Drama
United States of America
The Savages is a 2007 comedy-drama film directed by Tamara Jenkins. The story revolves around two siblings, Jon and Wendy Savage, who are in their 40s and estranged from each other. They reunite when they discover that their elderly father, Lenny, has dementia and needs to be placed in a nursing home.
Jon is a struggling academic who lives in Buffalo, New York and has a long-standing relationship with a Polish woman named Kasia, whom he has no intention of marrying. Wendy is a struggling playwright who lives in New York City and is trying to break up with her married lover. Together, they travel to Sun City, Arizona to take care of their father and figure out the next steps in their lives.
As they navigate their father's illness and end-of-life care, Jon and Wendy begin to confront their own issues and fractured relationship. They also discover that their father has been secretly dating a woman named Doris, who he met at the nursing home. Wendy and Jon's relationship is further complicated when Wendy discovers that Jon has been using their father's illness as an excuse for not fulfilling his academic responsibilities.
As the story unfolds, the siblings must come to terms with their past and confront their emotional baggage in order to move forward. The film was praised for its honest portrayal of family dynamics and its nuanced exploration of aging, illness, and mortality. The performances by Laura Linney as Wendy, Philip Seymour Hoffman as Jon, and Philip Bosco as Lenny were widely praised, and the film was nominated for numerous awards, including an Academy Award for Best Actress for Linney.
