My (32F) date is a 42 year old man who has a poster of the 12 year old female character Mathilda in his TV room.
For context:
The Mathilda character from the film Leon the Professional (1994) is a pubescent girl who the filmmaker has blatantly sexualized. The director loosely based her on his real life pedophilic exploits as a 30 year old who groomed a 12 year old and impregnated her at 15. The film was meant to have Mathilda have sex with the adult lead, if not for the restrictions placed. Regardless, the final cut of the movie still blatantly displayed Mathilda as a universally iconic Lolita figure through clothing design, camera angles, suggestive lines, close up shots of body parts, etc. Her character being a seductress the entire film was a huge part of the plot, not a one-off feature.
The fact that my date had this poster on his wall doesn’t make him a pedophile (or hebephile), but it still made me question why he’d need to have a visual image of a known Lolita character on display to view everyday. If he was a fan of the film, he could easily have chosen the neutral movie poster with the main cast…instead of a solo image of this known child with a teddy bear.
Am I overreacting?
The poster:
Comments
Not overreacting unless it is part of a collection and there is a whole wall of stuff from the film. Ran it by my spouse too and he concurs. That’s a creepy choice for a stand alone piece in a grown man’s home. I’d nope out.
That’s pretty creepy. The actress has also spoken about how GROSS men were to her about that character which also stands out to me.
It’s also… what man in his 40s has movie posters in his bedroom? Is it in a frame or just taped about his mattress?
Eewww! Run
Gonna be completely honest in a way that is probably going to make some redditors cross, any posters in your bedroom past the age of about 23 is a turn off. Office? Sure. Games room? Have at it. Hobby room? Go nuts. But posters in the bedroom at 42 years of age? Hard pass, especially if those posters happen to be of a twelve year old girl.
Why not just ask him about it? It does sound a little creepy, but if you ask and he says something creepy you’ll know for sure.
Yes.
Ewwww. No. Absolutely not. I cannot think of any reason that would be a good enough reason for me for a 42 year old man to have a poster of a 12 year old child in his home.
I don’t care if it’s a movie he liked from his childhood. I don’t care if it was a gift. I don’t care if he got it 30 years ago from his dead parent. There is no reason that sounds acceptable to me for a 42 year old man to display a poster of a 12 year old.
It’s weird.
I don’t find. Leon was a hugely cult movie in the 90s and his age would be dabsmack in the prime of the movie.
Nah that’s creepy af 😳
You are outsourcing your gut feeling to Reddit. You know the poster is weird and you know you don’t like it.
Luc Besson Is absolute trash and I’d see any support of any of his films as a red flag, but especially that one.
Personally, I could not have sex with this person after seeing this.
You’re allowed to trust your gut for any reason. You don’t even have to have a good reason to not want to date someone. You don’t owe anyone a good reason.
(Man answering)
If you can watch Leon without having your skin crawl then there’s something wrong with you. It’s so transparently an awful, problematic film – even without knowing the back story about Besson. If it’s one of his favourite films, then presumably he knows who Besson is, and what he is.
That’s the red flag. Reasonable people don’t admire that film. Period.
Yes
Ew. No, you’re not overreacting.
I don’t do grey areas where sexualized children are concerned. A grown man had better give that line a wide berth or I’m out.
If you were comfortable with it you wouldn’t be posting here
Is he a film buff? Whats his opinion on Luc Bessons’ movie Angel? If he likes it you should dump him.
I think he just likes the character.
2025 sucks lol
Extremely weird
Mmyeah
Bruh. Yk what to do.
This would be a huge red flag to me no matter what excuse he had for having the poster just the fact that he did would make him a nope for me!
Girl you know this is weird lol
GURL
I’m gonna be bold here and say it’s not only ok but totally within our rights and obligations to ourselves to judge other people if their choices are trash. I’d 100% nope out. But also, be judgmental. go ahead. It’s ok.
I didn’t even know what that image was from but I had it as an icon when I was 13. I would not be comfortable with it.
Huge red flag. He is prob into some gross shit.
I think it’s pretty weird personally, since there are so many cool images from that movie that don’t involve a sexualized little girl.
I like the movie but I can only stomach the edited version that cuts out the creepy “child seductress” stuff.
Yeah that’s hella weird.
This guy is a big nope.