Kirk Jones’s “I Swear” (2025) centers around a man whose medical condition holds him back from enjoying the conventional joys of social life. Hence, the film could have easily been sullied by the temptation to be a traditional tearjerker about the boundless suffering of a troubled young man. It could have stayed within the wheelhouse of British dramas that rely on long-drawn theatrical moments to reveal a sense of deep-seated pain and trauma. Instead, Jones eschews grand gestures, focusing on small acts of compassion to offer a grounded portrait of someone getting back on his feet with a renewed sense of life.
Jones’s film is based on the true story of John Davidson, a man from a small Scottish town, diagnosed with Tourette’s syndrome. It’s a neurological disorder that can lead to involuntary movements or speech. John realized signs of similar tics and uncontrollable vocalizations when he was barely a teenager. His school thought he was making it up and using it as an excuse to be bratty or facetious, despite all his efforts to explain otherwise. The teachers reprimanded him, while his classmates continued with their insistent teasing, making him feel increasingly alone and outcast in a world that once cheered and celebrated his mere presence.
Before the tics, John was a clever and self-assured kid who was on his way to a successful life. He was a charming presence who didn’t shy away from any social interactions. He was also a promising football player who could have turned his scholastic stardom into a bright professional career. Sadly, those dreams were shattered even before he could take his first step in that direction. After the tics appeared, he grew increasingly insecure. The condition stripped him of many traits that once defined him. Back then, the school didn’t support him, nor did his parents. They stigmatized his behaviour instead of trying to understand its roots or dealing with him with due compassion.
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They were living at a time when there was little to no awareness of Tourette’s syndrome, which filled John’s teenage years with a gruelling battle of self-acceptance. By the time he reached his early twenties, he was diagnosed with this condition and put on relevant medications. However, it didn’t alleviate his tics or improve his social life. He struggled to find employment or do things that a 20-something would typically crave doing. Thankfully, he stumbled upon two people who accepted him despite himself. The first was the mother of his schoolmate, Dottie Achenbach, while the other was his mentor and employer, Tommy Trotter.
Dottie helped John relieve himself of his deep-seated shame through radical kindness, while Tommy helped him further towards self-acceptance by alleviating the blame of his social conditioning. Until then, most of his life was spent apologizing for what he couldn’t control, treat, or avoid, and blaming himself for its repercussions. Dottie’s nourishing support made him feel worthy of love and respect. Furthermore, Tommy made him feel equally valued.
Writer-director Jones beautifully portrays John’s liberating journey, shifting focus from people’s reactions to the effect of their reactions on him. Instead of showing people staring at or shocked by him, the camera remains fixed on him, letting his face and bodily movements reveal the weight of his pain. It effectively captures how Dottie made him feel welcome in the world and comfortable in his own skin, in a way that his mother sadly couldn’t. It also makes the gradual changes in his arc crystal clear, letting us know what he felt even when his words failed to do so.
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The script distills John’s life into chapters that can reveal his internal struggles as lucidly as his cheerful spirit. It paints John as a disarming presence, akin to the likes of Ted Lasso. Cinematographer James Blann also color-codes the world in a similar palette, filled with a refreshing blend of aquamarine blues, yellows, and maroons.
The script embodies a similarly sunny disposition through moments of spontaneous humor sprung by John’s words and actions he didn’t mean. Yet, it stays sensitive about the subject matter, thus drawing laughs not from his embarrassment in those situations, but through the unavoidable awkwardness resulting from them, leading to long gaps or silences. So, we don’t laugh at him, but with him.
Jones walks on that tightrope with his humor while leaving us with a gorgeously uplifting drama about someone finally feeling free to breathe. The film achieves that while also being an unflinching portrait of someone deprived of love for a long time in their lives. Jones never exploits John’s pathos for shallow theatrics. Rather than approaching the film as a battle between John and the world or pitting him against any villainous figure, it remains focused on his internal landscape, thus offering a palpable sense of his emotions in his bleakest and brightest moments, while subtly redefining recovery.
While Jones’s work shines in its charming simplicity, the film would feel incomplete without Robert Aramayo’s performance, which captures John’s physicality and mannerisms with precision, never slipping into imitation, and finds quiet depth in the moments when he is left alone with pain or joy. He effortlessly carries the weight of the film’s thematic exploration, as the camera remains focused on him.
Maxine Peake and Peter Mullan are just as reliable as John’s endearing support system, especially Peake, who makes us realize just how badly he was craving a gracious friend like hers. While a tender and deeply humanistic portrait of self-acceptance, “I Swear” shines by emphasizing the value of everyday acts of charity and through Robert Aramayo’s magnetic performance.
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