Tribeca Review: Medical Malaise in “A Mistake”

by Abe Friedtanzer 

No one really wants to think about the idea of medical malpractice since anyone could end up on an operating table following an accident or other unexpected scenario. But things do go wrong, for a variety of reasons, and those stories can be worth telling. Prospective audienceChriss of A Mistake should be well aware that the film features a great deal of graphic surgery within its opening minutes, setting up an uncomfortable and deeply unsettling chain of events that seek to assign blame for a wrongful death…

Dr. Elizabeth Taylor (Elizabeth Banks) is a well-established surgeon, and she’s confident enough during a procedure to have her resident participate. Unfortunately, his mistake leads to an additional minor repair operation. All seems fine, but the next morning, the patient is dead, and Elizabeth’s superiors want answers. While she maintains that the error didn’t affect the outcome of the surgery and that the patient’s death would likely have happened anyway, others around her aren’t keen to see it that way and want someone to be held responsible for this loss of life. 

A Mistake is based on the novel of the same name by Carl Shuker and comes from writer-director Christine Jeffs, whose previous film was Sunshine Cleaning, starring Amy Adams and Emily Blunt. This film is certainly different in all recognizable ways from that much lighter feature, leaving what humor it does contain to Elizabeth’s snark as she maintains that she did everything right and anyone who wants to question her – and to propose the implementation of a transparent surgery assessment program for the public to be able to view – is completely out of line. 

It is jarring to hear Banks speaking with a New Zealand accent, though once that becomes normal partway into the film, her performance does include a true defiant spirit that she backs up with knowledge and skill. Part of her character’s primary motivation is to accept responsibility for her decisions and the actions of the team rather than blame someone who isn’t as well-trained and whose mistakes, however consequential, shouldn’t follow them so early in their careers. There’s also the added layer of her being a woman in an industry often dominated by men and where women are held to much higher standards for purely sexist reasons. 

Where A Mistake doesn’t work as well is in its all-too-blatant critique of the medical industrial complex, which surely operates differently in New Zealand than it does in the United States but shares enough similarities for it to feel relevant and relatable. Simon McBurney’s chief of surgery feels almost like a cartoon villain, hellbent on making money and maintaining the reputation of the hospital above all else while constantly looking down on Elizabeth. That may be how some corporations do operate, but the way it’s portrayed here feels far too frontal and unsophisticated.

This film does leave plenty to contemplate, namely the nature of complicity and what it means to take all measures to save someone’s life. As expected, there are no clear answers or recommendations, and the story showcased here is very specific with its own twists and turns. There is a compelling idea ruminating somewhere within the film, but its presentation leaves much to be desired. C+

A Mistake makes its world premiere in the Spotlight Narrative section at the 2024 Tribeca Festival.