I Swear (15)

Hot off the heels of its astonishing (and unsurprising) multiple wins from this year’s BAFTA awards, I Swear comes to The Rex in all its unapologetic glory.

This terrifically warm, generous film is about real-life Scotsman and activist John Davidson (the excellent Robert Aramayo) who has Tourette syndrome (specifically coprolalia), with its tics, compulsive behaviour patterns and random obscene shouts. As John lines up to receive his MBE from Queen Elizabeth II, his nerves get the better of him. “F**k the Queen!” he blurts out. It’s a deliciously iconoclastic moment, and one that serves both sides of this delightful film’s two wolves: the warm-and-fuzzy teatime template that it follows, and the involuntarily foul-mouthed subject that it tracks.

It’s when he meets Dottie (Maxine Peake), the mother of a friend and a mental-health nurse brimming with warmth and kindness, that life becomes tolerable. I Swear is also very, very funny, without ever punching down by recognising the inherent absurdity of John’s offensive tics. It is a film which can both entertain, and bring awareness to the condition, which today, is still greeted with fear and unfair negativity.