100 NIGHTS OF HERO movie poster | ©2025 IFC

Rating: PG-13
Stars: Emma Corrin, Nicholas Galitzine, Maika Monroe, Amir El-Masry, Charli XCX, Richard E. Grant, Felicity Jones, Safia Oakley-Green, Markella Kavenagh
Writer: Julia Jackman, based on the graphic novel by Isabel Greenberg
Director: Julia Jackman
Distributor: IFC
Release Date: December 5, 2025

Based on the graphic novel by Isabel Greenberg and scripted and directed by Julia Jackman, 100 NIGHTS OF HERO takes a comedy/fantasy approach to a story set in a world where the rules resemble those of THE HANDMAID’S TALE.

We see from the start that we’re on another planet, as there are three moons of various sizes and colors in the sky.

Our narrator (Felicity Jones) introduces us to Agnes (Markella Kavenagh) on her wedding day. Agnes doesn’t want to marry the groom, who she’s only just met, but it’s the law.

Then we meet the god Kiddo (Safia Oakley-Green), a little girl who creates the world and humans and opts to let them be without interference. Kiddo’s father Birdman (Richard E. Grant) originally swore not to meddle in his daughter’s creation.

But then Birdman got bored and decided to interfere after all. His priests – the Beaked Brothers – serve as both Church and State, making many rules that all support the patriarchy. Women are executed for learning to read and write (witchcraft), adultery, lesbianism, and even failure to get pregnant after marriage. All of this is illustrated with paintings of executions that decorate homes and houses of worship.

The narrator tells us that Agnes is already pregnant, and her daughter Hero will change the world.

An onscreen title informs us that it’s now 27 years later. Beautiful and dutiful Cherry (Maika Monroe) has been married for six months to handsome, wealthy and powerful Jerome (Amir El-Masry), but they are being investigated by the Beaked Brothers for Cherry’s failure (it’s laid on her shoulders) to conceive. The Brothers give the couple one hundred and one more days for Cherry to get pregnant. If she doesn’t, she will be executed.

Hero (Emma Corrin) is Cherry’s maid and best friend. Hero is also a member of a clandestine group of women storytellers who can read and write.

What the Beaked Brothers don’t know is that Jerome has yet to even attempt to bed his bride. Every night, he puts Cherry off with, “Tomorrow.” Cherry can’t figure out what she’s doing wrong.

It is evident to us (and probably to Hero) that Jerome is gay, but as this too is a punishable offense, he keeps it quiet. When his lusty pal Manfred (Nicholas Galitzine) arrives, fresh from having gotten his own wife killed for adultery (actually, an assault that he orchestrated), having ruined his own fortunes in the process, he’s just looking for a place to stay.

Jerome sees Manfred’s predicament as an opportunity. He wagers that Manfred cannot seduce Cherry in the one hundred days Jerome decides to be away. Given that timeframe, the only way Cherry can possibly get pregnant will be by Manfred – but in that case, she’ll be hanged for betraying her husband. If she remains faithful, she’ll be killed for not having a child.

Unaware of the bet but suspicious of Manfred’s intentions, Hero arranges for Cherry to ask for a story every time either one of them feels uncomfortable. The tale reflects both Hero and Cherry’s predicaments, but how can this result in the narrator’s world-changing prediction?

This is answered reasonably enough. As a story about the power of storytelling and storytellers, 100 NIGHTS OF HERO has the flavor of an enduring fable, borrowing from the best – the wager is Shakespearean, Hero’s mission resembles that of Scheherazade and so on. The love story between Hero and Cherry is also sweet and warm.

However, 100 NIGHTS OF HERO has a couple of problems. One is Cherry’s double jeopardy, which sets us up to expect the movie to go in a direction it never takes. The film attempts to explain this when Cherry asks Hero about the way her own yarn is unfolding. Hero’s response comes off more doctrinaire than satisfying.

There is also the matter of Manfred. Galitzine does his best charm not only Cherry but the audience. It seems like we’re meant to be rooting for his conscience to awaken, so that we can in turn invest in the possibility of him somehow rescuing Cherry. But 100 NIGHTS OF HERO doesn’t have the running time, nor is Manfred given the depth, for the prospect of convincing redemption.

Filmmaker Jackman says a lot with her visuals. Characters are dressed in black and/or white against vibrant-hued sets in the main sections, while the people in Hero’s inventions are clad in all sorts of colors. It’s optically immersive.

Corrin is delightful, Monroe is convincingly innocent without seeming unintelligent and El-Masry is smooth as silk.

Those who enjoy 100 NIGHTS OF HERO should stick around for a quick post-credits sequence. The movie is diverting as a folk fantasy. Still, there’s a sense that the film is a little too sure that it’s good for us. That’s a sentiment which is cause for instinctive rebellion, even though we may agree with what much or all that it has to say.

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