In 1983, 12-year-old John Davidson lives with his working class family in Galashiels in the Scottish Borders. With aspirations to become a football player, John begins his high school term at Galashiels Academy. Hearing that a scout will assess his skills as a goalie, John begins experiencing episodes of tics and uncontrollable echolalia. The head teacher responds by whipping John's hand with a belt. This injury and his tics result in his performing poorly at football, to the disappointment of his father. John is banished from the dining table by his mother after spitting and he and his siblings are told that their father has left. John, distraught, attempts suicide by walking into a river, but is rescued and wakes up in hospital.
In 1996, John, at 25 years old, is still living with his mother, the diagnosis of Tourette's syndrome, which has no cure, having been established. John is medicated with haloperidol, but his tics remain an embarrassment. Murray, a friend of John's from school, returns from Australia after his mother is told she has liver cancer. John turn down Murray's invitation to join the family for dinner, but Dottie, Murray's mother and a mental health nurse, insists that he come in and senses John's discomfort. She asks about his medication, and the family agrees that John should stay with them. John is weaned off his medication and told by Dottie never to apologise for his tics when around people who know that his behaviour is uncontrollable.
Dottie gets John a job at the local community centre. The elderly caretaker, Tommy, shows John around and doesn't react to his tics until John smacks Tommy's dog. John excuses himself, assuming that he has ruined his chances. Murray's family surprise John at home, saying that not only did he get the caretaker assistant's job but that the growth on Dottie's liver is benign, a haemangioma. John is sent to collect a takeaway to celebrate, but is hospitalized by two thugs in the street after calling a woman a 'slut' in an uncontrolled outburst. Dottie stays at his side and assures him the job will be waiting for him.
John starts work with Tommy who shares his view that his Tourette's doesn't cause his problems, rather lack of awareness by others does. Murray brings John to a nightclub, but a ticcing episode starts a brawl and John is remanded overnight and charged with assault. At the trial John is unable to finish the oath without swearing at the judge, who removes him from the stand. Tommy, as character witness, defends John's behaviour as uncontrollable, saying that if a blind man had spilt the drink at the club then matters would not have escalated. The case is dismissed. John visits Tommy at home afterwards and finds his body on the floor. John assumes that he will have to leave his job, but learns he has been promoted.
After being approached by a drug dealer, John has a brief stint as a drug courier, but his tics give him away and he is briefly remanded again but is released when it is found that the package he was carrying contained sugar, not cocaine.
A family from a local hospital is referred to John to meet their daughter, also struggling with Tourette's. John starts hosting Tourette's workshops at the community centre, and giving talks at schools and police stations to raise awareness. He is eventually named MBE by the Queen in 2019. After receiving the award at Holyrood Palace, John shows the medal to his mother and explains why he didn't invite her to the investiture. His mother apologises for being short-tempered with him in his youth.
In 2023, John works with researchers at Nottingham University to test a treatment device, a thalamic deep brain stimulator, that calms his tics sufficiently to allow him to remain quiet during an entire visit to the library. On the train home he strikes up a conversation with a woman, demonstrating his growing confidence.
The film ends with footage of the real John Davidson, who was the subject of several BBC documentaries, starting with John's Not Mad, along with a postscript emphasizing the importance of societal awareness in the management of Tourette's.
Robert Aramayo's casting as Davidson was revealed on 27 August 2024,[4] and Peter Mullan's role was announced on 6 November.[5]
Director Kirk Jones later admitted that he had cast Aramayo without an audition. "I knew Robert was right for the part very early on," Jones said. "[A]nd because the finance was structured in a certain way, I was able to cast him without having to justify that decision or ask for people's permission to do it – which is the purest way to cast the film. That's how it should be done. A lot of people are surprised when I say I never asked him to do a screen test. I never asked him to audition, and that's quite unusual. The reason was, I knew that if he auditioned it would be nothing more than an impersonation of John Davidson."[6]
Aramayo spent three months with Davidson in the latter's hometown of Galashiels, learning everything he could about Davidson's life. He also did various Zoom calls with other people with Tourette's.[7]
I Swear was released in the United Kingdom on 10 October 2025.[14]
In October 2025, Sony Pictures Classics acquired distribution rights to the film in the United States, Latin America, Turkey, Portugal, Southeast Asia, South Korea and most of Eastern Europe for a release on April 24, 2026.[15]
The movie will be available on Netflix UK in March 2026 as part of a first window deal with StudioCanal.[16]
Reception
Critical reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 100% of 33 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.0/10.The website's consensus reads: "A deft balance of prickly and sweet that's bound together by Robert Aramayo's knockout performance, I Swear doesn't sugarcoat the challenges of Tourette syndrome while delivering an uplifting tale of resilience."[17] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 72 out of 100 based on 12 critics, which the site labels as "generally favorable" reviews.[18]
At its premiere in September 2025, I Swear earned positive reviews for its humane tone and standout performance. Variety praised Aramayo's turn as "flawless" and described the film's balance of earnestness and subtle humour.[19]The Guardian called it "funny, fierce and full of heart," noting how the film avoids sentimentality in portraying Tourette's.[20] In the Financial Times, the review observed that the film "is both serious and larky," commending its tonal restraint.[21]
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