100 Nights of Hero, 2025.
Written and Directed by Julia Jackman.
Starring Emma Corrin, Nicholas Galitzine, Maika Monroe, Amir El-Masry, Charli XCX, Richard E. Grant, Felicity Jones, Safia Oakley-Green, Josh Cowdery, Markella Kavenagh, Clare Perkins, Christopher Fairbank, Bijan Daneshmand, Michael Keogh, Jordan Coulson, Olivia D’Lima, Kerena Jagpal, Jeff Mirza, Tom Stourton, Varada Sethu, Felix Uff, Bella Law, Zaris-Angel Hator, and Zara Hadeshian-Banks.
SYNOPSIS:
When a charming house guest (Galitzine) arrives at a remote castle, the delicate dynamic between a neglectful husband, his innocent bride Cherry (Monroe), and their devoted maid Hero (Corrin), is thrown into chaos.
Set in a fairytale-like fantasy world not too dissimilar from Victorian era romance, writer/director Julia Jackman’s 100 Nights of Hero (based on the book by Isabel Greenberg) has a damn near irresistible premise setting the story up for a cutting takedown on gender, sexual, and relationship dynamics of the time, that the film not only never makes good on but begins to feel actively disinterested in doing so as it starts weaving in flashbacks to another story with different characters. It’s not long before everything about the pulpy setup feels neutered, with its edges sanded off in favor of familiar, glossy, sanitized, undercooked explorations of those themes.
In an attempt to turn the cliché of a pair of men fighting over a woman on its head, the aristocratic Jerome (Amir El-Masry), who wants to obey the ruler of this land Birdman (Richard E. Grant) and his sexist beliefs on what makes the world turn, by producing a male heir with his wife Cherry (Maika Monroe), he has yet to touch her after being married for quite some time. He feigns ignorance to everyone around him as to why she hasn’t gotten pregnant yet. The truth is that he is secretly gay and would rather spend most of his time going on hunting trips with his friends.
As for the subversive part, that comes when Jerome makes a cruel bet with nobleman Manfred (Nicholas Galitzine) that if he can’t seduce Cherry, he must work together to fabricate the existence of an heir and pass it off as real to society. If Manfred is successful, Jerome will leave him the entire castle. He will be gone for 100 nights, leaving Manfred plenty of time to accomplish this. Spicing things up further is that, to us, Cherry, who hasn’t explored much of her sexual identity yet, seems to be drawn to her handmaiden Hero (Emma Corrin) with mutual attraction.
Given that Manfred is an overconfident doofus who believes all he has to do to woo her is partake in some casual flirtation or show up covered in blood after a morning away hunting, the avenue for humor here is crystal clear. He even falls asleep as Hero begins telling a tale of a trio of wronged sisters accused of witchcraft. All the while, it is clear that when telling a story about secrets, it is evident that Hero has one of her own in that she is attracted to Cherry.
However, Julia Jackman (and perhaps this is also a problem with the novel) doesn’t seem to know what to do with the inherent soap opera drama at the center of these characters, investing way too much time in interrupting that story for the one about those sisters. The prime attraction here is that the protagonists of the three siblings, Rosa, is played by popstar/film lover Charli XCX (not only looking to break into acting but is also directing her own feature-length film set to release next year), who disappointingly doesn’t even get much to do here. In that sense, her presence is a glorified cameo tease of more to come from her in this industry. The flashback story itself is, unsurprisingly, also lacking depth, considering it’s made up of about 25 minutes in the movie, which is already only roughly 85, discounting the ending credits.
Then there is the gesturing at world-building (complete with an opening about the creator of this world, three moons, the order of the birdmen, and their oppression of women) that is consistently brought up and shoved aside, as if it were an obligation to mention more than anything, Julia Jackman is genuinely interested in. For such a tantalizing premise, there might as well be about 100 ways 100 Nights of Hero undercuts itself.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder
