[SIZE671]ROBERT ARAMAYO, PETER MULLAN IN I SWEAR[/SIZE]



Life of a well-known crusader for understanding of Tourette syndrome

TRAILER

We heard first about I Swear because of an incident at the BAFTAs in February when John Davidson, whose life story and struggles with Tourette's inspired the film, shouted a racial slur as Sinners stars Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo presented the first prize at the awards. Word got through that he meant no harm but has Tourette syndrome. Unfortunately, Americans had not yet seen I Swear, which is a telling of his story (a thoroughly engaging one). I Swear is a detailed picture of a life with severe Tourette's, which involves not just involuntary tics, jerks and moves of the neck and head and eyes, but involuntary vocal outbursts, which can be as often as not shouted provocatiohs or obscenities. John turned his life around by becoming a crusader for understanding of the issue.

I Swear recounts the life of this famous Brit with Tourette syndrome (or Tourette's), which is a curse, though he, John Davidson, insists, for reasons of his own, that it's not a "disability." I Swear begins with a brief preview: a middle-aged Brit balking at going up to receive an award from the Queen for his activism. He has a problem that makes public appearances difficult and embarrassing. He balks at going in for the awards ceremony because he may embarrass himself. A woman friend, however, pleads with him and eventually persuades him to go in.

Yes, this is a biopic, but those who say it's "just another disability movie" are ignoring how the lead Robert Aramayo delivers a performance that has been called "mind-blowing" and "fearless" and is also - an award-grabbing aspect - technically demanding. Aramayo has already won two awards at the BAFTAs, Best Actor in a Leading Role and the EE Rising Star Award at the 2026 BAFTAs, the first time the same actor has won both awards in the same year.

But the movie proper begins with a plunge into the lilt of Scottish voices and the clear air and simplicity of Galashiels in the southeastern borders of Scotland in 1983, the time of Davidson's youth, with fresh-faced Scott Ellis Watson as teenage Davidson, a promising football (soccer) goalie who's prepared by his stern mother (Shirley Henderson) to doh the school jacket and tie and attend Galashiels Academy. His goalie skills are admired, but it is now that young John's undiagnosed Tourette syndrome begins to emerge. It is noticed but is far from understood. His involuntary tics in the form of physical jerks and vocal outbursts, which increase in times of stress, begin to ruin John's performance on the soccer pitch. In other settings they lead to bullying and mockery of the well-meaning, innocent boy and old-fashioned corporal punishment of severe whipping on the hand by Headmaster Donald Watkins (Ron Donachie) for insulting shouted words the stern, old fashioned administrator thinks intentional.

We are engaged by the colorful lilt of the Scottish accents and the 1980's period feel - a different world from ours. The innocence, the limitation of this world will set off John's growing oddity of behavior as he is increasingly dominated by tics of the neck and eyes and bursts of voice that he cannot control. He is as if possessed, and nobody in this part of the world yet knows this is a neurological condition. I Swear goes on to tell the story of an exceptional individual who went on to become a leading activist and campaigner for Tourette syndrome. The film is also the public's introduction to the condition and, as such, has an educational function.

The strong supporting cast includes the excellent Peter Mullan as Tommy Trotter, a kind, understanding man who becomes a surrogate father for John as a young man by giving him a job as a janitor and disregarding his tics. The number two role of the film however belongs to Maxine Peake as Dottie Aschenbach, the mother of his school friend Murray (Francesco Piacentini-Smith), an experienced mental health nurse who invites John into their home, providing sanctuary and becoming a surrogate mother. (His real mother could not cope; his father, played by Steven Cree, abandoned the family.

In an interview director John Kirk explains his choice of subject by saying "the collision of humour, emotion, and tragedy was appealing," and when people say this is a "conventional disability flick," ignore them. Its mixture of elements, starting with comedy and tragedy, give it layers. I Swear is a film that arouses curiosity, later tears and laughter, because Tourette's is weird and funny, but also a tragic interruption of life. It helps later in the film to see John meet a young women with Tourette's, the way they shout and sound off to each other madly, then settle into the comfort of normal conversation. It's also salutary to see a whole group of young people with Tourette's. Though Coprolalia, the outbursts of rude and inappropriate language, isn't always present, the uncontrolled outbursts are.

Davidson is initially told the condition is incurable. On the other hand he finds one can learn to anticipate outbursts and to some extent control them. Later on we see him try an experimental method that eliminates the behavior, if only briefly. With it, for a few blissful minutes, John walks through the rooms of a library, which have always been barred to him as "too quiet."

I Swear is an unusual film, a sympathetic portrait of disability manifested in one of its leading crusaders emerging in his early years and a powerful lesson in empathy. Many years ago there was a QED series BBC documentary about the real-life young John Davidson, "John's Not Mad" (1989), considered a classic, followed up by "The Boy Can't Help It" (2002) and "Tourettes: I Swear I Can't Help It" (2009).

I Swear, 120 mins., premiered at Toronto Sept.7, 2025 and was included in numerous other international festivals and released in multiple countries. The US theatrical release by Sony Pictures Classics is on Apr. 24, 2026. Metacritic rating: 73%.

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©Chris Knipp. Blog: http://chrisknipp.blogspot.com/.