As stated in Wikipedia film Cuties is a 2020 French coming-of-age drama film written and directed by Maïmouna Doucouré. The film features a group of young school girls practising sexy dance moves to win a dance competition. The main character Amy- played by Fathia Youssouf is an 11-year-old immigrant girl from Senegal, living with her mother Mariam and two younger brothers in an apartment in one of Paris's poorest neighbourhoods.
She becomes consumed by sexy dressing, dancing, makeup and the frivolity of internet culture. Her traditional Muslim upbringing and family dynamics emerging from the imminent arrival of her father’s second wife set a complex landscape of escapism, pain, vulnerability and longing to be part of a growing westernised hyper sexualised pussycat doll persona. It’s like watching a slow motion car crash with children in the car. In my opinion the movie is profoundly difficult to watch. I was uncomfortable and desperate for it to end, but through it all it was starkly familiar. It showed without hiding anything the worst excesses of internet culture and how it can brainwash a young mind, another side of fundamentalism.
The film was cleverly crafted to portray two opposing cultures through Amy’s eyes, including the cultural pressure of polygamy, honour, shame and duty. At times parents especially from poorer backgrounds can be distracted with grafting, working and their relationships, unwittingly leaving their young children exposed to the elements without the knowledge or protection to avoid often devastating consequences.
The films actors were remarkable, its theme ultimately criticised the embodiment of contemporary culture shown at its most extreme. I watched it with my 11 year old daughter, I was most uncomfortable throughout but we were drawn into Amy’s journey. I vowed to never watch it again, but at the end literally in the final scene I exhaled and decided it is a WORK OF ART. A must see! This takes you out of your comfort zone.
Sorry Miss-Jackson gives it *****
images from wikipedia & USA today
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