I Swear

I suppose there are bound to be some questions about whether or not this is acting or mimicry, but there’s no denying that the performance here from Robert Aramayo is truly engaging to watch. John Davidson is a confident and friendly young man from Galashiels in the Scottish Borders who might have a promising goalkeeping career looming until, at the age of 14, he develops an involuntary tic. This is swiftly followed by uncontrollable swearing and spontaneously violent gestures. His parents, whose marriage is already straining, and his teachers think he’s playing up and his school friends quickly turn into teasers and bullies. At this point, we head on a decade or so to meet a man who now knows he has Tourette Syndrome and who still lives a fairly medically and physically constrained life with his mum (a powerfully understated effort from Shirley Henderson). A trip to the supermarket with her sees him meet with old friend “Murray” (Francesco Piacentini-Smith who reminded me of the young Paul Nichols) to whom he explains a little about his condition. As luck would have it, his poorly mum “Dottie” (Maxine Peake) was formerly a mental health nurse, makes a mean spaghetti bolognese and has the patience of a saint, so she takes on the challenge of weaning him off his drugs, finding him a job and maybe even creating a psychological environment in which he might even be able to live on his own. It’s the middle task that sees him introduced to community centre caretaker “Tommy” (Peter Mullan) who takes a chance with this volatile young lad and gives him a job. As he steps out from his hitherto domestic shadow, John finds himself exposed to a society that is as unfamiliar with his condition as it is unwelcoming, even hostile, to it’s seemingly aggressive symptoms. What now ensues sees this young man work hard to not just better integrate himself into this community but also to try and help that, and the broader, community understand more about Tourette. This film combines the...

They say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, because you just might be surprised by what’s inside. The same, of course, can be said for people, and that’s especially true when it comes to individuals with the rare and unusual condition known as Tourette Syndrome. And that’s precisely the point driven home by this excellent new fact-based comedy-drama from writer-director Kirk Jones. For those unfamiliar with Tourette, it’s a condition in which those affected exhibit potentially offensive and/or violent behavior unexpectedly in the midst of what seems like otherwise-“normal” activity. Quite literally, someone might appear to be carrying on a normal conversation one moment only to spontaneously and uncontrollably break into highly vocal outbursts of antisocial, misogynist and/or racially prejudicial language. Such incidents are also sometimes accompanied by physical tics that can lead to punching, slapping and other wild gyrations. And the odd part about all this is that those who experience these manifestations are aware that they’re happening but can’t stop them, no matter how much they try or would like to. In many cases, these individuals are fundamentally friendly and kind-hearted souls who, try as they might, are simply incapable of controlling these impulses, a source of tremendous personal frustration for them. However, onlookers frequently don’t understand the condition and often react with outrage, offense and indignation at these occurrences. And, for those affected, this usually leads to alienation socially, vocationally and even in relations with family members, despite a strong desire to fit in with regular aspects of everyday life. What’s worse, Tourette is difficult to treat, largely because the cause is unknown (in fact, for a long time, some mental health professionals even doubted whether it was a “real” condition). Such has been the experience of Scotsman John Davidson (Robert Aramayo), a middle-aged community center manager who has fought to...