What's this? It's me starting off 2026 with one of my absolute favourite films from 2025, and I cannot overstate how highly I recommend this to all.
I Swear is a biographical drama that tells the story of John Davidson, a man diagnosed with Tourette's syndrome at a young age. Getting that diagnosis doesn't help much though, especially when so many people were quite ignorant of Tourette's syndrome back when John was trying to just have a normal life. Helped by a friend's mother who ends up essentially adopting John as another son, and a boss/colleague who sees the good-hearted and hard-working young man behind the tics and swearing, John is eventually motivated to share his story with more and more people, aiming to remove the stigma of his condition and educate the masses.
There are a few other features from writer-director Kirk Jones that I would recommend, he generally tends to offer feelgood fare, but I Swear is the best thing that he's done so far, helped by the material and some superb casting. Most viewers will undoubtedly find themselves going through a wide range of emotions (it will certainly make some people laugh and cry in equal measure), but the other main strength of the film is how it encourages empathy and will have people considering the full repercussions of living with a condition that makes every day a battle against the involuntary actions of your own mind and body.
To ensure that I give him due credit, Scott Ellis Watson deserves a good amount of praise for his heart-breaking and brilliant portrayal of Davidson in his childhood years. It would be the performance to talk about, if not for the fact that Robert Aramayo then takes on lead duties with what I consider a flawless performance. Aramayo shows all of the emotions that run through his head, whether his body and mind are in sync, or whether they are at odds with one another, as is more often the case. Aramayo is also easy to like, and does well with the wry humour that is allowed throughout to keep the whole thing entertaining and enjoyable, in between the more difficult scenes. Maxine Peake is also great, playing the surrogate-mum Dottie Achenbach, and Peter Mullan is a treat as the man who gives John his first proper job, as well as the idea to inform others about his condition. Shirley Henderson takes on a tougher role, playing John's actual mother, Heather, a woman at a loss with what she sees as a problem in her son that he won't try hard enough to fix, and it's another performance in line with pretty much every great turn she's given over the past few decades. Others are onscreen, and nobody puts a foot wrong, but those four performances deliver the full heart of the film.
I went into I Swear hoping to like it, but that's nothing new for me. I was wary, however, because of times when the marketing seemed to be making promises that the film itself wouldn't be able to keep. Everyone who saw it was raving about it, and it was being touted as a new beloved jewel in the crown of British cinema. It turns out that all of the praise was absolutely justified. Navigating some treacherous territory, it hops around tonally with a confidence and purpose that helps any individual moments to feel jarring alongside anything else here. It also helps that viewers are reassured by an opening scene set in the modern day that they know will come along eventually, no matter what hardships Davidson endures on his way to a moment of joy (and maybe just one moment of peace).
10/10
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