The Lake House (film)

The Lake House
The Lake House
	Original Theatrical Poster
Directed by	Alejandro Agresti
Written by	David Auburn
Produced by	Sonny Mallhi
Starring	Keanu Reeves; Sandra Bullock
Edited by	Alejandro Brodersohn
Music by	Rachel Portman ; Paul McCartney
Distributed by	Warner Brothers
Release dates	US June 16, 2006
Running time	US 105 min
Language	English
Budget	US $40 million

Template:Infobox movie certificates The Lake House is a 2006 romantic drama film remake of the Korean motion picture Il Mare (2000).

It was written by David Auburn and directed by Alejandro Agresti and stars Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock as Alex Wyler and Kate Forster, as an architect and a doctor living in 2004 and 2006 respectively. It also reunites Reeves and Bullock for the first time since Speed in 1994.

Plot

Template:Spoiler The movie centers around lonely Dr. Kate Forster (Sandra Bullock) who, on a winter morning in 2006, reluctantly leaves the beautiful lake house where she has been living for a job in a Chicago hospital. On her way to Chicago, she leaves a note for the lake house's new tenant asking him to kindly forward her mail and telling him the paw prints by the front door and the box in the attic were there when she moved in.

However, Alex Wyler (Keanu Reeves), the new tenant, sees a different lake house, one which was neglected, dirty, and there were certainly no paw prints and no box in the attic. He disregards Kate's letter until a few days later; he is painting the handrails on the walkway to the house and a stray dog runs through the paint container leaving paw prints where Kate said they would be. He writes back to Kate, wanting to know more about the paw prints and leaves the letter in the mail box. After witnessing a horrible accident where a bus hits and kills a man, Kate needs some time away so she visits the lakehouse. Nobody appears to living there, but she notices the mail box flag is up. She finds a letter addressed to her from Alex but dated 2004. In her second letter to Alex, Kate writes: "Oh, by the way it is 2006. Has been all year, ask anyone." Kate mentions she is presently [in 2006] living at 1620 North Racine in Chicago. Alex goes to that address [in 2004], with the intention of personally delivering a letter to her at her apartment, and discovers that an unfinished construction site exists at 1620 North Racine. Alex estimates that the site will not be finished for another 18 months. They begin to understand they are living 2 years apart: he in 2004 and she in 2006.

As Kate and Alex continue to correspond through the mailbox, they find themselves falling in love. Because Kate is in the future, she can tell Alex where to look for her in 2004 in places she has been. On one occasion, she asks Alex to bring her back something important (a gift from her father; her favorite novel by Jane Austen called Persuasion), which she left two years ago during a train station meeting with her then-beau. Alex goes to the station and finds the item and sees Kate with long hair. Even though he has the item, he does not place it in the mailbox to return it to her. Instead, he says that he will return it to her personally, "one way or the other." Alex sends her a personalized map of Chicago and takes her on a walking tour of his favorite places in the city one Saturday morning. He leaves her a loving message on a brick wall at the end written in 2004, that she sees in 2006. The message was "Kate, thank you for taking this walk with me together" The word "together" was written because Kate would have loved it if Alex were there to walk with her.

By the same dog (Jack) that put prints on the walkway, Alex and his female suitor Mona, whom he is uninterested in, meet Kate's boyfriend Morgan and are both invited to attend her surprise birthday party. At the party, Kate is frustrated with Morgan's sincere but smothering ways. She wanders outside, where Alex is sitting. Alex would like to let this earlier version of Kate know that her "letter paramour" is here in person. Kate does not know who Alex is, as their relationship is in her future. However, the two share a dance and a romantic moment, but it is interrupted by Morgan and Mona.

Later, they discuss the birthday party, and she reveals to Alex that she liked him that night. This is the first time she remembers what he looks like.

Crisis enters Alex's life when his estranged father has a heart attack and shortly thereafter dies. Kate somehow discovers his death certificate at the time he dies. She rushes to the mailbox and as a gift to Alex, she places a book in the mailbox: a tribute to Alex's father that Kate has obtained, not yet published in Alex's time. Alex weeps over his lost father.

Determined to bridge the distance between them at last and unravel the mystery behind their extraordinary connection, they tempt fate by arranging to meet. Alex makes a reservation in 2004 for a date in 2006 at Il Mare, a fancy restaurant (an homage to the original Korean motion picture), but only Kate appears. Alex does not show up. The next day Kate writes Alex a letter telling Alex of this fact, but he doesn't understand. "Something must have happened" he responds. Kate retreats, believing she will never have happiness. She urges Alex to move on. She asks Alex not to contact her again. Alex is brokenhearted and decides to leave the lake house."

He moves into the city. Kate renews her relationship with Morgan, but doesn't appear to be happy. She and Alex do not exchange letters.

Alex appears to Morgan (in real time) and hands him the keys to the lake house. At this time Jack the dog seems to be left with Morgan and now becomes Kate's dog. Alex drives off.

One afternoon, Kate is watching an old movie in one room while Morgan is working in another room in Kates upscale apartment. Perturbed when Morgan asks her to turn the TV down, she turns it OFF and irritated, walks into their bedroom where a squeeky floorboard finally gets her attention. She stomps on it and it completely comes off revealing a small package hidden underneath. It is her Jane Austin book that Alex has carefully left during the construction phase of her unit. He has left a flower marking a specific piece of text that touches Kate's heart. She realizes she still loves Alex.

New years 2006 finds Alex at some party sadly overlooking the city. It is New years 2008 for Kate.

On Valentines Day 2008 Kate and Morgan arrange to meet at an architectural firm unknowningly owned by Alex's brother. They are renovating an old house. As they exit Kate notices a drawing on the wall of the lake house and inquires as to its artist. When told it is Alex Wyler, she asks as to his whereabouts and is told he died in an accident 2 years ago this day. This explains why Alex didn't show up at the restaurant. He had already "died." What Kate didn't realize was she left Alex a clue (in 2006 that he read in 2004) as to her future whereabouts, a clue that would not click in until that warm day on February 14, 2006 (at Daley plaza) and would have devastating consequences. But this date (in Kate's time) is just when Alex and Kate started the corresondence at the lake house. They had only exchanged one letter, but for Alex, 2006 means he has written Kate for 2 years already. The only memory Kate has of Alex at this point is at her birthday party at Morgan's house when she danced and then kissed Alex to the Paul McCartney song, "This never happened before".

The 2008 Kate now puts everything together and dashes out of the office and races to the lake house to frantically warns Alex via the mailbox that HE is the man who "died in her arms" that day. She does not know if he will receive it in time or not. She tells him NOT to go to the plaza but to wait 2 years and go to the lake house--where she is now. For the first time she expresses her love for him. He receives the letter in time, and sees her in the plaza, and changing history, does NOT cross the street and escapes his original fate. Kate, weeping at the mail box, hears somebody drive up to the lake house. It is Alex. In the end of the movie, Alex and Kate share a passionate kiss and walk into the lake house together.

Chronological order of events

NOTE the use of bold type below:

Note that Kate leaves her first letter to Alex in the rural mailbox in 2006,

and that Alex receives Kate's first letter in the same rural mailbox in 2004.

Note that Alex leaves his first letter to Kate in the rural mailbox in 2004,

and that Kate receives Alex's first letter in the same rural mailbox in 2006.

etc.

2004 EVENTS

Alex parks his pickup truck, and walks up to the edge of the parking lot in front of the lake house. Alex has just bought the lake house.
Alex's friend Mona, who wants to be his girlfriend, talks to Alex at his construction site. Mona has just learned that Alex has bought the lake house.
Alex finds Kate's first letter in the mailbox. Alex returns to the lake house after dark, and finds the flag up on his rural mailbox. Although this scene appears to take place in 2004, Alex finds a letter in the mailbox that was placed there in 2006 by a woman named Kate Forster.
In the letter, Kate Forster claims to have previously lived at the lake house, and she apologizes for the paw prints at the front door, and for the box that has been left in the attic. Kate says they were there when she moved in.
Alex checks for paw prints at the front door but there are none to be seen. Alex checks for a box in the attic, but there is no box there. Alex is confused by the letter, since he has just bought the lake house, and it had been abandoned for several years when he bought it. Alex leaves Kate's letter on the floor of the attic.
At a later time, Alex is painting the handrails on the bridge leading to the front door, when a stray dog appears out of nowhere and walks through a tray of paint, creating paint paw prints that lead up to the front door of the lake house. Alex gets on the ladder to the attic, and rechecks Kate's letter.
Alex replies to Kate's first letter. After the incident in which the stray dog makes paw prints, Alex decides to reply to Kate's letter with one of his own. Alex places the letter in the lake house mailbox, after which he places the flag up on the mailbox. Kate discovers this reply to her 1st letter on her next visit to the lake house.

Note that Kate's next visit to the lake house takes place on the day after Alex is hit by a bus and killed in Daley Plaza.

[e.g. February 15, 2006 in Kate's time. but February 15, 2004 in Alex's time.]

When Kate finds Alex's letter in the lake house mailbox, on February 15, 2006, she is unaware that it was Alex who was killed at Daley Plaza. Kate writes a reply to this letter while sitting in her Mustang. Alex, living in February 15, 2004 appears superimposed on the scene. Kate's reply mysteriously appears in the rural mailbox, while Kate is still writing it in the front seat of her Mustang. Later Alex writes a reply to Kate's reply.
Later when Alex goes to Chicago he is carrying this reply with him. This reply is the 2nd letter Alex has written to Kate.
Alex who has been away for several years, meets his brother Henry in Chicago and informs him that he has bought a lake house, which he defines as "a dump that has been abandoned for years".
Alex tells Henry "I even got a dog. He just showed up at the house from out on nowhere." (This stray dog was later given to Kate, who named it "Jack".)
Alex tries to personally deliver the letter he is carrying to Kate. Kate had written that she was living at 1620 North Racine, in Chicago, so Henry and Alex now go to 1620 North Racine in Chicago. However Alex discovers that the Apartment that Kate claims to live in has not even been built yet, so Alex is forced to hold on to the letter.
On the next day, Alex has rewriten his 2nd letter to Kate and he places it in the rural mailbox at the lake house. He places the flag up. In the letter Alex explains that he had gone to 1620 North Racine, and that he had discovered the Apartment that she claimed to be living in was not even built yet. When Kate receives this letter, [Apparently this particular letter sent by Alex in 2004 may have been delivered by the United States Post Office to Kate living in 2006.] Kate appears to be somewhat angry, as she thinks Alex may be playing games were her.
April 3, 2004 Alex finds a new letter from Kate , plus a winter scarf, in the mailbox.. Kate living in 2006 has either sent, or maybe delivered herself, the letter and scarf which is discovered by Alex in 2004. Because Kate is living in 2006, she is able to warn Alex about a freak spring snowstorm that took place on April 3, 2004. Alex is incredulous, but the freak snowstorm occurs later that evening.

April 4, 2004 AND April 4, 2006 EVENTS

April 4, 2004 The morning after the freak snowstorm, Alex walks out to the mailbox and leaves a new letter for Kate. Alex places the flag up on the mailbox. The ground around the mailbox is covered with snow. As Alex walks back to the lake house [on April 4, 2004] , Kate dressed in bright spring clothing opens the mailbox door [on April 4, 2006] and removes the letter, and places the flag down.
Alex who is walking back to the lake house [on April 4, 2004] looks over his right shoulder and appears to observe that the flag is now down, but apparently he does not see Kate at the mailbox, because Kate is living in April 4, 2006.
Kate reads the letter which simply says: "Can this be happening?" Kate writes a letter which only says: “Why not?” and places it in the mailbox. Kate places the flag up.
Alex [on April 4, 2006] observes the mailbox flag going up, and races back to the mailbox. Alex reads Kate’s short letter and writes his own short letter, which says: “Impossible, I know. Not possible…but it’s happening.” Alex places his letter in the mailbox..
Kate and her dog [on April 4, 2006] observe that the flag on the lake house mail box goes down after Alex [on April 4, 2004] removes Kate’s letter. A few seconds later the flag goes back up, as Alex [on April 4, 2004] has just placed his new letter in the mailbox. Kate [on April 4, 2006] removes the new letter from Alex from the mailbox and places the flag down again. Kate reads Alex’s short letter, and writes a letter that only asks Alex: “Where are you”, and places it in the mailbox. Kate places the flag up again.
Alex [on April 4, 2004] is watching as the flag on the mailbox goes up. He reaches into the mailbox and gets Kate’s new letter. Alex reads Kate’s question: “Where are you?” and then Alex says to himself: “Where am I?” Alex can not believe that Kate is asking him that question? Alex is standing at the lake house mailbox [in 2004] and no one else is in sight, in any direction. Alex writes a letter that simply says “the lake house”
When Kate reads Alex’s reply, she is totally frustrated, and disgusted. Kate too, is standing by the lake house mailbox [in 2006] and no one else is in sight, in any direction. Then Kate does a little talking to the air around her. She says with disgust: “The lake house”…“As you can see, I, too am at the lake house, but I’m getting tired of these games, so I’m leaving, okay? Bye” “Thank you bye.” Kate leaves.

2004 EVENTS

Alex finds property that originally belonged to his father, in the attic of the lake house. When Alex brings this property to his father, his father informs him that he was already aware that he [e.g. Alex] had purchased the lake house.
October 6, 2004: Simon Wyler dies.
October 19, 2004: Alex places the book, "Persuasion" in the floor boards of Kate's future apartment.
October 19, 2006: Kate finds the book and knows that Alex has left it for her.
November 25, 2004: Alex makes reservations for Kate and himself at Il Mare for November 25. 2006.
Jack runs away. Alex abandons the lake house and gives the key to Morgan, so Kate can rent it.
Jack is found by Kate's boyfriend who assumingly gives Jack to Kate. Kate moves in.

2006 EVENTS

First event of the movie. Kate Forster walks out of the front door of the lake house with her dog Jack and they both walk to Kate's Ford Mustang.
Kate leaves a letter [her first] in the rural mailbox. In the letter Kate apologizes for the paw prints leading to the front door, and for the box that was left in the lake house attic.
On Valentine's Day, 2006 Kate witnesses a man dying in a traffic accident at Daley Plaza, in Chicago. Although she is a doctor and is on the scene within seconds, the man dies "in (her) arms," she later tells her lead doctor. Much later in the film we discover that it was Alex Wyler that died that day.

It appears obvious that immediately before the Valentine's Day accident at Daley Plaza,

Kate and Alex are both living in the same year [e.g. 2006].

On February 15, 2006, the day after Alex is killed, Kate drives to the lake house with her dog, Jack. Kate doesn't see any signs that anyone is living in the lake house.
Kate receives her first letter from Alex. When Kate checks the mailbox [the flag is up] she discovers that the letter she had left is missing, and another letter has been left in the mailbox, and that letter is addressed to her. Kate places the flag in the down position after she removes the letter Alex had left for her.
Kate reads most of the letter as she walks to her Mustang, with her dog Jack beside her. Kate sits in the front seat and finishes reading the letter.
At this point in the film, Kate somehow becomes aware that Alex thinks it is 2004 not 2006. Kate then starts to write a reply. [This is Kate's 2nd letter to Alex and it is her first reply to a letter from Alex] In the reply she reminds Alex that it is 2006 not 2004.
As Kate starts to write, Alex become superimposed on the scene. Alex is standing at the rural mailbox [the flag is up]. Alex has opened the door of the mailbox and is checking a letter that he finds there. Neither Alex nor Kate can see each other. Alex takes a quick look at the letter, and then places the flag on the mailbox to its down position. Alex continues to read the letter as he walks to the front door of the lake house. What Alex reads is what Kate is presently writing in the front seat of her car, yet Kate never seems to place this letter in the mailbox. Kate writes, possibly for the first time, that she now lives at 1620 North Racine in Chicago.
Alex is totally confused, when he reads Kate's reminder that it is 2006 not 2004. Kate had written: "Oh, by the way it is 2006. Has been all year. Ask anyone."
April 4, 2006 While visiting the lake house on a bright sunny day in 2006, [no snow is on the ground but it is the 2nd anniversary of a freak snowstorm that occured on April 4, 2004], Kate finds a letter from Alex, who is living on the day after that freak snowstorm.

This is the start of a series of events, that ends up with Kate being totally confused, and just wanting to get away from the lake house!

Refer to April 4, 2004 AND April 4, 2006 EVENTS Above for more details.

Kate waits at the Il Mare, but Alex does not appear.
Kate tells Alex not to write to her anymore.
December 31, 2005 Alex is present at a New Years Eve party, as the new year [e.g. 2006] arrives.
Alex and his brother Henry meet early in the day on February 14, 2006 . When Henry reminds Alex it is Valentine's Day, 2006, Alex gets into his pickup truck and races to the lake house. He gets on the ladder to the attic and searches for a specific letter from Kate that is stored there. This letter was the focal point for Alex being at Daley Plaza on February 14th 2006. Kate wrote this letter after Alex didn't show up at Il Mare, although neither of them knew it at the time--Alex had already died. Alex seeks another chance to find Kate, and she gave Alex a clue in that letter. It was unseasonably warm on Valentines Day. When Alex and Henry walk out on February 14, 2006 and notice how warm it is and Henry mentions it is Valentines day, that clue clicks into Alex' head. He rushes back to the lake house to find that letter. Knowing he didn't show up at Il Mare, he knows were Kate will be and will finally go to meet her. On Valentines Day 2008 when Kate and Morgan are at Visionary Vanguard, Kate finally finds out that Alex was the man killed by the bus exactly two years ago. Kate dashes out of the office and races to the lakehouse and writes a frantic letter to Alex warning him that HE is the accident victim and to stay away from the plaza, wait 2 years and go to the lake house. Since Alex is at the lake house finding the original letter Kate wrote about the accident at Daly Plaza, he is there to intercept the desperation letter by Kate. Now he had the original letter knowing where Kate was going to be and the warning letter not to cross the street. He knew on February 14, 2008 Kate would be at the lake house. Alex goes to Daley Plaza, but heeds the warning, does not cross the street, and waits. He knows in two years, Kate will be waiting for him at the Lake house.
On Valentine's Day, Alex receives Kate's desperate message from 2008 and begins his two year wait.
Just before the end of the film, there is a replay of some of the events that occurred at Daley Plaza on February 14,2006, in the beginning of the film. During this replay of events that occurred previously, Alex is warned by Kate [who appears in the same positions she was in previously on February 14, 2006] NOT to cross the street, thus Alex is not hit by a bus in the replay.

2007 EVENTS

Kate rekindles her relationship with Morgan.

2008 EVENTS

On Valentine's Day, Kate and Morgan visit an architecture firm co-owned by Alex's brother, Henry. When Kate notices a sketch of the lake house, she asks Henry who made the sketch. He tells Kate that Alex did; she asks to speak to him, and Henry pauses and says sadly that Alex died two years ago on Valentine's Day. Kate asks where it happened. Tho not stated specifically it is implied that Henry reveals that Alex was killed by a bus at a plaza. Kate realises that Alex was the man who she had attempted to save, although she didn't know who he was.
Kate rushes to the Lake House and its mailbox. She leaves a desperate message in the mailbox, telling Alex not to come to meet her at the plaza, not to cross the street and just wait. She waits at the lake house. Kate realizes the past has to catch up with the future. Kate knows she is at the lake house on February 14, 2008 and needs Alex wait for two years without looking for her until February 14, 2008.
Weeping, Kate almost fails to notice the telltale turning-down of the mailbox flag. She stands, turns around, and Alex appears in his pickup truck. She says "You waited", the two kiss and the movie ends. Kate and Alex now occupy the same time line in 2008.

Template:Endspoiler

Trivia

Throughout the film, both characters can be seen actually saying "2004" and "2002", but have been dubbed by Reeves and Bullock in post-production to be saying "2006" and "2004".^{[citation needed]}

The address that Kate (Sandra Bullock) lives at in 2006, 1620 North Racine, is non-existent. While there is a North Racine Street in Chicago, North Racine does not run in the 1600N block of the city.

Il Mare is referenced in "The Lake House". It is the name of the restaurant that Kate Forester and Alex Wyler agree to meet at.

Although the actual Lake House was constructed for the film and dismantled after completion, it was photographed by the Google Earth satellite and can presently be seen at the following coordinates 41° 42' 49.92" N, 87° 53' 10.56" W. For ease of location, the Lake House is on Maple Lake and reached by turning off Archer Avenue (171) at 95th Street and taking the turning on the right after Wolf Road and before 104th Avenue. In the Google Earth picture, the production trailers can be seen on the approach road.
The following link shows a hybrid satellite view of Maple Lake and the approach road to the lake house.
According to Sandra Bullock, although the actual Lake House had running water, it did not have toilets.
Alex (Keanu Reeves) leaves a box in the attic, yet there appears to be no visible attic above the ceiling but below the roof of the house. This appears to contradict the strict definition of an attic as being above the ceiling, but below the roof. It is possible that the 'attic' is a storage area inside the main body of the house, beneath the ceiling and reached by climbing up from underneath the house.
The song featured at Kate's birthday party is "This Never Happened Before" by Paul McCartney. However, this song was released on his 2005 album Chaos and Creation in the Backyard, which at the time of her party (2004) had not yet been released.

Cast

Sandra Bullock - Dr. Kate Forster
Keanu Reeves - Alex Wyler
Shohreh Aghdashloo - Dr. Anna Klyczynski
Christopher Plummer - Simon J. Wyler
Ebon Moss-Bachrach - Henry Wyler
Willeke van Ammelrooy - Mrs. Forster
Dylan Walsh - Morgan Price
Lynn Collins - Mona

Soundtrack

Release date: 20 June 2006, by Lakeshore Records

Track listing

"This Never Happened Before" - Paul McCartney
"(I Can't Seem To) Make You Mine" - The Clientele
"Time Has Told Me" - Nick Drake
"Ant Farm" - Eels
"It’s Too Late" - Carole King
"The Lakehouse" - Rachel Portman
"Pawprints" - Rachel Portman
"Tough Week" - Rachel Portman
"Mailbox" - Rachel Portman
"Sunsets" - Rachel Portman
"Alex's Father" - Rachel Portman
"Il Mare" - Rachel Portman
"Tell Me More" - Rachel Portman
"She's Gone" - Rachel Portman
"Wait For Me" - Rachel Portman
"You Waited" - Rachel Portman
"I Waited" - Rachel Portman

During the movie Reeves and Bullock dance in 2004 to the Paul McCartney song "This Never Happened Before", but this is anachronistic. The song was released in 2005 on McCartney's album Chaos and Creation in the Backyard.

Songs appearing in the film, but not on the soundtrack

"I Wish You Love" - Rosemary Clooney
"There Will Never Be Another You" - Rosemary Clooney
"Pink Moon" - Nick Drake
"La noyée" - Carla Bruni
"Sentimental Tattoo" - Jukebox Junkies
"Chiamami Adesso" - Paolo Conte
"When It Rains" - Brad Mehldau
"Young At Heart" - Brad Mehldau
"Almost Like Being In Love" - Gerry Mulligan
"O Pato" - Stan Getz
"A Man and A Woman" - Sir Julian
"Bitter" - Me'Shell Ndegeocello

Songs associated with the film, but not in the film or on the soundtrack

The trailer features the song "Somewhere Only We Know" by the band Keane. It is available on the album Hopes and Fears.

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.^[1]

On September 26, 2006, the movie became the first to be simultaneously released on DVD, Blu-ray and HD DVD (courtesy of Warner Home Video).

Critical reception

According to the website Rotten Tomatoes, 2/3 of the critics gave the movie a negative 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 their doubts 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 it a positive review, 3 1/2 stars of four, 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.

File:The Lake House in DVD.jpg

The Lake House DVD (full screen version shown)

Interviews

References

External links

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