I Swear (2025) - 10/10

Tourette’s must be a right bugger to live with. Maybe even more so in 2026, when everyone’s so easily offended. The problem isn’t those diagnosed, it’s everyone else who doesn’t understand the condition. Therefore everyone should watch I Swear. Young John Davidson (Scott Ellis Watson) is growing up in 80s Scotland. Playing football, starting high school, nice family, doing well as they say, but something’s changing. First it’s subtle, twitches and tics, but the swearing outbursts soon start. He doesn’t know why, neither does anyone else and the spiral is fast, terrifyingly so. School, football and most of all John himself all suffer. It’s hard to watch, particularly his home life, where things are more fractured than the surface suggests. You want to reach into the screen and give everyone a shake. As John grows up (now Robert Aramayo), his condition doesn’t improve, but he meets an old friend and moves in with his more understanding family, lead very much by Dottie (Maxine Peake). The world needs more Dottie’s, people to not only understand, but to really help. She sees that John needs focus and introduces him to Tommy (Peter Mullan), who says “what tics, what swearing” and offers him a job. It’s not plain sailing though, because John’s life isn’t. It’s heartbreaking and uplifting, the highs are glorious but the lows dig to depths that only true stories like this can mine and here is the crux of I Swear.“I don’t think that Tourette’s is the problem, I think the problem is we don’t know enough about Tourette’s”…”If you don’t educate them, nothings going to change”. I Swear is here to educate, to drag our empathy and understanding out of every one of us. It’s as perfect a film as you’re ever going to watch. The cast are stunning, the story is fantastic, it’s absolutely beautiful. Watch it, recommend it.

10/10