Mignonnes [Cuties] (2020)

(Netflix Streaming, December 2021) Understand this:  Entire industries now prey on your outrage. The angrier you get, the more attention you pay, the dumber you become, the more money you give. That outrage is often tangentially related to the real world, or even manufactured entirely. So it is that in late 2020, alongside the American presidential campaign, a lucrative amount of controversy stemmed from the trailers and posters released by Netflix in order to promote Mignonnes: opponents saw the way the promotional material featured pre-teen girls in sexually provocative poses and jumped to the conclusion that the film was promoting pedophilia. But that, as anyone having actually seen the film could tell you, is a hideous misrepresentation of what the film is about. (Again, remember: people will lie in order to get you outraged.)  Coming from the socially-conscious low-budget segment of the French film industry, Mignonnes ends up being a squirm-inducing, dramatically sensitive portrayal of a young immigrant girl’s attempt to forge herself an identity in-between her ultra-traditional family and an environment that objectifies teenagers. As a parent, Mignonnes often feels like a horror film given how it portrays young girls emulating actions that would be considered inappropriate at any age, pushed along by dance videos and social media. The climax of the film has our protagonist going to the end of her attempt to play older… and being greeted by horrified stares from everyone else. In other words: marketing aside, the film does more to confront and uphold reasonable social values than most other pre-teen movies out there. But the outrage took over, portraying a delicate, wryly witty film into something that it isn’t. (The deceitful outrage was technically bipartisan, but let’s be honest: most of it came out of the insane right-wing echo chamber.)  Too bad for Mignonnes, which, while not an easy film to watch, is far more nuanced and responsible than the hot takes would have you believe. It does play with fire for shock value, but there’s no doubt that it’s on the side of the fire-fighters. It’s also brilliantly funny in its transgression: There’s a joke about condoms midway through the film that goes from gag-inducing to being surprisingly hilarious, and that should give you an idea of how writer-director Maïmouna Doucouré handles her material. Mignonnes is not boring and it’s not comfortable, and it’s especially not what many people would like you to be angry about.