100 Nights of Hero (dir. Julia Jackman)

by Jack Martin | Feb 12, 2026

Certificate: 12A

Running Time: 91 mins

UK Distributor: Vue Lumière

UK Release Date: 6 February 2026

WHO’S IN 100 NIGHTS OF HERO?

Emma Corrin, Nicholas Galitzine, Maika Monroe, Amir El-Masry, Charli XCX, Richard E. Grant, Felicity Jones, Safia Oakley-Green, Markella Kavenagh, Bijan Daneshmand, Christopher Fairbank, Varada Sethu, Tom Stourton, Josh Cowdery

WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?

Julia Jackman (director, writer), Stephanie Aspin, Grant S. Johnson and Helen Simmons (producers), Oliver Coates (composer), Xenia Patricia (cinematographer), Amélie Labrèche (editor)

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

A devoted maid (Corrin) attempts to salvage an uncomfortable situation for her lady (Monroe)…

WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON 100 NIGHTS OF HERO?

The closest comparison I can perhaps make to writer-director Julia Jackman’s eccentric fantasy drama 100 Nights of Hero is, weirdly enough, The Ugly Stepsister. Both are radically different, one opting for extravagant body horror while the other is a more refined costume piece, but they are also closely linked by their postmodern revisionist takes on classic fairy tale storytelling. While The Ugly Stepsister is, of course, filmmaker Emilie Blichfeldt’s rather beautifully horrifying update on Cinderella, Jackman’s film is a queer-coded rendition of the classic Middle Eastern collection of tales known as One Thousand and One Nights, which over time has included such famous stories as that of Aladdin as well as Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.

But if you were to ask which one I would end up going with, I’d personally pick The Ugly Stepsister because, unlike 100 Nights of Hero, it actually follows through on a lot of its promise whereas the other film, as pleasantly oddball as it is, comes off as much more slight and ultimately less fulfilling. That’s not to say it’s without any redeeming qualities, but this is a film that you have to be in a right frame of mind to truly appreciate, otherwise it comes off as cloyingly deadpan a lot of the time.

The film, adapted from Isabel Greenberg’s graphic novel, takes place in a medieval world ruled by patriarchal forces that have forbidden women from reading or writing thanks to the interference of the misogynist god known as Birdman (briefly played by Richard E. Grant in the film’s prologue). Our main situation, though, centres around Cherry (Maika Monroe), the shy noblewoman who’s been unable to produce a child for her husband Jerome (Amir El-Masry) due to his own failure to even get in the same bed as her. Nonetheless, Cherry is given one hundred nights to conceive an heir or else face the wrath of her elders, and with Jerome due to go away on extended business, the sudden arrival of his friend Manfred (Nicholas Galitzine) prompts the lord to set a wager: if Manfred can seduce Cherry in his absence, he’ll get everything he owns including his castle and, most notably, Cherry herself. Needless to say, Cherry’s none too keen on the wager in which she’s set to lose no matter who wins.

This is where our titular hero named, erm, Hero (Emma Corrin) comes in. Hero is the film’s Scheherazade, a teller of rich and vivid stories that come in particular handy whenever Cherry, whom Hero serves as her maid and closest confidante, needs to distract Manfred whenever he tries to make a pass at her – which, as it turns out, is quite often. A particular tale that Hero recounts is that of a trio of sisters, one of whom is played quite explicably by Charli XCX, who form a secret society of female storytellers who record and preserve tales from across the world, which not only begins to inspire Cherry in her own quest for agency in a male-dominated world, but also may have some level in truth concerning Hero’s own background as a storyteller.

One has to admire the unique brand of imagination that Jackman, in adapting Greenberg’s work which itself is adapted from the basic framing device of One Hundred and One Nights, brings to this film. While not overtly fairy tale-like in its overall nature – there are no mythical or magical creatures in sight, unless one counts the late role that Felicity Jones, also the film’s narrator, ends up filling – 100 Nights of Hero reframes the traditional structure of a typical fairy tale within a queer feminist context that gives a distinct freshness to the familiar framework. Beyond that, there are interesting concepts introduced within the film which end up paying loving homage to the very nature of storytelling itself, as Corrin’s Hero casually flaunts their unique skillset with the natural persuasiveness of any passionate writer that, much like the titular character, can transform the simplest of tales into inspiring and profound works of art. Some colourful cinematography by Xenia Patricia and Oliver Coates’ engrossing musical score only add to the film’s application of vivid filmmaking tools to highlight its love for the written word and its imaginative power.

However, the film always seems too timid to fully embrace the world it is setting this particular story in, with Jackman keeping much of the action confined to a limited number of locations with an even smaller cast of characters, denying the opportunity to further expand upon some of the more fascinating implications within this environment. The filmmaker also flaunts an oddball sense of humour throughout that’s not quite at Yorgos Lanthimos levels of deadpan but is pretty darn close, which can sometimes upset the balance within the meaningful subtext that Hero, and by extension Jackman, seeks to convey.//Furthermore, while there’s just enough among these main characters, especially Galitzine’s brash and arrogant would-be Casanova, for them to serve as perfectly entertaining figures, they are somewhat basic archetypes who feel as though they could be branched out a lot more than they currently are. Surprisingly, most of them are outshone by the guards in the background of this manor where we spend most of the movie, who not only score some of the film’s biggest laughs but end up contributing a significant plot development later on, to where you almost want to see a bit more of them than you do the actual main characters.

But while it is ultimately uneven and not quite as satisfying as it may think it is, 100 Nights of Hero presents a radical revamp of the classic fairy tale structure that is amusing in its imagination and much of its eccentric execution. But again, if it’s something more extreme you’re after, The Ugly Stepsister is the fairy tale radicalisation you’re looking for.

SO, TO SUM UP…

100 Nights of Hero is an amusingly oddball ode to the art of storytelling that features some colourful filmmaking and memorable performances, but its reserved deadpan nature leaves more than necessary to be desired.