Medical dramas come with their own set of challenges. The professional jargon can bog down their overall dramatic impact. However, if made well, they can make us resonate with their pathos. The same happens with the 2024 New Zealand medical drama “A Mistake.” Based on Carl Shuker’s book of the same name, the film revolves around a fatal mistake that turns the lives of some medical professionals upside down. The film stars Elizabeth Banks in the lead role as medical surgeon Elizabeth Taylor. Besides her, the central cast includes Richard Crouchley, Simon McBurney, and Mickey Sumner.
Spoilers Ahead
A Mistake (2024) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
“A Mistake,” starring Elizabeth Banks in the lead role, follows Elizabeth Taylor, a medical surgeon who finds herself in a tough spot after a fatal mistake during an operation with her team.
What happens in Elizabeth Banks starrer ‘A Mistake’?
“A Mistake” opens in an operation theatre performing surgery on a critical patient named Lisa. Elizabeth Taylor (Elizabeth Banks) leads this operation and her 20-something registrar, Richard (Richard Crouchley) joins her. They discuss details about Lisa’s present condition to ease her pain. Elizabeth learns about the previous course as Richard notes the steps he has taken. After making the necessary cuts on Lisa’s body, the time starts running out. Elizabeth tells Richard to make an essential insertion. Since he fails on the first try, she tells him to put extra pressure. However, this particular mistake creates an emergency.
As a fresher, Richard cannot control his emotions and keeps feeling guilty during the following procedure. Elizabeth guides him to be calm and level-headed, not work under an emotional burden. Together, her team resolves Lisa’s situation for the time being. After the surgery, Elizabeth tells Richard to speak with Lisa’s parents about Lisa, who is currently in recovery in the ICU. Later, Elizabeth momentarily checks on Lisa’s situation and returns home to her romantic partner and colleague, Robin (Mickey Sumner). That night, the two destress by going for a swim.
What mistake affects Elizabeth’s life?
Elizabeth learns a shocking detail about Lisa the day after the surgery. Lisa couldn’t survive the ICU as the doctors lost her in sepsis. Elizabeth tells Richard about Lisa’s death, who believes his mistake led to it. Elizabeth mentions the grey area related to the complications in Lisa’s condition that cannot conclude him being the culprit. However, the hospital officials think otherwise. Allstair (Joel Tobeck) and Andrew (Simon McBurney) want Elizabeth to speak with Lisa’s parents about what happened on the operation table. Elizabeth notes visiting the ICU and seeing Lisa doing fine. She does not accept any blame.
Regardless, Lisa’s parents, Tessa (Rena Owen) and Owen (Matthew Sunderland), thought their daughter only had a seemingly inconsequential issue. So, naturally, they expect answers from the hospital. Alistair and Andrew send Elizabeth to answer them and to alleviate any fault on the hospital’s side, blaming Lisa’s death on things beyond their control. So, Elizabeth gives Tessa and Owen a step-by-step breakdown of their situation. As grieving parents, they are justifiably angry. Owen clicks Elizabeth’s photo for future reference. Eventually, Elizabeth needs to answer a panel about Lisa’s situation.
What happens during the panel discussion?
Alistair and Andrew keep the ICU team away from the meeting. Andrew says it is irrelevant to their discussion. However, Elizabeth believes the intensivist needs to be present to get a clear understanding of the entire process. Robin and Alexander (Emmett Skilton) note the technological limitations in assessing a specific part of their operation. Due to that, the decisions often come down to informed clinical judgments. During this discussion, Elizabeth reveals telling Richard to put extra pressure during an insertion in Lisa’s body. So, Andrew sees Lisa’s complications as Richard’s fault.
Elizabeth takes full responsibility for the critical situation since she was in charge of the team. However, it doesn’t help. As her mental health slowly worsens, she also sees signs of deterioration at her house that bother her. Soon, at a seminar, she learns about a new public reporting system for surgeons’ performance. She thinks judging a surgeon’s credibility or worth is wrong based on the number of successful operations – which the new system advocates for. Elizabeth believes it would lead to an unfair expectations-based competition since people would avoid severely sick patients to bump their score. She does not want the results to be published and publicly available.
A Mistake (2024) Movie Ending Explained:
After the new reporting system presentation, Elizabeth struggles to find more work. Around this time, a news article publicizes her connection to Lisa’s unfortunate death. As a result, many patients and their families start to avoid her for their surgeries. Even though she accepts the responsibility, Richard blames himself for not being responsible enough during the operation. Elizabeth tries to relieve his stress but fails. Soon, she learns that the new system plans not to accept patients that they can most likely not help. She disagrees with that approach for the obvious reasons.
With the growing scrutiny for her actions, Elizabeth’s personal life worsens. Robin moves out of their house. While by herself, Elizabeth shifts her focus to the damage to the walls. She manically breaks it open to find a swarm flying out. So, she opens fumigator cans in the house to kill them. Moments later, she locks the door and moves into a hotel room. However, she forgets to leave the dog that her friend asked to take care of. She returns to find the dog struggling to cope. She takes it to the vet to realize it needs to be put down.
Does Elizabeth accept her responsibility for the mistake?
After being responsible for the dog’s unfortunate death, Elizabeth returns to work to something terrible. She sees Richard in his car, having killed himself. After Richard’s death, the officials decide to pin the blame on him. They make him a scapegoat to show they are taking responsibility for the mistake while sugarcoating it with sympathy. Elizabeth is against it. She revisits the ICU department to speak with the intensivist but finds nothing concrete against them. Eventually, she attends the seminar where Andrew talks sympathetically about Richard’s loss. However, he avoids the blame for the hospital’s mistake as he reads his well-worded speech.
Elizabeth finds Andrew’s excuse phony and callous. So, she goes up on the stage to admit her responsibility without backstabbing their deceased colleague. Only Robin and Alexander clap after her speech. Soon after, she drives up to Lisa’s parents to speak honestly about Lisa’s condition before and during the surgery. Tessa asks if Elizabeth would have done anything differently. Elizabeth says she would not have and remains transparent throughout their interaction.
By doing so, she helps the parents get the relief they had naturally craved. At the end of “A Mistake,” Elizabeth accepts her responsibility for the mistake and speaks openly with Lisa’s parents, unlike the hospital staff. We do not see whether she gets reprimanded for her actions, as the film ends with her walking after the emotional release.
A Mistake (2024) Movie Review:
Christine Jeffs’ “A Mistake” follows a Liz/Beth surgeon whose life unravels after a fatal mistake during her operation. Although revolving around medical professionals, it is not a medical drama like Steven Soderbergh’s “Contagion” and Ashiq Abu’s “Virus.” Instead, it is a character-driven drama that operates like a taut, slow-burn thriller. It shows Beth’s mental health getting worse as she begins to acknowledge the inescapable aspects of her job. Unlike many other professions, a mistake in a medical profession can risk a person’s life. The film examines this part of their lives through a neatly structured screenplay that unravels like a stack of cards.
Besides the literal implications of their actions, the doctors also struggle with severe emotional issues. As a viewer, on one side, you want to empathize with their plight. On the other hand, you see how their negligence can affect a possibly irretrievable outcome. The film explores these moral greys without any theatrics of melodramas. It uses grounded moments to make us realize the gravity of the situation, including all the stress and burden they face. It uses a cool color palette to accentuate the unforgiving nature of coldness in such a setting.
Known primarily for her comedic roles, Elizabeth Banks gets to flex her dramatic muscles. She ably handles the film’s burden to convey the film’s psychological subtext.
