| The Lake House | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Alejandro Agresti |
| Produced by | Doug Davison Roy Lee |
| Screenplay by | David Auburn |
| Based on | Il Mare by Kim Eun-jeong & Kim Mi-yeong |
| Starring | Keanu Reeves Sandra Bullock Dylan Walsh Christopher Plummer Ebon Moss-Bachrach Shohreh Aghdashloo |
| Music by | Rachel Portman |
| Editing by | Alejandro Brodersohn Lynzee Klingman |
| Studio | Village Roadshow Pictures & Vertigo Entertainment |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
| Release date | July 16, 2006 |
| Running time | 105 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $40 million |
| Box office | $114,830,111 |
The Lake House is a 2006 American romantic drama film written by David Auburn, directed by Alejandro Agresti, and stars Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock as Alex Wyler and Kate Forster, respectively. The film was a of the South Korean motion picture Il Mare (2000).
This film reunites Reeves and Bullock for the first time in a film since they co-starred in Speed in 1994.
Plot
In 2006, Dr. Kate Forster was leaving a lake house that she had been renting in suburban Wisconsin to move to Chicago. Kate left a note in the mailbox for the next tenant to forward her letters should some slip through the system, further adding that the paint-embedded pawprints on the walkway leading into the house were already there when she arrived.
Two years earlier, in 2004, Alex Wyler, an architect, arrived at the lake house and found Kate's letter in the mailbox. The house was neglected, with no sign of pawprints anywhere. As Alex restored the house, a dog ran through his paint and left fresh pawprints right where Kate said they would be. Both Alex and Kate continued passing messages to each other via the mailbox, and each watched its flag go up and down as the message leaves and the reply arrives, which took place as they waited at the mailbox. They cautiously looked around each time the flag changes, hoping to somehow spot the other, but in vain they did not, as they were alone at the mailbox.
Baffled, Alex wrote back, asked how Kate knew about the pawprints since the house was unoccupied before he arrived. An equally perplexed Kate wrote back, and she and Alex discovered that they are living exactly two years apart. Their correspondence took them through several events, including Alex finding a book, Persuasion, at a train station where Kate said she had lost it, and Alex taking Kate on a walking tour of his favorite places in Chicago via an annotated map that he left in the mailbox. Sometime in 2004, Kate's boyfriend Morgan invited Alex and Mona, Alex's friend, to Kate's birthday
party where Alex and Kate have eventually met but Alex didn't mention their letter relationship to her. At the party, Kate and Alex shared their pasts to each other and took a dance and kissed before they were stopped by Morgan and Mona. As they were celebrating Kate's birthday in 2004, in 2006, Kate didn't celebrate her birthday and went to a bar together with her co-doctor Anna instead.
Alex then wrote a letter to Kate telling that they've met in her birthday in 2004 and Kate replied that at least he should've told her. On October 6, 2006, Kate found a death file of Alex's father in her hostpital and drove through the lake house to write Alex about his father's death, which was two years ago, before Anna was the first to tell Alex back in 2004. Alex's father was also an architect and the one who built the lake house as a gift to Alex's mother who died when Alex and his brother Henry were young.
As Alex and Kate continued to write each other, they decided to try to meet again. Alex made a reservation at a restaurant
named "Il Mare" two years in Alex's future, but only a day away for Kate. Kate went to the restaurant but Alex failed to show. Heartbroken, Kate asked Alex not to write her again, recounting a tragedy a year ago before, on Valentine's Day 2006, when she and her mother witnessed a traffic accident near Daley Plaza and held a man who died in her arms. Both Alex and Kate left the lake house, continuing on with their separate lives. A year later, on Valentine's Day 2006 for Alex, Valentine's Day 2008 for Kate, Alex returned to the lake house after something about the day triggered his memory. Meanwhile, Kate and Morgan went to Henry, not knowing that he is Alex's brother, to review renovation plans for a house they wanted to buy. Kate noticed a drawing of the lake house on the conference room wall and was told by Henry that it was his brother Alex who drew it. As she asked Henry how she can meet Alex, he replied that Alex was killed in a traffic accident two years ago and realized why Alex didn't show up for their date. Because he was the man who died in Daley Plaza two years ago. Rushing to the lake house, Kate wrote a letter telling Alex she loves him, but begged him not to try to find her if he loves her back. Wait two years, she said, and come to the
lake house instead. Meanwhile Alex had gone to Daley Plaza to find Kate. At the lake house, Kate sobbed, clutching onto the mailbox stand, sure she was too late, but then the mailbox flag lowered; Alex had picked up her note. Soon, she saw a vehicle arriving and then a figure walking toward her. It was Alex. They walked toward each other. Kate sayid, "You waited!" She and Alex kissed, then walked toward the lake house.
Characters
| Character | Portrait | Description | Portrayer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alex Wyler | 
|
An architect who lives in the lake house and Kate's love interest. | Keanu Reeves |
| Kate Forster | 
|
A doctor who lived in the lake house and Alex's love interest. | Sandra Bullock |
| Simon Wyler | 
|
Alex's and Henry's father and an architect who constructed the lake house. | Christopher Plummer |
| Morgan Price | 
|
Kate's boyfriend. | Dylan Walsh |
| Henry Wyler | 
|
Simon's son and Alex's brother. He is also an architect. | Ebon Moss-Bachrach |
| Dr. Anna Klyczynski | 
|
A doctor and a friend of Kate | Shohreh Aghdashloo |
| Mrs. Forster | 
|
Kate's mother. | Willeke van Ammelrooy |
| Mona | 
|
Alex's friend. | Lynn Collins |
| Mulhern | 
|
Alex's co-worker in constructing the Riviera Estate. | Mike Bacarella |
| Hostess | 
|
A hostess at the restaurant where Alex and Kate were supposed to have a date. | India Neilan |
| Girl Patient | 
|
A patient at Kate's hospital. | Aliyah Carr |
| Vanessa | 
|
Henry's co-worker. | Cynthia Kaye McWilliams |
| Madhvi Patel | 
|
A doctor at Kate's hospital. | Jacqueline Williams |
Reception
According to the website Rotten Tomatoes, 36% of the critics gave the movie a positive review. Many critics have expressed dissatisfaction in the plot's internal logic. Alex breaks Kate's timeline twice during the film, leading some to interpret events as a time paradox. Other critics have ignored those events or have found no reason to follow a single-timeline interpretation of events. Positive reviews concentrate on the film's cinematography, use of Chicago architecture, and the depiction of the characters' feelings of loneliness and separation.
USA Today critic Claudia Puig wrote, "The Lake House is one of the more befuddling movies of recent years. The premise makes no sense, no matter how you turn it around in your head."
Roger Ebert, while pointing out the movie's logical inconsistencies, wrote, "Never mind, I tell you, never mind!" Ebert gave a positive review (3.5 stars out of 4) noting, "What I respond to in the movie is its fundamental romantic impulse."
On August 18, 2006, Reeves and Bullock won a Teen Choice Award for "Choice Liplock" for The Lake House.
Box office
In its opening weekend, the film grossed a total of $13.6 million, ranking fourth in the United States box office. As of October 1, 2006, the movie has grossed $52,330,111 domestically, and $114,830,111 worldwide.
On September 26, 2006, the movie became the first to be simultaneously released on DVD, Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD.