This is called a marketing road exit. Screened in dark theaters in France since Wednesday, Mignonnes by Franco-Senegalese director Maïmouna Doucouré is being distributed in the United States by Netflix, which will put it online in early September. But the drama which features a preteen girl who finds in dance the means to escape a family drama will have succeeded in creating controversy on Twitter even before American moviegoers can discover it on their small screen.
Internet users revolted at the promotional material chosen by Netflix to advertise the feature film, which won an award at Sundance and the Berlinale. The SVOD juggernaut has indeed designed a poster focusing on a fleeting shot of the drama showing the pre-teen protagonists, in tight-fitting outfits and in suggestive poses.
The official synopsis of the film, renamed Cuties in the US market, was of the same ilk. “At 11, Amy became fascinated with a dance troupe practicing twerk. Hoping to join them, she decides to explore her femininity by defying family traditions, ”explains the synopsis.
It did not take more to exceed social networks on both sides of the Atlantic. In the United States, reactions have multiplied, the overwhelming majority of the time, without the censors having the slightest idea of the real content and the themes of the film Cute . “ It's so revealing that Netflix's first major film featuring young black girls is based on the explicit sexualization of 11-year-olds. Whether it's acting or music, a sexualized image is too often the price of mainstream success for African American women and girls. Shameful ", denounced the American activist Sister Outsider," There are countless stories that Netflix could have told But with Cuties, the platform teaches girls to see themselves as sex objects. And this is not acceptable ”.
“ Netflix has a movie called Cuties Sister 11 year old kids in a twerk dance group. Some critics claim this is a "commentary" on the sexualization of children, here is the poster. And keep in mind that the lead actress is actually 11 years old. "
“ Netflix is completely crazy. Explain to me who validated this and why you think it's okay to sexualize young girls? ".
Within hours, a petition calling for the film to be removed from Netflix's catalog circulated. To date, it has collected nearly 150,000 signatures.
American critics who discovered the film at Sundance were not angry with this badly managed promotion.
" Netflix bought the rights to MIGNONNES from Maïmouna Doucouré, gave it a deceptive poster and summary, and now people are criticizing it, bombing it without seeing it on IMDb and Google and demanding that it be removed? It's so depressing, ”notes the Vulture reporter .
Sobriety of the French poster
In France, the same reactions of incomprehension. Netflix has unleashed a barrage of blame for betraying, serving so badly, and presenting the film.
There are many who recall the sobriety of the French poster.
Netflix goes backwards
Faced with this mobilization and the inflammatory criticisms that began to flood blindly on the IMDB cinema site, Netflix ended up backing down and apologizing.
“ We are deeply sorry for the inappropriate visual we have used for Mignonne / Cuties. It was neither good nor representative of this French film awarded at the Sundance festival. We have modified the poster and the description ”of the work, specifies Netflix
“At 11, Amy rebels against her family's conservative traditions and becomes fascinated by a spirited dance troupe,” the new synopsis says.
For its part, Le Figaro saw in Mignonnes " a touching innocence ". “ There are four of them, like the musketeers. Amy is eleven years old. Her father is going to remarry. The situation does not delight him. She prefers to hook up with a bunch of sassy kids, dressed as strippers who are preparing a dance competition with suggestive poses. Not their age, all that. A pre-adolescent girl is looking for herself, wedged between the prejudices of her family and the sassy morals of her girlfriends, ”wrote our critic Eric Neuhoff.