''Inside I'm Dancing'', also released under the title ''Rory O'Shea Was Here'', is an 2004 Irish

comedy-drama film Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

directed by

Damien O'Donnell Damien O'Donnell (born 1967 in Dublin) is an Irish film director and writer. He has directed '' East is East'' (1999), '' Heartlands'' (2002) and ''Inside I'm Dancing ''Inside I'm Dancing'', also released under the title ''Rory O'Shea Was H ...

and starring

James McAvoy James McAvoy (; born 21 April 1979) is a Scottish actor. He made his acting debut as a teen in '' The Near Room'' (1995) and appeared mostly on television until 2003, when his feature film career began. His notable television work includes ...

, Steven Robertson,

Romola Garai Romola Sadie Garai (; born 6 August 1982) is a British actress and film director. She appeared in ''Amazing Grace'', '' Atonement'', and '' Glorious 39'', and in the BBC series ''Emma'', '' The Hour'' and '' The Crimson Petal and the White''. ...

, and Brenda Fricker. The film revolves around two

disabled Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, s ...

young men who pursue physical and emotional independence in direct defiance of "protective" institutional living and their society's prevailing standards and attitudes, especially

pity Pity is a sympathetic sorrow evoked by the suffering of others, and is used in a comparable sense to '' compassion'', '' condolence'' or ''empathy'' – the word deriving from the Latin '' pietas'' (etymon also of '' piety''). Self-pity is ...

. The production was filmed in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

and

Wicklow Wicklow ( ; ga, Cill Mhantáin , meaning 'church of the toothless one'; non, Víkingaló) is the county town of County Wicklow in Ireland. It is located south of Dublin on the east coast of the island. According to the 2016 census, it has ...

and involved production companies

Working Title Films Working Title Films is a British film studio that produces motion pictures and television programs and is a subsidiary of Universal Pictures, a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a division of Comcast. The company was founded by Ti ...

and

StudioCanal StudioCanal S.A.S. (formerly known as Le Studio Canal+, Canal Plus, Canal+ Distribution, Canal+ D.A., Canal+ Production, and Canal+ Image and also known as StudioCanal International) is a French film production and distribution company that owns ...

with assistance from the

Irish Film Board Fís Éireann / Screen Ireland, formerly known as Bord Scannán na hÉireann / the Irish Film Board, is the Republic of Ireland's state development agency for the Irish film, television and animation industry. It provides funds for the developm ...

(''Bord Scannán na hÉireann'').

Plot

Michael Connolly is a 24-year-old with

cerebral palsy Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Signs and symptoms vary among people and over time, but include poor coordination, spasticity, stiff muscles, Paresis, weak muscles, and tremors. There may be p ...

who is a long-term resident of the Carrigmore Residential Home for the Disabled run by the formidable Eileen. His life, mundane and schedule-driven by the institution's authorities, is transformed when the maverick Rory O'Shea, who suffers from

Duchenne muscular dystrophy Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a severe type of muscular dystrophy that primarily affects boys. Muscle weakness usually begins around the age of four, and worsens quickly. Muscle loss typically occurs first in the thighs and pelvis follo ...

, suddenly moves in. Michael is stunned to discover that fast talking Rory, prone to lewd and/or overt jokes at unpredictable intervals, and who can move only his right hand, can understand his almost unintelligible speech. Rory's dynamic and rebellious nature soon sparks a flame in Michael, introducing him to the wider world outside of Carrigmore. On a day out in Dublin led by Carrigmore collecting for "the needs of the disabled", Rory leads Michael astray, sneaking off to a local pub with their donation bucket, charming a group of girls at a corner table at which sits Siobhán; later they see Siobhán again while traversing a neighbouring

nightclub A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...

, which they get into only by Michael citing Irish and EU Disability Discrimination Law text to the bouncer. Rory has meanwhile repeatedly failed in his application for the Independent Living Allowance; he is always denied that on the grounds of irresponsibility and poor judgement, but told to reapply in six months. Inspired by his example Michael applies for the allowance himself; with the help of Rory as his interpreter Michael gets the allowance but they struggle to find an apartment that is both wheelchair accessible and affordable. Rory convinces Michael to visit his estranged father who, out of guilt, gives them the money and property they need to set up on their own. They interview for a care-giver with little success, but later they meet Siobhán working in a local supermarket, and try to convince her to take on the job. Despite not having any professional experience she reluctantly accepts. Seeing that Michael and Siobhán are platonically friendly to each other, Rory becomes jealous – culminating in a joyride with local kids in a stolen car, crashing it, subsequently getting briefly detained by the police. Siobhán invites Rory and Michael along to a costume party; but after Siobhán rejects Michaels advances she decides to bring in Peter, a qualified Personal Assistant to replace herself. Michael is distraught over Siobhán's departure from their lives, and considering suicide; Rory finds him on the edge of the James Joyce Bridge. Michael jokingly complains the edge is too high for him to throw himself off, and Rory talks him out of it, reminding him he has a future and to enjoy it. Later, Michael finds Rory in his bed struggling to breathe, and calls for an ambulance. His disease having progressed, Rory is given only a few days to live. Michael visits Siobhán and with her help goes to the review board on behalf of Rory to argue his case, another chance having come up after six months. The board initially refuse, restating the same arguments, however Michael responds that ''"the right must exist independently of its exercising"'' and as a gesture the board approve Rory's independent living allowance in principle – but before they can get to the hospital to tell Rory the news, he has already died. Michael and Siobhan attend Rory's funeral. Michael hears in his mind Rory's words ''"Well, then, are we going out?"'' and after saying goodbye to Siobhan, Michael heads out on his own.

Cast

as Rory Gerard O'Shea, a rebellious young man with

* Steven Robertson as Michael Connolly, a 24-year-old long-term resident with cerebral palsy *

as Siobhán, a young woman they employ as a caregiver * Brenda Fricker as Eileen, a domineering care worker at Michael's care home *

Gerard McSorley Gerard McSorley (Irish: Gearóid Mac Somhairle; born 1 January 1950) is an Irish theatre, television and film actor. Early life He was born in the County Tyrone town of Omagh and, after attending a Christian Brothers school in his hometown, h ...

as Fergus Connolly, Michael's father who abandoned him at birth * Tom Hickey as Con O'Shea, Rory's father * Alan King as Tommy * Ruth McCabe as Annie * Anna Healy as Alice * Deirdre O'Kane ('' cameo'') as a caregiver applicant

Production

Writer Christian O'Reilly came up with the story after working with Martin Naughton, and Dermot Walsh, on a campaign for the Centre for Independent Living in Dublin.

Music

The film features

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American Country music, country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later s ...

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song relea ...

of " Hurt". Siobhan asks Rory "Were you born like this ... dodgy hair and shit taste in music?" and plays the Cash song for him. * "Beat for Two" –

Elbow The elbow is the region between the arm and the forearm that surrounds the elbow joint. The elbow includes prominent landmarks such as the olecranon, the cubital fossa (also called the chelidon, or the elbow pit), and the lateral and the m ...

* " Frontier Psychiatrist" –

The Avalanches The Avalanches are an Australian electronic music group formed in Melbourne in 1997. They are known for their studio albums '' Since I Left You'' (2000), ''Wildflower'' (2016), and ''We Will Always Love You'' (2020), as well as their live and ...

* "Hurt" (

Trent Reznor Michael Trent Reznor (born May 17, 1965) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and composer. He serves as the lead vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and principal songwriter of the industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, whi ...

Nine Inch Nails Nine Inch Nails, commonly abbreviated as NIN and stylized as NIИ, is an American industrial rock band formed in Cleveland in 1988. Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Trent Reznor was the only permanent member of the ban ...

) – Johnny Cash * "Look of Love" –

Dusty Springfield Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien (16 April 1939 – 2 March 1999), known professionally as Dusty Springfield, was an English singer. With her distinctive mezzo-soprano sound, she was a popular singer of blue-eyed soul, pop and dra ...

* "Easy" –

Groove Armada Groove Armada are an English electronic music duo, composed of Andy Cato and Tom Findlay. They achieved chart success with their singles " At the River", " I See You Baby" and " Superstylin'". The duo have released nine studio albums, four of ...

Critical response

Review aggregation website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

gives the film a score of 49% based on 69 reviews, with a rating average of 5.8 out of 10. The site's general consensus is that "The dramatic aspects of ''Rory O'Shea Was Here'' veer into mawkish, formulaic sentiment, which undercuts the characters' individuality."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, which assigns a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

score gives the film 59% based on 23 reviews. Neil Smith, reviewing for the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

, gave the film 4/5 stars but felt casting non-disabled actors undermined the film.

References

External links

* official site, archived copy from 2006 provided by the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music ...

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Inside I'm Dancing 2004 films 2004 comedy-drama films Irish comedy-drama films British comedy-drama films French comedy-drama films English-language Irish films English-language French films Casting controversies in film Films about people with cerebral palsy Films set in Dublin (city) Films shot in Ireland Irish independent films StudioCanal films Working Title Films films British independent films French independent films Films directed by Damien O'Donnell Films scored by David Julyan Films with screenplays by Jeffrey Caine 2004 independent films 2000s English-language films 2000s British films 2000s French films Films about disability