--- title: "My Left Foot: The Story of Christy Brown" year: 1989 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/my-left-foot-the-story-of-christy-brown" fi1m_score: 85 critics_score: 88 critics_reviews: 8 published: "2026-09-20T06:57:51.589309+00:00" updated: "2026-09-20T06:58:18.743537+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # My Left Foot: The Story of Christy Brown (1989) Directed by Jim Sheridan · 1h 43m · MPA R · Drama **Fi1m score: 85** · Critics 88 from 8 reviews *In a sentence:* Day-Lewis with a stick of chalk between his toes, and a whole kitchen holding its breath > Jim Sheridan’s account of the Dublin writer and painter Christy Brown is rougher, funnier and less pious than its reputation suggests, and Daniel Day-Lewis’s performance is exact throughout. A stiff framing device and Elmer Bernstein’s insistent score are the price of admission. ## Synopsis Dublin. Christy Brown (Daniel Day-Lewis), a writer and painter with cerebral palsy, is wheeled into a charity gala at the house of Lord Castlewelland (Cyril Cusack), where a nurse, Mary (Ruth McCabe), is left to sit with him and passes the time with his autobiography. The book takes us back to a terraced house full of children, where Christy is born to a bricklayer, Mr. Brown (Ray McAnally), and his wife, Mrs. Brown (Brenda Fricker). Doctors and neighbours take the boy for an idiot. Only his mother speaks to him as though he understands. The one part of his body he can move with any control is his left foot, and one afternoon, with a stick of chalk gripped in his toes, he writes a word on the floor while the family watches. ## Review Christy Brown was born into a large Dublin family with cerebral palsy so severe that he could control only his left foot, and with it he learned to write and paint. Jim Sheridan’s first feature, written with Shane Connaughton from Brown’s autobiography, tells that story in 103 minutes and mostly refuses to ask for our pity. Our verdict: it is better than most films of its type, and its two weakest elements were added to make it easier to sell, a framing device and a score. Daniel Day-Lewis plays the adult Christy, and the performance is not a stunt. The twisted neck, the mouth working ahead of the words, the head swung round to look at anyone: all of it consistent from scene to scene, and after ten minutes we stopped watching the technique and started watching the man. He drinks, swears, sulks, falls in love with the wrong people and is not always kind to the right ones. Sheridan lets him be unpleasant, which is the film’s best decision. Hugh O’Conor plays the boy Christy, and the two halves of the part fit. The scene in which the child, dismissed by everyone as feeble-minded, gets a piece of chalk between his toes and scrapes a word onto the floorboards moved us more than we were ready for. Sheridan holds the shot on the floor and the foot and does not cut to a single reacting face until the word is finished, so we work out what he is writing at the same speed as the family does. Brenda Fricker plays Mrs. Brown without a raised voice or a speech. She carries Christy up the stairs, feeds him, puts coins into a tin towards a wheelchair, and never once looks at him as though he is a burden. Ray McAnally’s Mr. Brown is a bricklayer who cannot decide whether he is ashamed of the boy or proud of him, and McAnally plays both at once: the night he carries Christy into the pub on his shoulders is the film’s clearest picture of a man who loves his son and does not know what to do about it. Fiona Shaw arrives later as Dr. Eileen Cole, who tries to teach Christy to speak more clearly, and plays her as brisk, decent and slightly out of her depth. Jack Conroy keeps the camera low, at the height of a boy in a wheelbarrow, so that adults loom and doorways become obstacles. His Dublin is brown and grey, coal smoke and wet brick, and the kitchen Austen Spriggs has built is small enough that a family that size can barely turn round in it. Joan Bergin dresses the children in jumpers stretched by the bodies that wore them before. J. Patrick Duffner cuts cleanly between the childhood and the gala, though the gala is where the trouble is. The framing device has Christy waiting in a side room at Lord Castlewelland’s house while a nurse, Mary, reads his book, so the past can be visited in order and a romance hinted at. Ruth McCabe does what she can, but Mary is written to sit still and turn pages, and the scenes around her are stiff in a way nothing in the Brown house is. Elmer Bernstein’s music is the other addition we could have done without: flutes and strings swell under moments that were already working, telling us how to feel about a scene we were already feeling. The screenplay also takes liberties with Brown’s own account, which is fair game for a drama but worth knowing. Most films about disability are about the able-bodied learning a lesson; this one is about a difficult, clever, thwarted man and the household that made room for him. The second half takes turns we will not describe, some harder to watch than the first hour suggests; the 15 certificate is earned mostly by the language, of which Christy has plenty. Watch it for Day-Lewis, Fricker and McAnally, and for a family kitchen that feels lived in rather than designed. Then read the book, which the film keeps pointing at and does not quite trust you to pick up. *Fi1m score 85, published 20 September 2026.* ## What the critics say The reviews are unanimous, and the praise clusters almost entirely around Daniel Day-Lewis. Most critics single out the precision of his re-creation of Christy Brown’s cerebral palsy and the absence of showiness: what comes through is a cussed, funny, hard-drinking man rather than an affliction. Hugh O’Conor, playing Brown as a boy, is named alongside him in several reviews, as are Ray McAnally and Brenda Fricker in support. Several also note that the film is funnier and earthier than its subject suggests, which is what keeps it from harrowing. Reservations are few and small. Time Out points out that the film takes liberties with Brown’s autobiography and adds a fictional character who works less well than the rest, the only structural complaint in the set. Slant is alone in dwelling on Jim Sheridan’s direction, crediting him with keeping the camera at Brown’s eye level; the others treat the film mainly as a vehicle for its actor. The spread is narrow, with every review positive. ### Reviews we read (8) - **Radio Times**, Sue Heal (5/5): A superb movie chronicling Christy Brown's life, portrayed with astonishing passion and sensitivity by Daniel Day-Lewis. All involved earned well-deserved praise and Oscars, with nothing detracting from this all-round great film, also notable for Ray McAnally's performance. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-9rml13/my-left-foot/) - **RogerEbert.com**, Roger Ebert (4/4): The film portrays Christy Brown as a ribald, boozing, gifted Irishman whose courage and determination overcame severe cerebral palsy. Ebert praises the seamless performances by Daniel Day-Lewis and Hugh O'Conor and the movie's blend of comedy and drama. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/my-left-foot-1990) - **Empire**, Angie Errigo (90/100, inferred): The film is an entertaining, earthy, funny, superbly acted and uplifting celebration of Christy Brown's life. Daniel Day-Lewis delivers a riveting, whole portrayal of the man whose humour and bloody-mindedness illuminate what might otherwise have been a harrowing story. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/left-foot-review/) - **Los Angeles Times**, Sheila Benson (85/100, inferred): Benson praises the tough-minded, unsentimental writing and ferociously brilliant acting that portray Christy Brown's wild, difficult mind and achievements. She singles out the performances of Daniel Day-Lewis and young Hugh O'Conor. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-11-10-ca-943-story.html) - **Slant Magazine**, Ed Gonzalez (85/100, inferred): The critic praises Jim Sheridan's attuned direction for keeping the camera at the level of the disabled protagonist and highlighting intimate, unspoken familial love, especially between young Christy and his mother. Day-Lewis's performance is singled out for conveying profound intelligence and emasculation struggling to be recognized. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/my-left-foot/) - **Time Out**, JMo (85/100, inferred): The critic praises Daniel Day-Lewis's precise, detailed and matter-of-fact re-creation of Christy Brown's condition, which powerfully conveys the character's cussed, frustrated personality without showiness. Strong supporting turns from Brenda Fricker and Ray McAnally stand out, though the film takes liberties with the autobiography and features a less successful fictional character. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/my-left-foot) - **The New York Times**, Vincent Canby (80/100, inferred): Canby calls the film an intelligent, beautifully acted adaptation of Christy Brown's autobiography. He highlights Brown's resilient coming of age as a writer and painter despite cerebral palsy and poverty. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1989/09/23/movies/film-festival-us-return-60-s-ireland-triumph-will-particular-coming-age.html) - **Variety**, Variety Staff (80/100, inferred): The review describes the film as a warm, romantic and moving true story lifted to excellence by Daniel Day-Lewis's brilliant performance. It notes the humor in the portrayal and strong supporting cast. [Read](https://variety.com/1988/film/reviews/my-left-foot-the-story-of-christy-brown-1200427905/) ## Details - **Director:** Jim Sheridan - **Director:** Jim Sheridan - **Screenplay:** Shane Connaughton, Jim Sheridan - **Cinematography:** Jack Conroy - **Editor:** J. Patrick Duffner - **Music:** Elmer Bernstein - **Production design:** Austen Spriggs - **Costume design:** Joan Bergin - **Producer:** Noel Pearson - **Cast:** Daniel Day-Lewis as Christy Brown; Brenda Fricker as Mrs. Brown; Alison Whelan as Sheila; Kirsten Sheridan as Sharon; Declan Croghan as Tom; Eanna MacLiam as Benny; Marie Conmee as Sadie; Cyril Cusack as Lord Castlewelland - **Runtime:** 1h 43m - **Certificate (MPA):** R - **Release (the US):** 10 November 1989 - **Genres:** Drama - **Also in:** [Best Picture winners](https://film.one/collections/oscar-best-picture.md) (Nominee, 1990) - **Budget:** $645,180 - **Box office:** $15 million ## Where to watch in the US - Amazon Prime Video: rent $4.99, hd - Amazon Prime Video: buy $12.99, hd *Checked 2026-09-20.* Also available in: AU, CA, DK, ES, FI, FR, GB, IE, NO, NZ, SE, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## Awards - Academy Awards 1990: Best Director (nominated); Best Picture (nominated); Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (nominated); Best Actor (won); Best Supporting Actress (won) - European Film Award for Best Actor 1989: European Film Award for Best Actor (nominated) - European Film Award for Best Director 1989: European Film Award for Best Director (nominated) - Young European Film of the Year 1989: Young European Film of the Year (nominated) ## If you liked this - *The Diving Bell and the Butterfly* (2007), Fi1m 87: A paralysed man’s mind from the inside, shot with real invention and no pity — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-diving-bell-and-the-butterfly.md) - *Inside I'm Dancing* (2004): Two young Dublin men in wheelchairs, funnier and ruder than the premise sounds - *In the Name of the Father* (1993), Fi1m 83: Sheridan and Day-Lewis again, this time on a wrongful conviction and a father — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/in-the-name-of-the-father.md) - *Kes* (1969), Fi1m 88: Another boy nobody rates, in a working-class house that feels exactly right — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/kes.md) - *The Sessions* (2012): A man in an iron lung decides he wants a sex life; frank and warm --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/my-left-foot-the-story-of-christy-brown