Synopsis
No one expects much from Christy Brown, a boy with cerebral palsy born into a working-class Irish family. Though Christy is a spastic quadriplegic and essentially paralyzed, a miraculous event occurs when, at the age of 5, he demonstrates control of his left foot by using chalk to scrawl a word on the floor. With the help of his steely mother — and no shortage of grit and determination — Christy overcomes his infirmity to become a painter, poet and author.
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Cast
- Daniel Day-LewisChristy Brown
- Brenda FrickerMrs. Brown
- Alison WhelanSheila
- Kirsten SheridanSharon
- Declan CroghanTom
- Eanna MacLiamBenny
- Marie ConmeeSadie
- Cyril CusackLord Castlewelland
- Phelim DrewBrian
- Ruth McCabeMary
Recommendations
- 100
Chicago Sun-Times
My Left Foot is a great film for many reasons, but the most important is that it gives us such a complete picture of this man's life. It is not an inspirational movie, although it inspires. It is not a sympathetic movie, although it inspires sympathy. It is the story of a stubborn, difficult, blessed and gifted man who was dealt a bad hand, who played it brilliantly, and who left us some good books, some good paintings and the example of his courage. - 100
Rolling Stone
Throughout his life, Brown refused to give in to public convention or his own despair; he wouldn't play the victim. Brown labored to express all of his feelings, not just the acceptable ones. Day Lewis works the same way. My Left Foot, a keen match of actor and subject, stands as an eloquent tribute to the talents of both. - 100
Washington Post
My Left Foot is gloriously exultant and hilariously unexpected...Sheridan and his great young star have universalized their broken hero. - 100
TV Guide Magazine
A rich cinematic experience, this uplifting British production will leave you in awe of the extraordinary Christy Brown. - 100
Variety
That it features a brilliant performance by Daniel Day-Lewis and a fine supporting cast lifts it from mildly sentimental to excellent. - 100
Time Out London
Day Lewis' re-creation of writer/painter Christy Brown's condition is so precise, so detailed and so matter-of-fact that it transcends the carping about casting an actor without cerebral palsy. He couldn't have done it better. - 90
The New York Times
An intelligent, beautifully acted adaptation. - 90
Chicago Reader
Day-Lewis's performance is necessarily a bit showy—one has to strain at times to understand all his dialogue because of the character's contorted features—but he puts on a terrific drunk scene, and for all his character's travails the film as a whole winds up surprisingly upbeat.
