Film Review: A MISTAKE
by Karen Pecota

Christine Jeffs | New Zealand | 2023

Based on the best-selling novel, “A Mistake”, by New Zealander Carl Shuker, filmmaker Christine Jeffs delves into directing an intense cinematic adaptation of the book under the same name, A MISTAKE. Relatable is the situation presented in this storyline when human error is the cause of a trickle-down effecting people’s livelihood, a questionable death, and extreme measures of a hierarchy cover-up to divert accountability.

Jeffs presents a human tragedy with all the twists and turns of a classic thriller that holds the audience captive in A MISTAKE. Her precision to detail, that makes for great storytelling, is evident; and her goal to present a particular message working within the intricacies of the novel’s complex narrative became apparent. Human error has consequences, but when truth is revealed the acts of human fallibility can be forgiven, if one chooses.

Jeffs read the novel three times because of the compelling characters involved in a complex world. She recalls, “Unraveling a personal experience of a medical misadventure with a close family member drew me into the layered plot of Shuker’s novel.” Adding, “It asked questions I had been grappling with about responsibility, culpability, transparency, and consent, in which the grey areas and lack of certainties were acknowledged.” This combination had propelled her to write and direct the adaptation.

A highly revered surgeon, Elizabeth Taylor (Elizabeth Banks) allows her young apprentice, Richard Whitehead (Richard Crouchley), to perform a small but delicate part of a routine surgery on a sickly female patient while under the doctor’s direction and observation. An unforeseen mishap occurs that could not be undone, thus losing the patient.

The emotional trauma Whitehead faces of his involvement in the young patient’s demise creates a crisis all its own; but it mounted during Taylor’s efforts to protect them both as criticism surrounding the surgery arose.

The doctors and the surgical staff knew the situation, the parents of the patient wanted straight answers to make sense of their loss, and the hospital, put in legal jeopardy, only cared to protect its reputation. The steps for clarification went round-and-round on every level and rumors escalated. For truth to be revealed, someone needed to do the right thing for all involved, no matter the consequences.