David Farnor | On 23, Feb 2026

Director: Kirk Jones
Cast: Robert Aramayo, Peter Mullan, Shirley Henderson, Maxine Peake
Certificate: 15

We all know those films. The ones about real life people that are heartfelt and uplifting. The ones about real life people that are heartfelt and uplifting, while also being funny and hard-hitting. The ones about real life people that are heartfelt and uplifting, while also being funny and hard-hitting, and inevitably get lots of attention during awards season. I Swear is one of those films – and, if you put aside your assumptions, it’s really, really good.

Putting aside assumptions – staying curious and open – is something sorely lacking in society, and it’s something that I Swear reminds us head-on. The film charts the experiences of John Davidson, a Scottish man with Tourette syndrome who was awarded an MBE in 2019 for his working in raising awareness and understanding of the condition. It’s a condition he’s experienced since he was a teenager, and in the 1980s and 1990s, awareness was – well – not exactly great. Even in 2026, an age when neurodivergence is more represented, supported, accepted and talked about in mainstream media, understanding around Tourette’s uncontrollable tics – sometimes physical, sometimes verbal – can be quite limited.

Slowly but surely, Kirk Jones’ script shows us how a small bubble of understanding expands around him. Shirley Henderson delivers a poignant, vulnerable turn as John’s mum, Heather, who simply can’t cope and doesn’t know how to help her son. Her presence is contrasted beautifully with Maxine Peake’s warmth as a nurse who welcomes John into her home and family. And the always-brilliant Peter Mullan turns his crinkly charm up to 11 as Tommy, a community centre worker who gives Tommy a job – and a valuable opportunity for self-validation and independence.

But there’s no doubting that the star of the show is Robert Aramayo. After repeatedly impressing as Elrond in Amazon’s Rings of Power series, he takes centre stage with a bold honesty and an immediately attention-grabbing charisma. Aramayo invites us to see the world through John’s eyes, to the point where we both agonise, sympathise and chuckle with him as his involuntary outbursts occur repeatedly at the wrong time – including, hilariously, during a misguided failed attempt at drug trafficking. One standout sequence sees him bond with a young woman who also has Tourette syndrome, where they make noises at each other with a freed sense of safety that is overwhelming in its compassion and joy.

That unrelenting sense of kindness powers the film through what might have been conventional narrative beats in another film’s hands, and director Kirk Jones delicately balances the tone between frank, moving and funny, keeping things just on the right side of sugar-coated sentiment. A large part of that is consistent restraint, and that understated presentation only makes Aramayo’s performance shine all the more. The result is a film that challenges assumptions, while celebrating a man who has dedicated his life to doing just that. It’s an ode to curiosity, compassion and empathy that’s defiantly, gently realistic about how social change happens: one person, one heart at a time.

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