Few films of the past decade have been so widely excoriated — and so widely misunderstood — as Cuties, an award-winning French film currently streaming on Netflix. Directed by French-Senegalese filmmaker Maïmouna Doucouré, Cuties is a poignant, if raw, coming-of-age story about an 11-year-old Muslim girl who joins a dance troupe. The film contains depictions of scantily-clad adolescent girls dancing in a sexualized fashion, prompting uproar even though Doucouré maintained it was intended to serve as a critique of female hyper-sexualization. Netflix marketing materials, which featured the film’s stars in provocative actions,...