A history of defiance

The Young Poisoner's Handbook
Opening on October 19, Dendy, Martin Place, Sydney
Reviewed by Margaret Allan To be a good poisoner, one must remain undetected, but being a famous poisoner depends on getting caught. Such is the dilemma of Graham Young, a 14-year-old British schoolboy obsessed with chemical experiments, particularly those involving poisons. Benjamin Ross directs his first feature film, detailing the true story of the disturbing life of Graham Young, who achieved notoriety by using his family, then later his co-workers, as guinea pigs in carefully monitored experiments with deadly poisons. Young, played by Hugh O'Conor (the young Christy Brown in My Left Foot), began his career as a poisoner in 1961 and continued for some years, interrupted only by a period of incarceration. This film details the development of Young's fascination with toxic substances such as thallium and antimony tartrate, and his compulsion to methodically chronicle their effects on the unfortunate people around him. Ross presents Young as a detached, calculating young man who cleverly hoodwinked those around him, including psychiatrist Dr Zeigler who took him as a special case study for his ongoing research. The study of the British family of the '60s is quite a good social comment, exploring the shallowness of most social interaction within the family unit. This explains some of the alienation that Young experiences during his formative years; the rest seems to be due to Young's quietly psychotic yet mild mannered personality. References to Nazi Germany in the film are slightly unclear, but apparently the real Graham Young was obsessed by Hitler and the Third Reich. Overall, while technically very well presented, the film was not totally absorbing. Ross uses black humour to bring some life to the film, and this works well. The cast present good performances, especially Ruth Sheen, who plays Young's step-mother Molly, and Charlotte Coleman (Winnie, Young's sister). Hugh O'Conor plays a convincingly sinister yet polite Young, although his acting techniques occasionally become annoying. This film may not be everyone's cup of tea, but those who do see it will want to check their cups for any lethal residue.