I Swear movie review: Tourette Syndrome biopic is teeming with compassion

A lot of things happened at the 2026 BAFTA Awards, but what it’ll be remembered for is the BBC broadcasting a racial slur that had been shouted during the ceremony.

If there was to be any “good” that came out of the humiliating blunder, then let it be these two things.

One, a reminder to those still resistant to decency that the N-word is offensive regardless of context, unless you yourself are black. Just don’t use it, it’s really not that difficult.

Two, that in the days-long aftermath, more people had a better understanding of Tourette Syndrome.

The person who said the N-word while black actors Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo were onstage during the BAFTAs ceremony was John Davidson, a Scottish campaigner who has lived with a severe form of Tourette since he was a child.

Davidson issued statements after the event explaining that his “tics have absolutely nothing to do with what I think, feel or believe. It’s an involuntary neurological misfire. My tics are not an intention, not a choice and not a reflection of my values”.

Davidson had been in the audience because a biopic about his life, I Swear, was nominated for five BAFTAs. It won two – best casting and best actor for Robert Aramayo.

The film, written and directed by Kirk Jones, is a rousing, heartwarming and illuminating story, and if people were spurred on by the BAFTAs controversy to check it out, then, silver linings and all that.

Tourette Syndrome is a widely misunderstood condition, frequently depicted in “haha”, punch-down scenarios, such as Saturday Night Live did AFTER the BAFTAs.

But it’s a far more complex thing, and while Davidson has been the subject of several documentaries and has been activist in doggedly trying to expand understanding and knowledge, there is something particularly emotionally effective about narrative drama.

The movie starts in 1983 in Galashiels, a town in the Scottish Borders. John (Scott Ellis Watson) is 12 years old and has ambitions to become a football star.

He is seemingly a “normal” kid but when one day, he starts to experience uncontrollable tics, which start as physical ones but then also become verbal. He shouts, he swears and he spits.

His school principal and his family are convinced it’s just him acting out and he’s punished for them – it’s the 1980s so the ruler comes out.

Thirteen years later, John is 25 years old (now played by Aramayo) and he still lives at home with his mother Heather (Shirley Henderson), who still scolds him for his tics. Heather comes off as cold, but the film is careful to not villainise her either – for her, this was far from the life she thought she was living, and is clearly exhausted.

John reunites with an old school friend, Murray (Francesco Piacentini-Smith), and is invited to dinner at his family home where he meets Dottie (Maxine Peake), Murray’s mother.

Dottie is a mental health nurse and her presence in his life is a game-changer. She may well be the first person to tell him that he never needs to apologise to her for actions he can’t control. She’s warm and compassionate, and she encourages him to put himself out there.

That includes a job at the local community centre as an assistant to the caretaker, Tommy (Peter Mullan).

Having these people in his life gives John a renewed confidence, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t obstacles, including acts of violence against him, and run-ins with the police and the legal system who don’t have any understanding of his condition.

I Swear can, at times, come off as didactic because it has to carry the job of educating the audience as much as it is doing it in-universe, but given how little most people in a cinema would actually know about Tourette Syndrome, it doesn’t feel onerous as long as you have an open mind.

That’s the beauty of art, the way it can widen your aperture and make a plea for empathy, and in turn, if you receive it with good faith, it has the power to shift your perspective.

I Swear wants to do exactly that, and it is an incredibly affecting film. Through John, performed superbly by Aramayo who, despite being English, is pulling off a Scottish accent from that region that is so convincing, Scots couldn’t tell the difference, it’s asking for understanding, not pity or judgment.

He and the film more broadly infuses the character with so much generosity of spirit that it elevates what could’ve otherwise been a humdrum biopic.

In many ways, I Swear stays largely within the confines of the genre, but the story is so extraordinary that it’s one that will stay with you.

Rating: 3.5/5

I Swear is in cinemas