As the closing night of the BFI London Film Festival 2025, 100 Nights of Hero was always going to have a spotlight on it. But in truth this whimsical (on the surface) fantasy romance may be slightly too odd at first for an audience. At a glance it seems like another version of the famed Middle Eastern folktale, A Thousand And One Nights, from which it takes its inspiration, but digging deeper this is about the power a story can hold as well as a love story buried just below the surface.
In a world not too similar to our own, a young woman, Cherry is left alone by her neglectful husband Jerome. He secretly makes a deal with a friend, Manfred, to test Cherry’s fidelity. If Manfred successfully seduces his wife, he gets the house and if he loses, Cherry will be executed, which seems win-win for Jerome. But Cherry’s fiercely loyal maid Hero has also been left to watch over Cherry. To distract Manfred from his plan, Hero tells a story each night, but how long can she keep him at bay?
Full review over at Filmhounds.