‘100 Nights Of Hero’ review: Maika Monroe and Emma Corrin star in Julia Jackman’s feminist fable

Dir/scr: Julia Jackman. UK. 2025. 90mins

In an alternate realm, ruled over by a patriarchal fraternity, a young woman named Cherry (Maika Monroe) is trapped in an unsatisfactory marriage to Jerome (Amir El-Masry). When he departs on business, leaving Cherry in the company of his charming friend Manfred (Nicholas Galitzine), her sharp-witted maid Hero (Emma Corrin) smells a rat. Over 100 nights, Hero scuppers Manfred’s ungentlemanly intentions by telling stirring tales of rebel women. Filmmaker Julia Jackman’s droll fantasy feminist fable is a true original. The presence of Charlie XCX in a supporting role will undoubtedly raise the film’s profile considerably, but, in fact, the stunt casting of a pop star is one of the less interesting aspects of this enjoyable and unashamedly camp queer parable.

A visually rich piece of world-building

100 Nights Of Hero is the second feature from Canada-born, UK-based Julia Jackman following her 2023 debut Bonus Track, which premiered at the LFF and screened at several other festivals. Previously, she made several well-regarded short films, the first of which, Emma, Change The Locks, won her a New Talent award at the BFI’s Future Film Festival. 100 Nights, which was adapted from a graphic novel by Isabel Greenberg, premieres in the closing night slot of Venice’s Critics’ Week and will go on to close the London Film Festival. IFC will distribute in the US, and distributors in other territories are likely to be eyeing this distinctive and playful title with interest.

Tonally, the picture is an intriguing hybrid of influences. Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale is a clear reference point, as are Scheherazade’s life-preserving storytelling skills in One Thousand And One Nights. But there’s also a hint – in the wry humour, theatricality, synth-heavy score and saturated colour palette – of the archly ironic lens of American filmmaker Amanda Kramer. And the stylised costumes share some of the avant-garde excess of those in Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things.

The rules of the world in which Cherry and Hero live are dictated by an autocratic deity named Bird Man (Richard E. Grant). Doing his bidding (which mainly seems to involve oppressing women and executing them if they get ideas above their station), are a sinister band of priests who call themselves the Beak Brothers, and who wear bird skulls as decorative nose coverings. 

Children sing songs about women who were punished for pushing back against Bird Man’s orthodoxy; particularly notorious individuals such as Janet the Barren, Sara the Unfaithful and Nadia the Lesbian are immortalised in stained glass, a cautionary warning to any woman planning to defy her husband. It’s a visually rich piece of world-building, with Susie Coulthard’s striking costumes complemented by the opulent kitsch of Sofia Sacomani’s production design – this is a world in which everyone seems to live in a castle, and in which women are regarded as little more than glorified decorations or brood mares. 

Cherry’s failure to produce an heir means that her future – her very survival – is in question. Which seems a little unfair, given that it’s her husband’s reluctance to consummate the marriage that is the main stumbling block. Ignored by Jerome, Cherry is flustered by the flirtatious attentions of Manfred (as he already demonstrated in Bottoms, Galitzine is nothing if not game when it comes to mocking his own physical beauty).

Sensing trouble, the charismatic Hero distracts everyone by weaving the story of three sisters, including the lovely Rosa (Charlie XCX), who, having learned to read, falls foul of the Beak Brothers. While its fair to say that Charlie XCX isn’t given a lot to do, she’s a striking presence in a small but pivotal role. And the film, which argues that, even in the face of oppression, the words of women can be a powerful weapon, makes a point that bears repeating.