New Zealand film A Mistake - like so many of our films - shies away from obvious goodies and baddies, though it is a story, in part, about our habit of looking for someone to blame when something goes wrong.
Particularly in the case of medical misadventure.
We meet Elizabeth Taylor - a rare female surgeon in a field dominated by men - as she operates on a young patient.
We've seen this before in countless hospital dramas, but director Christine Jeffs and her cinematographer partner John Toon do a brilliant job following the procedure up to when something goes wrong, and how Elizabeth deals with it.
Critically, it was not just an operation but a training exercise for Elizabeth's junior, Richard - not just in the theatre but dealing with the family afterwards.
There is more than one mistake involved in this complex and engrossing story.
Elizabeth is played by American actress Elizabeth Banks, better known for her comedy work - as an actress in The Hunger Games and Pitch Perfect, latterly directing films like Cocaine Bear.
Actually, I was more reminded of Cate Blanchett as the conductor in Tár - another strong woman in a man's world, with that slight sense of entitlement that goes with it.
The point being, how unsettling a mistake at work can be when it's literally a matter of life and death. Even the word "mistake" hardly cuts it when you're dealing with people whose first experience of major surgery is so harrowing.
Elizabeth Banks in A Mistake. Photo: Supplied
This is brought home in brilliant performances by Rena Owen and Matthew Sunderland as the grieving parents.
The closest thing to a villain in A Mistake is Simon McBurney as Elizabeth's devious boss, more than capable of throwing expendable colleagues under a bus to protect the hospital's reputation.
But A Mistake isn't about pointing the finger at easy culprits, or letting anyone off the hook for that matter. It's a beautifully judged account of the ripple effects of one seemingly minor misjudgement.
It's a beautiful job by director Jeffs - who also adapted Carl Shuker's novel - and a pitch-perfect performance by Banks.
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