I'm gonna come out and say it - I liked this movie. Now before you come at me with pitchforks, hear me out. I really appreciate this movie's message - a coming of age story that tries to address the issues of child exploitation and the sexualization of young girls. I was honestly greatly reminded of my own experiences in middle school and high school - I remember knowing quite a few students who were similar to the "Cuties:" the "popular girls" who tended to be rather promiscuous and went out of their way to try and act more adult than they actually were.
I genuinely enjoyed following Amy's character arc - like any girl her age, she desires acceptance from her peers and a sense of belonging. The Cuties have seemingly achieved these goals, and so Amy is driven to try and become one of them. She starts acting more rebellious and more openly sexual, because she thinks that will garner the approval of her peers, since it seemingly worked for the Cuties. Eventually Amy realizes that being a Cutie does not make her truly happy, and she decides to go back to being a kid again. The final scene of Amy going outside and playing jump rope with the other kids genuinely made me feel happy.
But as much as I admire Mignonnes for the story and lessons it's trying to tell, I am not very fond of how it was told. In trying to criticize the exploitation and sexualization of young girls, it ends up exploiting and sexualizing young girls - the very thing it is preaching against. Usually in movies teenagers aren't actually played by teenagers, especially in movies where those teenagers are shown doing more adult things like having sex. I'm not sure why the same couldn't be done for Mignonnes. It was completely unnecessary to cast actual young girls in a film that focuses on how young girls tend to be sexualized. I honestly feel awful for these poor actresses... I can't even start to imagine the kinds of things people say to them. And let's not forget the Netflix marketing disaster.
In conclusion - I respect this movie's story and message, but it should have been handled A LOT better. I do not recommend it; the story is not worth seeing actual young girls being exploited.
I genuinely enjoyed following Amy's character arc - like any girl her age, she desires acceptance from her peers and a sense of belonging. The Cuties have seemingly achieved these goals, and so Amy is driven to try and become one of them. She starts acting more rebellious and more openly sexual, because she thinks that will garner the approval of her peers, since it seemingly worked for the Cuties. Eventually Amy realizes that being a Cutie does not make her truly happy, and she decides to go back to being a kid again. The final scene of Amy going outside and playing jump rope with the other kids genuinely made me feel happy.
But as much as I admire Mignonnes for the story and lessons it's trying to tell, I am not very fond of how it was told. In trying to criticize the exploitation and sexualization of young girls, it ends up exploiting and sexualizing young girls - the very thing it is preaching against. Usually in movies teenagers aren't actually played by teenagers, especially in movies where those teenagers are shown doing more adult things like having sex. I'm not sure why the same couldn't be done for Mignonnes. It was completely unnecessary to cast actual young girls in a film that focuses on how young girls tend to be sexualized. I honestly feel awful for these poor actresses... I can't even start to imagine the kinds of things people say to them. And let's not forget the Netflix marketing disaster.
In conclusion - I respect this movie's story and message, but it should have been handled A LOT better. I do not recommend it; the story is not worth seeing actual young girls being exploited.