In order to expose the patriarchy for the absurd and dangerous pantomime it is, Julia Jackman literally makes it one in 100 Nights of Hero. Based on Isabel Greenberg’s graphic novel, the Bonus Track director’s second feature is a playful, strange, and visually magnificent take on the preposterousness of not-so-medieval attitudes toward women and the courage it takes to demand more.
A hyper-coloured, queer, feminist fairy tale, 100 Nights of Hero draws from history through a fantastical lens. You’ll recognise the marks of the age of witchcraft persecutions and the long, continuing history of men’s institutional power over women and their bodies. They’re real, topical elements — they just happen to be drenched in magenta lighting, meticulous production design, and sumptuous costumes.
With touches of commedia dell’arte, sparkling performances from Emma Corrin, Maika Monroe, and Nicholas Galitzine, and a hype-worthy appearance by Charli xcx, 100 Nights of Hero is one of the screen jewels of the year.
What is 100 Nights of Hero about?
Maika Monroe and Emma Corrin as Cherry and Hero.
Credit: BFI London Film Festival
A pastiche of historical periods that leans on the medieval, 100 Nights of Hero is set in an empire where the political context feels uncomfortably modern at times. Framed with Wes Anderson-worthy symmetrical shots and surreal starburst lenses by cinematographer Xenia Patricia, the film instantly feels like a fable, with stunning visual effects by Paul Rice and razor-sharp editing by Amélie Labrèche and Oona Flaherty.
Through captivating narration from Train Dreams‘ Felicity Jones over Oliver Coates’ dreamy score, we learn the creation myth of Kiddo (Anemone‘s Safia Oakley-Green). Alas, the misogynist Bird Man (an always flawless Richard E. Grant) ruins Kiddo’s joyful realm with rules, parameters enforced by future Beak Brothers, a league of chauvinists who honor their forefather with formidable bird masks. “So wishes Bird Man,” they decree, upholding their ancestor’s requirements of the ideal wife as “beautiful, obedient, good at chess and falconry.” Thanks to the impeccable work of production designer Sofia Sacomani, majestic stained glass windows honour men and warn of sinful women — fertile, quiet, obedient women are venerated; all other forms of womanhood (including desires outside the heteronormative) are condemned.
In this persecutory climate, we meet one of our protagonists, Cherry (Longlegs star Maika Monroe), a noblewoman whose arranged marriage to nobleman Jerome (Limbo‘s Amir El-Masry) has not been consummated. That would fly in a realm where producing an heir wasn’t the stuff of all-male council meeting agendas, but here the pair is given a rather one-sided ultimatum: Conceive in 100 nights or Cherry will face the executioner’s block. Jerome? He’s off the hook, couldn’t be his fault.
Alas, Cherry waits unsatisfied for a glimmer of passion each night, the couple’s castle bedrooms kept separate, her desire buried beneath pious white finery. Despite the literal deadline facing Cherry, Jerome suddenly decides to go away on business (seriously, now!?), but not before a dastardly bet with roguish lord Manfred (The Idea of You‘s Nicholas Galitzine) that his friend cannot seduce his wife in his absence. Cherry is doomed in either scenario: Face death for adultery or lack of conception.
Luckily, Cherry has a fierce protector in her maid and “best friend” (for the bigots in the back, I SAID “BEST FRIEND”) Hero (Nosferatu and Lady Chatterley’s Lover star Emma Corrin), the film’s titular co-protagonist, who has more than a few secrets hidden away in the floorboards. They’re not named Hero for nothing.
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100 Nights of Hero is a trove of sparkling performances.
Nicholas Galitzine’s Manfred insists he’s “not like other lords.”
Credit: BFI London Film Festival
Swathed in the finery of costume designer Susie Coulthard’s creations (we’ll get to those), the cast of 100 Nights of Hero make for one formidable ensemble.
A walking red flag cloaked in “not like other lords” chicanery, Galitzine’s Manfred is the stuff of paperback romance dreams and modern dating nightmares. With aim set for swoon, he’s perpetually leaning in doorways, suggestively eating blackberries, strutting through the grounds shirtless and covered in deer blood declaring “LUNCH!” But he’s also a narcissistic bastard by every count, who shamelessly damns decorum and flaunts his virility in every scene.
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However, despite the male power swamping every hall, the tale’s two heroes are its shining stars. Monroe’s Cherry is outwardly a melancholy marble statue, the “paragon of virtue” her husband so describes her as, overwhelmingly finding herself at the mercy of men’s decisions. Almost robotic in her movements, Monroe presents a wonderfully absurd idea of pious, decorative womanhood, leaving her only moments of freedom, vulnerability, and burgeoning passion for private scenes with her beloved Hero. And it’s these scenes between Monroe and Corrin that prove the most quietly butterfly-inducing of the film.
Corrin plays an outstanding Hero, a twinkle-eyed storyteller and fearless bullshit detector. Clocking Manfred’s flagrant attempts to seduce Cherry immediately, Hero fires silent insults with a look while offering Cherry a social escape route: a continually-orated tale of three sisters. Portrayed in dreamy, frost-lit sequences, Hero’s Story of the Dancing Stones is a golden thread woven into each scene, as Cherry metaphorically hits the panic button whenever Manfred becomes Too Much. In the tale, we meet three raven-haired sisters (a wonderful Charli xcx, Kerena Jagpal, and Olivia D’Lima) who quite frankly deserve their own movie. They’ve been “trained for marriage,” by their father, but the sisters share a secret talent, one deemed “sinful, wicked, and forbidden for women.” Every time Corrin picks up where we left off with the story, I settled further into my chair, the actor’s talent for storytelling on full display.
But here, as in the main storyline, there are two total champions behind the camera.
100 Nights of Hero is a surreal triumph of design
Felicity Jones not only narrates but shows up in this incredible costume.
Credit: BFI London Film Festival
Raise a gilded goblet for 100 Nights of Hero production designer Sofia Sacomani, art director Naomi Bailey, costume designer Susie Coulthard, and set decorator Tatyana Jinto Rutherston, for their artistry makes this film shimmer. A cornucopia of neon-hued hallways, remarkable stained glass, absurdly thin dining chairs, and gleaming bird-shaped suits of armour, the film’s meticulous design is a total knockout. Every scene looks good enough to eat, each a violaceous stage for Coulthard’s resplendent costumes.
A museum-worthy range of precise tailoring and theatrical spins on historical garb, Coulthard’s designs inspire jaw drop after jaw drop. She hammers home the preposterous patriarchal roots of the film’s all-powerful religious group, the Beak Brothers, adorning them with bird skull masks and deep red cardinal cloaks, and dresses Manfred in the billowing sleeves of a scoundrel.
Though Hero is limited to a maid’s uniform, Coulthard elongates their collar and crowns them with a crisp, white hennin, an outfit that makes Corrin’s character both practical and otherworldly. However, the most marvellous outfits are worn by Cherry, embodying her ornamental social role. Exaggerated leg of mutton sleeves, puffed and quilted off-shoulder drapery, delicate lace collars, and feathered neckpieces make up Coulthard’s parade of ornate looks for Cherry, with Monroe exuding woe and constraint in each piece — an elegantly boned wooden girdle speaks volumes that Cherry cannot.
At its whimsical heart, 100 Nights of Hero is a story of women’s courage and resilience, of pursuing knowledge and passion beyond the perilously high fences of patriarchy. It’s a dazzling world of suppressed queer identity and desire, of male bravado and paranoia, and of the power of storytelling itself. Jackman has crafted us a topical treat, finely dressed in splendour and social commentary. It’s nothing short of heroic.
100 Nights of Hero was reviewed out of BFI London Film Festival. The film will will be released in select U.S. cinemas on Dec. 5, with a UK release set for Jan. 2026.
