December 5, 2025
by Carla Hay
Directed by Julia Jackman
Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed medieval fantasy world, the fantasy comedy/drama film “100 Nights of Hero” (based on the graphic novel “The 100 Nights of Hero”) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few black people, Latin people and Asians) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: After refusing to have sex with his newlywed wife, her husband makes a bet with a close friend that the friend won’t be able to seduce the wife, who goes through a journey of self-discovery with help from her storytelling maid.
Culture Audience: “100 Nights of Hero” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, the novel on which the movie is based, and unusual movies about gender roles, feminist ideology, and sexual seduction through mind games.
The dark comedy fantasy “100 Nights of Hero” is a quirky adaptation of Isabel Greenberg’s novel. The movie (about a virginal bride at the center of a sexual competition) is sometimes disjointed, but it’s an intriguing rebuke of misogynistic oppression. The film’s pacing is occasionally dull, but if viewers are still interested in watching the movie about 30 minutes into this 91-minute film, then the movie will keep viewers guessing how the movie is going to end. There’s a big part of the movie’s conclusion that is obvious and telegraphed about halfway through the film, but the rest might be surprising to some viewers.
Written and directed by Julia Jackman, “100 Nights of Hero” had its world premiere at the 2025 Venice International Film Festival and later screened at the 2025 BFI London Film Festival. The movie is based on Greenberg’s 2016 graphic novel “The 100 Nights of Hero,” which has been described as a “feminist fairy tale.” The story takes place in a fictional medieval fantasy world where almost everyone has British accents. “100 Nights of Hero” was filmed on location in the Knebworth area of England.
The movie has intermittent voiceover narration from a narrator (voiced by Felicity Jones) who remains unseen. Jones (who is an executive producer of “100 Nights of Hero”) also has a small acting role as a character named Moon, who’s in the movie for only about five minutes. The first third of “100 Nights of Hero” is when the movie is at its most rushed and jumbled. The movie hits its stride by the middle of the story.
“100 Nights of Hero” begins by showing the wedding of a woman named Agnes (played by Markella Kavenagh) to an unnamed man (played by Cory Peterson) whom Agnes does not want to marry. It’s an arranged marriage in this patriarchal society, where women are not allowed to be educated beyond learning how to speak and doing things such as cooking, cleaning and other duties that will please men. In this society, a woman’s greatest purpose is to marry and become a mother. Male heirs are considered more important than female heirs. There are many societies today that still teach these attitudes.
The movie’s narrator explains how this “100 Nights of Hero” world came into existence. A teenage girl named Kiddo (played by Safia Oakley-Green) created the world, but her domineering father Birdman (played by Richard E. Grant) demanded that the world would have a population of many people made into his image. Birdman literally looks like someone wearing a bird costume, so expect to see many anonymous “bird people” in the movie. Unbeknownst to the guests at Agnes’ wedding, Agnes was already pregnant with a daughter named Hero. The narrator says that Hero “will change the world.”
The movie then fast-forwards 27 years later to a scene taking place at a castle owned by a wealthy lord named Jerome (played by Amir El-Masry), a newlywed who lives there with his virtuous wife Cherry (played by Maika Monroe), who is still a virgin in the beginning of the movie. Jerome and Cherry are having a meeting at a large dining table with Birdman and several other men in the community. Birdman is upset that Cherry still hasn’t become pregnant after six months of marriage to Jerome.
Cherry, who is polite and soft-spoken, is considered Birdman’s “ideal” type of wife. Birdman personally chose Jerome to marry Cherry in this arranged marriage because Jerome promised that Cherry would be able to produce a male heir. Birdman ominously tells Jerome that he has 101 nights to impregnant Cherry, or else Jerome “will not see the next spring.” (Jerome will be killed.) “Now, hurry up and conceive,” Birdman tells Jerome and Cherry in his dismissal comment.
A montage of flashbacks show that ever since the wedding night of Jerome and Cherry, Jerome has come up with excuses to delay having sex with Cherry. Is he impotent? Is he not sexually attracted to Cherry? Is he not sexually attracted to any women? The movie leaves it up to interpretation and never reveals why Jerome is avoiding having sex. Jerome is not overtly cruel to Cherry, but he treats her like an obligation who has made him bored. Cherry is confused but does not complain, like a dutiful wife.
Cherry has an isolated existence. She has all the material things that most people would want. But she has never experienced romantic and passionate love. Her best friend (and only friend) is her maid Hero (played by Emma Corrin), who is very loyal to Cherry. Hero is also very observant and intelligent and knows a lot more than she reveals to most people.
One day, Jerome is visited by a restless and cocky friend named Manfred (played by Nicholas Galitzine), who is a recent widower. Jerome listens as Manfred complains about how Manfred’s deceased wife had been cheating on Manfred before she died. Manfred, who seems to be relieved that his wife dead, is ready to jump back into the playboy bachelor lifestyle that he had before he got married.
Manfred says with some envy that Jerome is very lucky to have a beautiful and doting wife such as Cherry. Jerome lies to Manfred by saying that he and Cherry have a passionate sex life. Jerome has an upcoming business trip and asks Manfred to look after Cherry while Jerome is away. Manfred asks Jerome out loud why he would leave his wife alone with Manfred. “Because I trust you,” Jerome replies.
This leads to Jerome bragging that Cherry would never cheat on him. Manfred, who thinks he’s an expert at seduction, has a hard time believing it. To prove it, Jerome makes a bet with Manfred: Jerome will leave the castle for 100 nights instead of the original plan for Jerome to only be away for only a few nights. And if Manfred can sexually seduce Cherry before Jerome returns to the castle, then Manfred can have the castle. Jerome and Manfred agree to this secret bet.
Jerome tells Cherry that he will be going away on a business trip for a few days, knowing full well that he will be gone for 100 nights. Sometime during his absence, Jerome tells her that he will be away much longer than he expected. While Jerome is away, Manfred schemes up various ways to try to seduce Cherry and gradually develops romantic feelings for her.
Hero sees right through Manfred and becomes a “third wheel” in his seduction manipulation. Hero is often nearby when Manfred would rather be alone with Cherry. Hero begins telling a long story to Cherry and Manfred to keep them entertained. This story becomes a “movie within a movie” in “100 Nights of Hero.”
Hero’s story is essentially about three strong-willed sisters, whose unnamed sea captain father (played by Jeff Mirza) wants all of daughters to become wives and mothers. The three daughters are Rosa (played by Charli XCX), Caterina (played by Olivia D’Lima) and Mina (played by Kerena Jagpal), with Rosa being the most independent-minded of the three. One of the three sisters marries a merchant (played by Tom Stourton) while the sisters hide a big secret that could get them persecuted and executed as witches.
The “movie within a movie” aspects of “100 Nights of Hero” are hit and miss. On the one hand, the story of the three sisters has a certain level of suspense because Hero’s storytelling is constantly being interrupted, so she has to continue the story at other times. On the other hand, these interruptions are often clumsily handled in the movie.
The film also an awkward way handling the timeline for the Hero/Cherry/Manfred part of the story. There are few scenes where Manfred and/or Cherry have lost track of how many days have passed. What they think is a time period of only a few weeks turns out to be several weeks. It’s just the movie’s not-so-clever way of speeding up the timeline.
The most entertaining performances in “100 Nights of Hero” come from Corrin and Galitzine because Hero and Manfred develop an unspoken rivalry for Cherry’s attention and affection. There’s a lively and comedic spark to how Corrin and Galitzine perform in these roles that should keep viewers curious to see what will happen when Manfred tries to be sneaky about his seduction and finds it difficult because Hero always seems to be watching.
The real battle of wits isn’t between Manfred and Cherry. It isn’t between Manfred and Jerome. It’s between Manfred and Hero. (Corrin, Galitzine and Monroe all have executive producer credits for “100 Nights of Hero.”)
Monroe is adequate in her role as Cherry, but she’s the only principal character in “100 Nights of Hero” who has an American accent, which makes Monroe look miscast in a movie that’s supposed to take place in an era that existed centuries before the United States was formed. Grant is barely in the movie; his screen time is less than 10 minutes. And when he’s on screen, he’s behind a bird mask.
Charli XCX, who is best known as a music artist, makes her feature-film acting debut in “100 Nights of Hero,” which features some of her original songs, including “Everything Is Romantic.” Charli XCX’s acting is passably good, but Rosa doesn’t do much in the movie except pout and talk to her family members. In other words, it’s not a difficult role.
The narrative occasionally stalls and gets muddled in “100 Nights of Hero,” but the movie’s cinematography, production design and costume design are visually striking. The costume design is slightly reminiscent of some the wardrobe in “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “Poor Things,” but there’s enough originality in Susie Coulthard’s “100 Nights of Hero” costume design for it to leave a distinct impression.
There’s some brief comic relief in the characters of three security guards (in armor suits) named John (played by Jordan Wallace), David (played by Michael Keough) and Sam (played by Jordan Coluson), who are in the background but occasional bumble and stumble when they see something unexpected. For a movie where sexual seduction is a big part of the story, “100 Nights of Hero” plays it very safe because there are actually no explicit sex scenes or nudity in the film. “100 Nights of Hero” can be considered a love story that isn’t so much about who ends up with whom but about the power of confidently being and loving who you are.
Independent Film Company released “100 Nights of Hero” in U.S. cinemas on December 5, 2025.
