A Mistake

I have been having dreams about her.

– Young surgeon Richard (Richard Crouchley) to Dr Taylor (Elizabeth Banks)

You're not nervous, are you?

– Senior Consultant Andrew McGrath (Simon McBurney) to Dr Taylor (Elizabeth Banks)

Our daughter is in the morgue.

– Grieving mother Tessa (Rena Owen) sums up her feelings to Elizabeth (Elizabeth Banks)

It's a bad outcome. She was likely never going to make it.

– Surgeon Elizabeth Taylor (Elizabeth Banks) to colleague Richard (Richard Crouchley) after losing their patient

This is an intelligent, small-scale movie that never sensationalizes its material, adapted by Jeffs from the 2019 novel by Carl Shuker. It digs into thorny questions about human error and responsibility in an environment where people are looking to assign blame, as well as the bureaucratic evaluation process by which medical professionals are ranked according to results . . . functions as both an empathetic character study and a thoughtful examination of professional ethics, culpability and forgiveness, showing equal compassion for people on both sides of a devastating situation.

– Reviewer David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 7 June 2024

Medical dramas can often be sensationalized and dramatic for the sake of stirring up conflict; A Mistake is anything but. Deftly written and directed by Christine Jeffs, who adapted Carl Shuker’s novel of the same name, the drama sidesteps fictional medical tropes for something that is all too real and emotional . . . Jeffs explores ethics, moral and emotional accountability with a compassionate and nuanced eye.

– Reviewer Mae Abdulbaki, for website Screen Rant, 12 June 2024

I just totally trusted her. She got the book . . . I remember one chat we had early on, it must have been an hour and a half, and she asked, ‘Why is this character smiling on page 34?’ It was exactly the question I wanted to be asked. It showed her close engagement with the book and what I was trying to do.

– A Mistake author Carl Shukar on director Christine Jeffs, Newsroom website, June 2024