Last Updated on September 20, 2024 by
A Mistake is a 2024 Drama Movie Directed by Christine Jeffs. The film stars Elizabeth Banks, Mickey Sumner, and Simon McBurney, with a runtime of 1h 41M, and was released on September 20, 2024.
The movie titled “A Mistake” follows the disastrous incident in a hospital that looks at how different decisions made in their professional and personal capacities contribute to the death of a young lady and the collapse of everyone involved. It is a drama that focuses on such issues as medical decision-making, medical mistakes, and the intense pressure experienced by surgeons and hospitals.
The story centers on a youthful lady identified as Lisa Williams is admitted to a hospital with excruciating pain. Not long ago, she was discharged from the same hospital but now she is back and much worse. Dr. Elizabeth, who is independent, competent, and experienced in her work, and her subordinate Richard investigate Lisa and conclude that she needs to undergo surgery to determine what is happening to her. The operation involves an anesthetist (responsible for making a patient unconscious during the surgery), a surgical nurse, Robin, and a unit manager- Alistair Collins.
Accidentally, Richard, who is under the supervision of Elizabeth during the surgery, does something wrong. He has to introduce a medical gadget into Lisa’s abdomen; however, when the doctor cannot force the gadget through the muscular layers, Elizabeth tells him to apply more pressure. Unfortunately, Richard is so eager that he pierces an artery by piercing it too deeply. While Lisa survives the surgery, she dies hours later in the hospital’s intensive care unit, raising a difficult question: did the woman die because of the mistake in surgery or, was she going to die anyway because she was sick, with an infection?
Lisa’s illness was brought about by an infection, from an internal contraceptive device that had given her sepsis- an extreme condition that is a result of the body’s reaction to an infection. This infection was already threatening the life of this woman, and according to Elizabeth, even if there were no mistakes in surgery, Lisa might have died.
However, there is a problem: the mistake that Richard made during the surgery makes things worse. Who murdered Lisa? Was it the infection that worsened, or did the surgical error contribute to the worsening of the situation? undefined Elizabeth is a tough, experienced doctor who doesn’t let emotions affect her work. Still, no matter what she thinks, the fact remains: a female patient passed on, and it could be that the error made during the surgery caused her to die.
Elizabeth encounters professional pressure after the death of her friend and co-worker Lisa. The head of surgery named Andrew has been advocating for increased accountability in the hospital, which would require the performance of each surgeon to be disclosed. This put more pressure on Elizabeth to ensure she did not compromise her dignity. Furthermore, Andrew has an individual vendetta against Elizabeth, and it is evident that he has prejudice against women in the healthcare sector in particular, thus, making Elizabeth’s case worse.
Lisa’s parents formally report Elizabeth to the authorities when she implies (either unknowingly or on purpose) that there was a ‘complication’ during the surgery. This marks the beginning of Elizabeth’s downfall. Otherwise, her professional reputation in that field is on the line. She avoids Richard, who feels that he was wrong to make the error. Elizabeth also loses her contact with Robin, the surgical nurse, and her lover, who was present during the surgery.
As such, the story explores how various characters handle the situation. Elizabeth, as a senior surgeon, is stubborn in the beginning and attempts to assume leadership over the situation, though she has not owned up to the mistake completely. She is a working woman with her mind set on her career while being very closed emotionally but the pressure of the situation gets to her. Richard, on the other hand, is worried about the guilt of his mistake and is almost totally overshadowed by Elizabeth who struggles to save herself.
Andrew the head of surgery personifies the institutional pressure for responsibility in the organization. His advocacy of the protection of patients cooperates with the aim of transparency but instead is interpreted as a way to get back at Elizabeth. This makes him a somewhat dubious personality, concerned more with the fate of the hospital than with the actual ethical principles that need to be addressed. The picture raises such issues as medical ethics, causes of mistakes, and the distinctions between one’s duties in the workplace and personal conscience.
It also brings out the aspect of how organizations such as hospitals handle errors particularly when lives are involved. Making your way through the tangled maze of the medical system when a single mistake could cost the difference between life and death, is a feat portrayed by Elizabeth.
The movie raises a lot of interesting questions: One of the questions that arise in cases that take place in a medical environment refers to who should be held liable for the problems that occur. Is it possible to point at one person and say that they are guilty or is it the system that is guilty? What can a doctor, a person who is pledged to save lives, do to manage their guilt when they make a mistake? Thus, though “A Mistake” begins with an engaging and ethical theme, the movie loses focus with too many extrinsic issues.
Elizabeth’s personal and professional life starts to unravel in ways that seem more like distractions from the main conflict: the fate of Lisa and who is to be held responsible for such an outcome. The ethical dilemmas and the feeling of the movie are strong yet again, the film seems to spend too much time in the battles between the hospital factions and personal dramas, ignoring the broader implications.
In summary, “A Mistake” is a reflective take on the aftermath of a medical mistake, though it can be somewhat theatrical and contrived at times especially when the focus shifts from the problem at hand. The strength of the story is that it tries to focus on the medical profession not as some clinical, cold science but as people with passions, flaws, screw-ups, and decisions to make.
A Mistake 2024 Parents Guide Age Rating
A Mistake is not rated because it has not undergone the official rating process by the Motion Picture Rating (MPA).
