{"id":2386064,"date":"2026-04-23T16:15:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T16:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2386064"},"modified":"2026-04-23T16:15:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T16:15:12","slug":"movie-review-moving-but-sometimes-cloying-tourettes-tale-i-swear-soars-on-superb-acting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/movie-review-moving-but-sometimes-cloying-tourettes-tale-i-swear-soars-on-superb-acting\/","title":{"rendered":"Movie Review: Moving but sometimes cloying, Tourette\u2019s tale \u2018I Swear\u2019 soars on superb acting"},"content":{"rendered":"

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This image released by Sony Pictures Classics shows Robert Aramayo in a scene from “I Swear.” (Graeme Hunter\/Sony Pictures Classics via AP)<\/p>\n

<\/span>Graeme Hunter\/AP<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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\"This<\/picture><\/div>
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This image released by Sony Pictures Classics shows Robert Aramayo, left, and Maxine Peake in a scene from “I Swear.” (Graeme Hunter\/Sony Pictures Classics via AP)<\/p>\n

<\/span>Graeme Hunter\/AP<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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\"This<\/picture><\/div>
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This image released by Sony Pictures Classics shows Robert Aramayo, left, and Maxine Peake in a scene from “I Swear.” (Graeme Hunter\/Sony Pictures Classics via AP)<\/p>\n

<\/span>Graeme Hunter\/AP<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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\"This<\/picture><\/div>
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This image released by Sony Pictures Classics shows Robert Aramayo in a scene from “I Swear.” (Graeme Hunter\/Sony Pictures Classics via AP)<\/p>\n

<\/span>Graeme Hunter\/AP<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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\"This<\/picture><\/div>
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This image released by Sony Pictures Classics shows Robert Aramayo in a scene from “I Swear.” (Graeme Hunter\/Sony Pictures Classics via AP)<\/p>\n

<\/span>Graeme Hunter\/AP<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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Perhaps the saddest thing about \u201cI Swear,\u201d the moving if also occasionally cloying film about Tourette\u2019s activist John Davidson, is that a movie aimed at forging understanding ended up unwittingly causing division and horror \u2014 at a ceremony where it was being celebrated.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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At the same British Academy Film Awards ceremony in February where Robert Aramayo, the absolutely terrific actor<\/a> who plays Davidson, was a surprise best actor winner, Davidson\u2019s involuntary racial slur hurled at presenters Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo was more shocking than any moment in the film. (Also shocking: The slur was initially kept in the broadcast, with the BBC and BAFTA later apologizing.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But the reaction was educational, proving one of the key tenets of Kirk Jones\u2019 film, only now releasing in the U.S. Some called Davidson a racist online, not understanding how Tourette\u2019s works \u2014 some with the syndrome experience coprolalia, a vocal tic that causes people to say vile things they don\u2019t mean. As Davidson himself says in the movie: \u201cThe problem isn\u2019t Tourette\u2019s \u2014 the problem is that people don\u2019t know enough about Tourette\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI Swear\u201d begins Davidson\u2019s story with a similar, but much less harmful, incident. The Scottish activist, after years of struggle, is being honored in 2019 by Queen Elizabeth II for his work. He expresses fear that he\u2019ll say something he regrets, and indeed, in the audience before he gets to the monarch, he shouts out: \u201cF— the Queen!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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We then go back to 1983 in Scotland, where young Davidson (Scott Ellis Watson, also superb), as a schoolboy, is beginning to suffer the disturbing symptoms of Tourette\u2019s, a nervous system disorder known for repetitive movements and tics, both motor and vocal. The boy, a promising goalkeeper in football, is soon the subject of ridicule from students and adults alike.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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That includes at home, where his mother (an affecting Shirley Henderson, not given enough to do) cannot cope with the changes and his father, even weaker, abandons the family. Nobody understands what’s happening.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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We move ahead 13 years, with Davidson (Aramayo now), in his 20s, trying to make his way in the world. He\u2019s lucky to meet his friend\u2019s mother, Dottie Achenbach (Maxine Peake), a mental health nurse who becomes his guardian angel and surrogate parent. When he apologizes for calling her a vile name, of course involuntarily, she admonishes him \u2014 for his apology.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In a world where onlookers scurry away from him \u2014 or far worse \u2014 another guardian angel appears in the form of Tommy (Peter Mullan) a community center worker who hires Davidson as a handyman. This despite a rocky job interview in which Davidson yells: \u201cI\u2019m a pedophile!\u201d Tommy endures Davidson\u2019s bad tea, verbal tics, even sudden punches to the nether regions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Life, though, is unrelenting \u2014 at one point Davidson is badly beaten by friends of a woman he called \u201cSlut!\u201d in the streets. It is Tommy who finally suggests that Davidson must help educate the world. \u201cI don\u2019t think Tourette\u2019s is the problem,\u201d Tommy says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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And so, Davidson begins his activist work, bringing together Tourette\u2019s families for weekends of mutual understanding, an uplifting new chapter that will result in documentaries and a bestselling memoir. \u201cI Swear\u201d \u2014 at a perhaps overlong run time of two hours \u2014 is full of warmth and even humor, with Davidson occasionally laughing at himself and inviting us to join in.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI Swear\u201d cannot pretend \u2014 and boy, we do sense it wants to \u2014 that Davidson\u2019s life is a linear struggle toward the world’s understanding of Tourette\u2019s. Not after the film’s deeply depressing BAFTA epilogue.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In any case, we finally see the real Davidson, in footage, meeting the real queen. And once he gets face to face with her, to our great relief, the moment goes smoothly.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI Swear,\u201d a Sony Pictures Classics release, has been rated R by the Motion Picture Association \u201cfor language throughout and some violence.\u201d Running time: 120 minutes. Three stars out of four.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.theintelligencer.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This image released by Sony Pictures Classics shows Robert Aramayo in a scene from “I Swear.” (Graeme Hunter\/Sony Pictures Classics via AP) Graeme Hunter\/AP This image released by Sony Pictures Classics shows Robert Aramayo, left, and Maxine Peake in a scene from “I Swear.” (Graeme Hunter\/Sony Pictures Classics via AP) Graeme Hunter\/AP This image released […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2386065,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[378436,465087,451690,444602,347327,345440,313298,434509,366833,345437,345439,397379,456388,434507,434508,349119,465088,413938],"class_list":["post-2386064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-delroy-lindo","tag-i-swear-movie-review-john-davidson","tag-jocelyn-noveck","tag-john-davidson","tag-michael-b-jordan","tag-package-100024-ap-online","tag-package-100373-mc-complete-state-national","tag-package-100505-member-choice-news-analysis-option","tag-peter-mullan","tag-product-31388-premium-entertainment","tag-product-33328-ap-premium-entertainment-other","tag-product-33330-ap-premium-entertainment-movies","tag-product-33332-ap-premium-entertainment-celebrities","tag-product-33333-ap-premium-entertainment-reviews","tag-product-41019-news-analysis-dsa","tag-robert-aramayo","tag-scott-ellis","tag-shirley-henderson"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Movie-Review-Moving-but-sometimes-cloying-Tourettes-tale-\u2018I-Swear.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2386064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2386064"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2386064\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2386066,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2386064\/revisions\/2386066"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2386065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2386064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2386064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2386064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}