My Left Foot: The Story of Christy Brown (1989)

Director:

Jim Sheridan

Writers:

Shane Connaughton (screenplay) &
Jim Sheridan (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

10 November 1989 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Tagline:

A film about life, laughter, and the occasional miracle.

Plot:

The story of Christy Brown, who was born with cerebral palsy. He learned to paint and write with his only controllable limb - his left foot.

Plot Keywords:

Cerebral Palsy | Irish | Author | Poet | Painter

Awards:

Won 2 Oscars. Another 16 wins & 14 nominations

Cast

Daniel Day-Lewis	...	Christy Brown
Brenda Fricker	...	Mrs. Brown
Alison Whelan	...	Sheila
Kirsten Sheridan	...	Sharon
Declan Croghan	...	Tom
Eanna MacLiam	...	Benny
Marie Conmee	...	Sadie
Cyril Cusack	...	Lord Castlewelland
Phelim Drew	...	Brian
Ruth McCabe	...	Mary
Fiona Shaw	...	Dr. Eileen Cole
Ray McAnally	...	Mr. Brown
Pat Laffan	...	Barman (as Patrick Laffan)
Derry Power	...	Customer in Bar
Hugh O'Conor	...	Young Christy Brown

Also Known As:

My Left Foot (UK) (short title)
Mi pie izquierdo (Argentina) (Spain) [es]
A bal lábam (Hungary) [hu]
Il mio piede sinistro (Italy) [it]
Kuf Ragli Ha-Smalit (Israel: Hebrew title) [iw]
Mein linker Fuß (West Germany) [de]
Meu Pé Esquerdo (Brazil) [pt]
Min vänstra fot (Sweden) [sv]
Minun elämäni (Finland) [fi]
Moja lewa stopa (Poland) [pl]
My Left Foot (France) [fr]
My left foot: L'histoire de Christy Brown (Canada: French title) [fr]
O Meu Pé Esquerdo (Portugal) [pt]
Piciorul meu stâng (Romania) [ro]
Sol ayagim (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
To aristero mou podi (Greece) [el]

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

Ireland | UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Portugal:M/12 | Iceland:L | Ireland:12 (video) | Australia:M | France:Unrated | Peru:14 | USA:TV-14 (cable rating) | Argentina:13 | Chile:14 | Finland:K-12 | South Korea:All | Sweden:11 | UK:15 | USA:R | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Ardmore Studios - Herbert Road, Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland

Company:

Ferndale Films

Trivia:

Daniel Day-Lewis insisted on remaining in his wheelchair in between takes.

Goofs:

Continuity: Christy's position on the stairs changes between cuts when he is going downstairs after his mother's fall.

Quotes:

Mr. Brown: [entering a bar holding nine-year-old Christy] This is Christy Brown, my son. Genius.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Extras: Kate Winslet (#1.3)" (2005)

One of the greatest screen performances:

Daniel Day Lewis is one of the best actors of our time and one of my favorites. It is amazing how much he throws himself in each of the characters he plays making them real.

I remember, many years ago, we had a party in our house - the friends came over, we were sitting around the table, eating, drinking the wine, talking, laughing - having a good time. The TV was on - there was a movie which we did not pay much attention to. Then, suddenly, all of us stopped talking and laughing. The glasses did not clink, the forks did not move, the food was getting cold on the plates. We could not take our eyes off the screen where the young crippled man whose entire body was against him and who only had a control over his left foot, picked up a piece of chalk with his foot and for what seemed the eternity tried to write just one word on the floor. When he finished writing that one word, we all knew that we had witnessed not one but three triumphs - the triumph of a human will and spirit, the triumph of the cinema which was able to capture the moment like this on the film, and the triumph of an actor who did not act but who became his character.

Jim Sheridan's "My Left Foot" is an riveting, unsentimental bio-drama about Christy Brown, the man who was born with cerebral palsy in a Dublin slum; who became an artist and a writer and who found a love of his life.

I like every one of Day Lewis's performances (I have mixed feelings about his performance in GONY) but I believe that his greatest role was Christy Brown in "My Left Foot"