the film that was widely considered inappropriate. Cuties is widely considered to be one of the worst movies ever made and it was listed on Roger Ebert's dispiseful movie list.
Director Maïmouna Doucouré and her crew were later arrested and sued, not long after the release. She and some of her crew were pleaded guilty and were sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole. Netflix was also eventually sued by almost all world governments for defending the film, and it was quickly pulled from Netflix in all countries one week after the film's released Internationally, and the movie was quickly banned indefinitely, leaving over a loss of over $163 million.
Plot[]
Amy, an 11-year-old girl, joins a group of dancers named "the cuties" at school, and rapidly grows aware of her burgeoning femininity - upsetting her mother and her values in the process.
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
Reception[]
Pre-relase[]
When the trailer was released, the trailer was heavily detained by audiences alike, and it bombed over with 18.5 million dislikes compared to 26,250 likes on YouTube upon its trailer release, making it the most biggest disliked YouTube video ever, passing over "It's Everyday Bro"', "Baby", and "YouTube Rewind 2018".
Critical response[]
The film was overwhelmingly panned by critics and audiences alike, and it was overwhelmingly considered to be one of the worst movies ever made. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 0% based on 195 reviews, with an average rating of 0.01/10. The site's critics' consensus reads "Cuties is nothing, but a pro-pedophilia film that goes against its own themes and deserves to be banned." It is the second worst reviewed film on Rotten Tomatoes, after Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever. On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 1 out of 100, based on 63 critics, indicating "overwhelming dislike". Shortly after its release on Netflix, Cuties had an IMDb rating of 0.8/10, reflecting the impact of the review bombing in relation to the controversy over the film.
Roger Ebert and Richard Roper both awarded this film an zero out of four stars and give this film a "thumbs down", and also told Doucouré in their review to "get some help and stop making movies".