I Swear, a film by Kirk Jones now streaming, is a drama based on the true story of John Davidson, who in the UK has become the most well known activist helping others who, like him, live with Tourette Syndrome.
Part of this has involved being in several other documentary-style movies as himself. According to Kate Erbland, Indiewire, this is the list:
- John’s Not Mad (1989)
- The Boy Can’t Help It (2002)
- Tourettes: I Swear I Can’t Help It (2009)
- Tourettes & Me (2014)
- Tourette’s: Teenage Tics (2016)
Catherine Bray, Variety: “…’I Swear’ is a biopic about a man who came of age in 1980s Scotland at a time when Tourette Syndrome was misunderstood and barely acknowledged, leading him to experience everything from difficulties dating to horrific physical violence.”
Although we do see Davidson as a young teen (when the condition is first noticed) mostly it’s his adult self, excellently played by Robert Aramayo. Other notable cast figures are Shirley Henderson as his ill-equipped mother, Heather; Maxine Peake as Dottie, the mom of an old school chum who unexpectedly provides needed support; and Peter Mullan as community center worker Tommy, who gives him a break he sorely needs.
The Double-Meaning Title
Swearing = expletives John frequently emits
Swearing = a courtroom oath John’s unable to complete due to his condition, which is what placed him before a judge to begin with
The Trailer
Living With Tourette’s
Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian: “John insists that Tourette is ‘not a disability’: it is an interesting talking point, given that so many people with other conditions appear to claim precisely this status. But then what is it? When John appears in court, Tommy persuasively testifies on his behalf to the effect that, however it’s defined, John can’t be making it up, when it gets him assaulted, vilified, rendered all but unemployable and shoved into a police cell – and the judge appears to concede this common-sense point.”
Kate Erbland, Indiewire: “…(W)hile Dottie and her family’s entrance in John’s life offers some much-needed positivity, it also heralds in a grating, grinding narrative cycle to ‘I Swear.’ Every time something good happens to John, he’s almost immediately kicked back down again.”
John Nugent, Empire Online: “…(T)his is a film which does justice to those living with Tourette’s, honouring without judging, celebrating without condescending. The final act marks John’s activism, using real-life Tourette’s actors; in perhaps the film’s best scene, he shares a car with a young girl struggling with the condition. After a minute or so of hurling the unholiest insults at each other, the pair smile quietly together, finding some solidarity. Like the film at large, it’s sweet, funny, and unusually moving.”
