100 Nights of Hero
Julia Jackman’s 100 Nights of Hero, adapted from Isabel Greenberg’s graphic novel, ought to be irresistible. The premise is ripe: Hero (Emma Corrin), maid to noblewoman Cherry (Maika Monroe), must fend off the increasingly aggressive advances of Manfred (Nicholas Galitzine), Cherry’s would-be suitor, during her husband’s hundred-night absence at war. To keep him at bay, Hero distracts him with the tale of the martyr Rosa (Charli XCX) and her sisters – a story that inevitably turns out to be more than it seems.
The world Jackman conjures is deliberately strange. Richard E Grant presides as Birdman, a grotesque religious figure whose followers skulk about in beaked masks and flowing red capes, like papal henchmen transplanted from a steampunk dystopia. In this society, women reading is branded witchcraft – a running gag that grows darker with repetition. The framework, inspired by One Thousand and One Nights, is familiar enough. Yet Jackman’s inversion is curious: Scheherazade told stories to save herself; here, her counterpart Cherry is passive, waiting while Hero does the clever work on her behalf. To strip a female character of such agency and recast her as a damsel in distress – even if rescued by another woman – feels oddly regressive for a film so intent on proclaiming its feminism.
Where the feature lacks subtlety, it leans heavily on spectacle. Style frequently overwhelms substance, with every visual flourish demanding attention and each scene staged to impress. The costuming is as extravagant as it is anachronistic: Cherry drifts through scenes in white gowns that belong on a Maison Margiela runway, while Manfred’s flamboyant looks teeter on the edge of camp. In performance, Galitzine is the standout, revelling in his anti-Prince Charming role with a deeply unsettling swagger, while Corrin is constrained by exposition-heavy lines that tell rather than show.
Ultimately, 100 Nights of Hero wears its intentions in capital letters: the power of stories, women’s resistance and the absurdities of patriarchy. But by hammering every point home, it leaves little room for wit, nuance or discovery. What should feel like a bold feminist reimagining ends up closer to a coming-of-age parable.
Christina Yang
100 Nights of Hero does not have a release date yet.
Read more reviews from our Venice Film Festival coverage here.
For further information about the event, visit the Venice Film Festival website here.
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