I Swear, the award-winning British film that caused quite a stir at last year’s BAFTA Film Awards, makes its way onto physical media stateside from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. The film is based on the true life story of John Davidson, a man who was diagnosed with a rare type of Tourette’s syndrome known coprolalia, a condition that causes involuntary and uncontrollable utterances of obscene, offensive, or taboo language. John developed this when he was just a teenager, and endured bullying and worse, but went on to become a well known ambassador and educator on the topic, and even received an MBE from Queen Elizabeth II in 2019, famously uttering “F— The Queen” in her presence (a moment that opens the film). He has been the subject of many British TV documentaries over the years, but the biopic I Swear dramatizes his story for the big screen for the first time.

It’s 1983, and 12-year-old John Davidson (Scott Ellis Watson) seems like any other teenager in his town of Galashiels, Scotland. He has a paper route, he’s a good student, everyone in town seems to know and like him, and he has what looks to be a promising future in sports—he’s the goalie for his football team, and some scouts have already expressed interest in checking him out. However, just as he begins secondary school, things start to change for John. As he’s reading aloud in class, he starts to involuntarily tic and shout random words, and at lunch he starts to spit his food. The teachers and principal think he’s fooling around and acting out, and punish him. His classmates make fun of him and bully him. His involuntary movements also put an end to his hopes of a sports career. Even his mother (Shirley Henderson) and father (Steven Cree) have grown exhausted with his antics, and it starts to weigh on their marriage. John eats his meals in front of the fireplace so as to not disturb the rest of the family. As his condition worsens, and he starts to uncontrollably shout obscenities and offensive statements, and the situation really takes its toll on John menially.

Cut to 13 years later, and John (Robert Aramayo) now has a diagnosis, but he is still living with his mother, and seemingly resigned to his station in life. He takes medication for his condition, and while it does suppress some of the urges, it has other side effects that don’t make him feel good. Tourette’s is not an officially recognized medical condition at this time, and not many people even know that much about it, so a job has been out of the question.

One day, while grocery shopping with his mother (who is more annoyed by than supportive of his involuntary outbursts), he runs into childhood friend Murray (Francesco Piacentini-Smith), who has recently returned home from his time abroad in Australia after his mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Murray doesn’t care about John’s condition, and is just eager to reunite and catch up with his old friend, inviting him over for dinner. Murray’s mother Dottie (Maxine Peake) was a mental health nurse and immediately recognizes John’s symptoms. John constantly apologizes for his tics and outbursts, and Dottie tells him “in this house, we don’t apologize for things we can’t help”. Dottie says that she could spend her last 6 months at home feeling sorry for herself, or she could spend them helping this boy, and she chooses the latter. Dottie asks John to move in with her family, and she helps to ween him off his medication, and helps him find a job at a local community center, with the kindness of equally compassionate Tommy Trotter (Peter Mullan), who overlooks John’s tics to see the genuine young man inside.

Over the course of the film, Dottie and Tommy help John grow and learn to accept his condition, and also start to branch out and help others going through the same things as he has. However, along the way, John faces some serious challenges and discovers just how little some people know about and understand his condition—and that’s something that he wants and needs to change.

I Swear takes viewers on a rollercoaster ride of emotions, mixing laugh-out-loud humor with some really emotional and dark moments. It is both funny and heartbreaking, as well as heartwarming and inspirational. John’s tale is an inspiring story that serves to both educate about this condition as well as show that people with Tourette’s can still live a happy and full life, and don’t have to let it hold them back or define them. John knows that some thing about his condition he just needs to laugh about, and the audience feels that and knows it’s OK to laugh with John, but not at him.

Robert Aramayo gives a phenomenal performance as the older John, and you almost instantly forget that he is an actor—you just start to think of him as the real John Davidson. The physical and verbal tics just seem to flow out of him both naturally as well as with perfect comedic timing when needed. It feels less like he’s acting and more like he’s actually someone suffering from this condition. The rest of the cast is also fantastic, especially Maxine Peake, who gives a truly emotional performance as this woman who takes John in and gives him the unconditional love and support he needs, despite her own condition and what’s she’s going through. Peter Mullan is also a standout, playing the perfect straight man to the wackiness that’s going on around him, able to ignore the tics and pretend like nothing unusual has happened, even as John tells Tommy “I used spunk for milk” when making his coffee. Peter is also this supportive guy who stands up for hat is right, and always has John’s back and provides support when he needs it. Peter and Dottie are like the supportive surrogate parents John was missing.

Sony has released I Swear on Blu-ray and DVD. We were sent the Blu-ray release for review from AV Entertainment. The single Blu-ray disc is placed in a standard-sized Blu-ray keepcase. There is no digital copy included, and our review copy did not include any slipcover. However, the disc does contain the film’s theatrical trailer as well as a 30-minute making-of featurette with the cast and crew. The technical presentation of the film is solid, with a crisp, clean and detailed picture. Dialogue is clear throughout, and there are moments when the stereo and surround channels are well-utilized to provide a more immersive ambiance.

What’s Included:

Film: (2:00:32)

Blu-ray:
• 1080p / Widescreen 1.85:1
• Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, Spanish 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
• Subtitles: English, English SDH, Spanish

Extras:

• Making Of (31:12)
  The cast and crew discuss the story, what attracted them to the project, the blending of comedy and drama, meeting the real John Davidson, the challenges of living with Tourette’s, casting the film, including real people living with Tourette’s, the characters and relationships, recreating different eras, and more. Includes behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with producers Piers Tempest & Georgia Bayliff, writer/director/producer Kirk Jones, executive producer John Davidson, director of photography James Blann, hair and make-up designer Deb Kenton, costume designer Denise Coombes, production designer Sabrina Linder, production sound mixer Simon Hayes, and stars Robert Aramayo (“John Davidson”), Shirley Henderson (“Heather”), Scott Ellis Watson (“Young John Davidson”), Peter Mullan (“Tommy”) & Maxine Peake(“Dottie”).
• Theatrical Trailer (1:49)

Final Thoughts:

I Swear is an excellent and inspiring film that is hilarious, heartwarming and heartbreaking all at once. It tells the true life story of John Davidson, a man who was diagnosed with Tourette’s as a teenager, and has dealt with the ignorance, bullying and harassment all his life, becoming an advocate and educator on the topic, and even received an MBE from the Queen for his work. Sony’s Blu-ray release looks and sounds great, and also includes a half-hour making of featurette. The film comes highly recommended and should be a must watch for everyone unfamiliar with Tourette’s—especially those who led the uproar against John for his uncontrollable outbursts during the recent BAFTA film awards ceremony, where this film deservedly took home several awards and was nominated for several others.