The Young Poisoner's Handbook
Encyclopedia
The Young Poisoner's Handbook is a 1995 British
-German
-French
-produced black comedy
film based on the life of Graham Young, more commonly known as "The Teacup Murderer". It was directed by Benjamin Ross
and written by Ross and Jeff Rawle
. The film stars Hugh O'Conor
in the lead role.
The film is also known as Das Handbuch des jungen Giftmischers in German
.
er, a genius
and a thoroughly amoral
man.
Early scenes show Young as a child preoccupied with the macabre. In his teen years, he actually poisons a schoolmate — sickening him rather than killing him — in order to date a girl his schoolmate was seeing. His conversation with his date involved vivid, graphic descriptions of deadly car accidents.
He also reads a comic book account of an event in which the Dutch Resistance killed a whole German army camp in the occupied Netherlands during the Second World War
by poisoning their water supply with thallium
.
Graham Young is arrested at the age of 14 outside his home in Neasden
after having killed his stepmother and having tried to do the same to his father by lacing their food or medicine with thallium. During the struggle with police Young abuses the policemen because he drops his "Exit Dose" of thallium which he intended to use to commit suicide should he be caught. He is imprisoned for nine years in an institution for the criminally insane, during which time a psychiatrist
works with him in the hopes of rehabilitating him.
Graham's dishonesty becomes evident to the doctor, who can see that Graham is trying to deceive him. Graham apparently has no dreams to share with the psychiatrist so he "borrows" a fellow prisoner's dreams. This source is shut off to him, however, once the fellow prisoner commits suicide
. Despite the initial evidence of deceptiveness on Graham's part, the doctor eventually gets him released.
Graham then goes to work in a camera factory and is shown the secret ingredient used in the company's shutter system — thallium. It is not long before Graham has reverted to his old behaviour and is poisoning people. He kills two of his workmates by poisoning their tea with thallium stolen from the laboratory, and he sickens many others. For months, the source of the "bug" afflicting the workers at the factory remains a mystery until one unforeseen event leads to Graham's being found out. As a hygiene
measure, all the personalized teacups are replaced with uniform ones, leaving Graham unable to poison people selectively. His efforts to memorize which cup is going to which person give him away, and his workmates finally realize what is going on.
Graham is arrested soon afterwards, and he is later sentenced to a lengthy prison term, this time in an ordinary prison. He commits suicide by poisoning there, unlike the real Graham Young, who died of a heart attack
. The film insinuates that Graham's ambition in life was to create a diamond using his poisons and chemistry knowledge; in reality his ambition was to become an infamous poisoner, which he achieved.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
-German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
-French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
-produced black comedy
Black comedy
A black comedy, or dark comedy, is a comic work that employs black humor or gallows humor. The definition of black humor is problematic; it has been argued that it corresponds to the earlier concept of gallows humor; and that, as humor has been defined since Freud as a comedic act that anesthetizes...
film based on the life of Graham Young, more commonly known as "The Teacup Murderer". It was directed by Benjamin Ross
Benjamin Ross
Benjamin Ross is a writer and film director based in the UK.. From a handful of films since the early 1990s, his most noted work is The Young Poisoner’s Handbook – based on a real-life poisoning case. Ross’ latest screenplay is for Napolean and Betsy - set to feature Harry Potter star Emma Watson...
and written by Ross and Jeff Rawle
Jeff Rawle
Jeff Rawle is a British actor, perhaps best known for playing the long-suffering George in the news-gathering sitcom Drop the Dead Donkey...
. The film stars Hugh O'Conor
Hugh O'Conor
Hugh O'Conor is an Irish actor. His first film appearance was opposite Liam Neeson in the 1985 movie Lamb. Currently, he has two upcoming projects: Finding Fate and Operation H²O.-Biography:...
in the lead role.
The film is also known as Das Handbuch des jungen Giftmischers in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
.
Plot
The film's portrayal of Graham Young is not wholly true to life, and thus, the film is not truly biographical. Nonetheless, the main truths about him are conveyed. He was a poisoner, a murderMurder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
er, a genius
Genius
Genius is something or someone embodying exceptional intellectual ability, creativity, or originality, typically to a degree that is associated with the achievement of unprecedented insight....
and a thoroughly amoral
Amorality
Amorality is an absence of, indifference towards, or disregard for moral beliefs. Any entity that is not sentient may be considered amoral. In addition, it can be argued that sentient but non-human creatures, like dogs, have no concept of morality and are therefore amoral...
man.
Early scenes show Young as a child preoccupied with the macabre. In his teen years, he actually poisons a schoolmate — sickening him rather than killing him — in order to date a girl his schoolmate was seeing. His conversation with his date involved vivid, graphic descriptions of deadly car accidents.
He also reads a comic book account of an event in which the Dutch Resistance killed a whole German army camp in the occupied Netherlands during the Second World War
The Netherlands in World War II
The history of the Netherlands from 1939 to 1945 covers the events in the Netherlands that took place under the German occupation that started on May 10, 1940 with the Battle of the Netherlands. The Netherlands hoped to stay neutral when World War II broke out in 1939 but this failed to happen when...
by poisoning their water supply with thallium
Thallium
Thallium is a chemical element with the symbol Tl and atomic number 81. This soft gray poor metal resembles tin but discolors when exposed to air. The two chemists William Crookes and Claude-Auguste Lamy discovered thallium independently in 1861 by the newly developed method of flame spectroscopy...
.
Graham Young is arrested at the age of 14 outside his home in Neasden
Neasden
Neasden is an area in northwest London, UK. It forms part of the London Borough of Brent.-History:The area was recorded as Neasdun in 939 AD and the name is derived from the Old English nēos = 'nose' and dūn = 'hill'. It means 'the nose-shaped hill' referring to a well-defined landmark of this area...
after having killed his stepmother and having tried to do the same to his father by lacing their food or medicine with thallium. During the struggle with police Young abuses the policemen because he drops his "Exit Dose" of thallium which he intended to use to commit suicide should he be caught. He is imprisoned for nine years in an institution for the criminally insane, during which time a psychiatrist
Psychiatrist
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy...
works with him in the hopes of rehabilitating him.
Graham's dishonesty becomes evident to the doctor, who can see that Graham is trying to deceive him. Graham apparently has no dreams to share with the psychiatrist so he "borrows" a fellow prisoner's dreams. This source is shut off to him, however, once the fellow prisoner commits suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
. Despite the initial evidence of deceptiveness on Graham's part, the doctor eventually gets him released.
Graham then goes to work in a camera factory and is shown the secret ingredient used in the company's shutter system — thallium. It is not long before Graham has reverted to his old behaviour and is poisoning people. He kills two of his workmates by poisoning their tea with thallium stolen from the laboratory, and he sickens many others. For months, the source of the "bug" afflicting the workers at the factory remains a mystery until one unforeseen event leads to Graham's being found out. As a hygiene
Hygiene
Hygiene refers to the set of practices perceived by a community to be associated with the preservation of health and healthy living. While in modern medical sciences there is a set of standards of hygiene recommended for different situations, what is considered hygienic or not can vary between...
measure, all the personalized teacups are replaced with uniform ones, leaving Graham unable to poison people selectively. His efforts to memorize which cup is going to which person give him away, and his workmates finally realize what is going on.
Graham is arrested soon afterwards, and he is later sentenced to a lengthy prison term, this time in an ordinary prison. He commits suicide by poisoning there, unlike the real Graham Young, who died of a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
. The film insinuates that Graham's ambition in life was to create a diamond using his poisons and chemistry knowledge; in reality his ambition was to become an infamous poisoner, which he achieved.