Our take
Biopics about people ‘overcoming’ a condition are usually where good intentions go to die. I Swear mostly dodges that trap, and Robert Aramayo is the reason. He plays John Davidson, a real Scottish man whose Tourette syndrome was severe enough that his hometown treated him as a problem to manage rather than a person. The film doesn’t sand down how hard that is, and it doesn’t turn him into a saint either.
What you get instead is funny, prickly, and genuinely moving, the story of a man who became an advocate not because he was noble but because he was tired of being misunderstood. It’s the rare feel-good film that earns the feeling instead of manufacturing it, and Aramayo’s performance is the kind that stays with you long after the credits.
What it won
BAFTA
2 wins · 3 noms
The story
The true story of John Davidson, a Scottish man living with severe Tourette syndrome who, after featuring in the 1989 documentary John's Not Mad, became a public campaigner and turned his condition into a platform for advocacy. Stars Robert Aramayo, with Peter Mullan and Shirley Henderson.
