Compassionate biopic shows the humanity of Tourette’s syndrome
I Swear
Starring Robert Aramayo, Maxine Peake & Peter Mulan
Directed by Kirk Jones
Rated R
In theaters April 24
Sometimes John can’t control what he says or does. He spits food, spews obscenities, punches, jerks and slaps. He has the neurological condition known as Tourette’s syndrome, so named for the French physician who first chronicled what he called “convulsive tic disorder.”
The aptly titled I Swear is an inspiring and solidly composed biopic based on John Davidson, a real-life Scotsman who suffered most of his life with Tourette’s and later became recognized—by the Queen of England, no less!—as a crusader for people with his condition. A 1989 BBC documentary, John’s Not Mad, brought even more attention to his cause.
This film, which was released late last year in Great Britian, now comes to America. And you need to see it, I swear!
The cast is first-rate. Young Scott Ellis Watson makes a most impressive movie debut as teenage John, a soccer-playing lad whose facial tics, verbal outbursts and bodily spasms get him into trouble at school, and at home. Robert Aramayo, who played Eddard Stark in two seasons of HBO’s Game of Thrones, is nothing short of phenomenal in the leading role as grownup John. He’s already received a Best Actor trophy from the British Academy Film Awards (Britain’s Oscars). If Dustin Hoffman can get an Academy Award nomination for playing an autistic savant in Rain Main, Aramayo certainly deserves a nod for I Swear.
Maxine Peak also does an excellent job as Dottie, the sweetly sympathetic mom of one of John’s buddies, who warmly takes John into her own family when his mother (Shirley Henderson, from the movie-verses of Harry Potter and Bridget Jones) becomes exasperated with his constant flair-ups, which drive his father to leave. Peter Mullen, a prolific Scottish actor and director, plays Tommy, who becomes John’s advocate and mentor—and gives him a job—at a local community center.
John eventually starts a support group for others like him, widening the circle to their frazzled parents as well. I suspect that a lot of the onscreen extras, portraying kids and adults navigating life with Tourette’s and all its bumps, blips and bruises, are doing just that—living it, not just acting it. Kudos to I Swear for also showing the reality of Tourette’s.
Director Kirk Jones, who also wrote the screenplay, recreates John’s world across the decades, framing it with sweetness, dabs of humor and moments of wrenching hurt. We watch as the school headmaster (Ron Donache, also a Game of Thrones alum) continually thrashes John’s upturned hand with his belt, turning his palm into a pulp; thinking John’s tics are just prankish tricks, he tries to beat his “unacceptable” behavior into submission. A soccer scout wonders aloud if John is “disabled.” We see how John’s outburst at a movie ruins his date—and his chances—with a schoolgirl pal. We see him fraught with misery, trying to take his own life. People stare, flinch or laugh when he cuts loose with a shout, a racial slur or a scatological profanity. John gets arrested when his Tourette’s takes over and lands him into a barroom brawl, and later a courtroom. A couple of guys beat him so badly he ends up in the hospital, all because he blurted out “slut” at a young woman.
It’s painful to watch, knowing that John understands what he’s doing but, despite medication to manage, he’s powerless to restrain it. Until, that is, a kindly therapist (Carolina Valdés) throws him a lifeline with a new device that helps control his uncontrollable neurological misfires. Finally, for the first time, he can have a “normal” interaction with a stranger on a train or walk into a public library without disrupting the quiet and the calm.
“The problem is not Tourette’s,” John says to a group of parents at one point. “The problem is people don’t know enough about Tourette’s.” And he set out to teach them.
This compassionate Scottish crowd pleaser about a man with an often-misunderstood neuro-motor disorder has a lot it can teach us all.
—Neil Pond
The Media Tourist 