Netflix condemned for ‘sexualising children’ with Cuties film promotion

Streaming giant has amended poster and synopsis following backlash

Netflix has been accused of sexualising 11-year-old girls in its promotion for the French film Cuties.

The film, titled Mignonnes in France, follows a young girl from a traditional Senegalese Muslim household who joins a dance group. Written and directed by Maïmouna Doucouré, it won the directing award in the dramatic world cinema category at the Sundance Film Festival this year.

In an interview about the film, Doucouré told Cineuropa she came up with the concept after seeing "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". She said she was "shocked" and wondered if they were "aware of the image of sexual availability that they were projecting".

In Netflix’s promotional poster for the film, the children can be seen wearing shorts and crop tops and striking various dance poses, including kneeling on the floor and squatting.

The French poster, by contrast, shows the group wearing less revealing clothes and throwing shopping bags into the air.

Many Twitter users have pointed out how different the promos are, with one person writing: “It’s interesting to compare the French version of the Cuties poster to the American version... like the French version has more ‘kids having fun!’ vibes, while the American version is just f***ing... gross. I feel like the #Netflix marketing team has a lot to answer for.”

Another wrote: "I just found a trailer for the movie Cuties on Netflix and the blatant sexualisation of young girls is DISGUSTING. No one wants to see their child dressed and posed like this. WHY IS NO ONE IS TALKING ABOUT THIS?"

Netflix’s synopsis of the film has also drawn criticism. Before the backlash, the streaming giant’s summary said: “Amy, 11, becomes fascinated with a twerking dance crew. Hoping to join them, she starts to explore her femininity, defying her family’s traditions.”

It has now been changed to the following: “11-year-old Amy starts to rebel against her conservative family’s traditions when she becomes fascinated with a free-spirited dance crew.”

In a statement to Metro.co.uk, Netflix said: “This was not an accurate representation of the film so the image and description has been updated.”

A Change.org petition has also been created, calling for the film to be removed because it “promotes child pornography”. At the time of writing, it has more than 20,000 signatures.

The film has received positive reviews from critics. Screen Daily’s Fionnuala Halligan said Cuties is “explicitly designed to shock mature audiences into a contemplation of today’s destruction of innocence”.

The Hollywood Reporter's David Rooney also notes the film has a "critical view of a culture that steers impressionable young girls toward the hypersexualisation of their bodies".

Writer-director Doucouré told Cineuropa: “Today, the sexier and the more objectified a woman is, the more value she has in the eyes of social media. And when you’re 11, you don’t really understand all these mechanisms, but you tend to mimic, to do the same thing as others in order to get a similar result.

“I think it is urgent that we talk about it, that a debate be had on the subject.”

Cuties premieres on Netflix on 9 September.