I Swear (2025)

I became aware of this only in connection with a public catastrophe. I assumed a documentary, but it's a biopic. When it came to Netflix, I leapt at it for education's sake.

In a Scottish town in 1983, preteen John Davidson (Scott Ellis Watson) develops frequent shouts and spasms, some of which qualify as assaults. Everyone else assumes he's just being a jerk, but he insists it's involuntary. Sure enough, he goes on to be diagnosed with acute Tourette syndrome. In young adulthood (now played by Robert Aramayo), he decides to leave the home of his mother, Heather (Shirley Henderson), and live with Dottie (Maxine Peake), the ailing mother of his old school friend, Murray (Francesco Piacentini-Smith). Heather objects, but John notes that Dottie is both more tolerant and more experienced with mental patients. In middle age, he becomes the face of Tourette's awareness.

It becomes abundantly clear that John isn't rude on purpose. No one would want the kind of life his behavior brings on him. He's unpopular with anyone unaccustomed to him, gives up on dating, can't go to libraries, can barely get a job, and sometimes attacks himself. Small wonder he attempts suicide early on and later puts bars on his balcony in case he gets the urge to jump.

Unsurprisingly, the R rating is primarily for shouted profanity. John also gets beat up and tries drugs, tho we barely see any unprescribed ones. I'm unsure whether he's right to discontinue his haloperidol doses, pretty much the only treatment available at the time.

I have known one person with Tourette's, but his tics weren't nearly so bad. At least he sang in a church choir regularly without causing a scene. John can scarcely spend a minute without barking "Hey!" or exhibiting a more obnoxious tic, until the last chapter. The other cases who show up are about equally severe.

I'm a little disappointed that the movie doesn't spell out what goes on in John's head when he does nonrandom inappropriate things. A written message from the real guy in the wake of his blurted N-word at the BAFTA Awards explained it better: His anxiety prompts him to think of what he really shouldn't do in context, and this becomes a compulsion as difficult to avoid as thinking about elephants. I may not relate, but I can believe it.

IS does not make for comfortable viewing. I almost had my fill a quarter of the way through the two hours. But once you learn to shrug off (maybe even laugh off) John's insincere outbursts, it gets easier. So does his life.

I respect the film and am glad I stuck with it. I hope that one scandalous moment doesn't undo all the effort toward understanding of a serious disorder.