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The Lake House
Original Theatrical Poster
Directed by	Alejandro Agresti
Produced by	Sonny Mallhi
Written by	David Auburn
Starring	Keanu Reeves Sandra Bullock
Music by	Rachel Portman Paul McCartney
Editing by	Alejandro Brodersohn
Distributed by	Warner Brothers
Release date(s)	US June 16, 2006
Running time	US 105 min
Language	English
Budget	US $40 million
Official website
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Ratings
Argentina:	13
Brazil:	Livre
Canada (BC/SK):	G
Germany:	o.Al.
Hong Kong:	I
Ireland:	12
Malaysia:	U
Philippines:	G
Singapore:	PG
Sweden:	Btl
United Kingdom:	12
United States:	PG

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.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Trivia 3 Cast 4 Soundtrack 4.1 Track listing 4.2 Songs appearing in the film, but not on the soundtrack 4.3 Songs associated with the film, but not in the film or on the soundtrack 5 Box office 6 Critical reception 7 References 8 External links

After witnessing a horrible accident where a bus hits and kills a man, Kate needs some time away so she visits the lake house. Nobody appears to be 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. The lake house, its enchanted mailbox, and the stray dog (whom Kate has named Jack, even though Jack is a female) are the only things linking them together.

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, I am here with you. thank you for spending this Saturday together". The word "together" was written because Kate would have loved it if Alex were there to walk with her.

Late one afternoon, as Alex's female suitor Mona is flirting with him and Alex is ignoring her advances, Jack runs off. Alex chases Jack across town and ends up at Kate's boyfriend Morgan's house. Mona catches up with Alex and Jack, and Morgan invites them to Kate's surprise birthday party. At the party, Kate is frustrated with Morgan's sincere but smothering ways. Alex walks outside on the porch and finds Kate alone, and he begins to talk to her. 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, a brilliant and renowned architect, 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 tells him about Valentine's Day 2006 when a man died "in her arms", and that she needs to live her own life. She asks Alex not to contact her again. Alex leaves her a growing pile of letters in the mailbox that she never retrieves. He is brokenhearted and decides to leave the lake house. He places the box in the attic that Kate referred to in her first letter.

Alex appears to Morgan (his truck packed for his move to the city) 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.

He moves to Chicago. Kate renews her relationship with Morgan, but doesn't appear to be happy. She and Alex do not exchange letters as Kate no longer goes to the mailbox. Almost one year passes.

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

New Year Eve 2005 finds Alex at some party sadly overlooking the city. It is New Year's Eve 2007 for Kate.

On Valentine's Day 2008, Kate and Morgan arrange to meet at an architectural firm unknowingly owned by Alex's brother, Henry. 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 Il Mare. 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 correspondence at the lake house. She had left him only 1 letter, but for Alex, 2006 means he has "known" 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".

On Valentine's Day 2006 Alex and his brother Henry are walking outside and a comment is made about the unusually warm weather. When Alex asks his brother go out later, Henry tells him he has other plans with his girlfriend Vanessa. It is, after all, Valentine's Day. Something clicks in Alex's head and he takes off for the lake house and retrieves a specific letter. He knows where Kate is going to be that day and intends on finding her.

The 2008 Kate has also put everything together and dashes out of the office and races to the lake house to frantically warn 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 an older Alex. She tearfully says "you waited" before being cut off as Alex kisses her. In the end of the movie, Alex and Kate walk into the lake house together.

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

• 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]}. This could be because the producers or whomever, wanted the majority of Kate's time to be 2006 since the movie was released in 2006. The original script probably had the majority of Kate's time happening in 2004. Because of this change, the movie ends on February 14, 2008 not February 14, 2006.
• 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 Forster 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′50″N, 87°53′10″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 final scene we see both Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock driving on Lake Shore Drive to the Lake House. However, the shots of them, have them driving north, but would actually have to head south to the true location of 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.
• The man sitting beside Kate on the Chicago bus is Alejandro Agresti, the Director of the film. Trivia for The Lake House (2006)
• This film is an example of the artistic genre of magical realism
• The results of altering the February 14, 2006 event lead to a selective result of succeeding 2007-2008 events. For example, had Alex not crossed the street, Kate wouldn't have witnessed the accident first hand and Alex would not have been rushed to and eventually died in the hospital where Kate worked. As a result Kate wouldn't have been as depressed and her superior wouldn't have advised her to take a break away from the city, thereby disabling her to read the first note from Alex at an earlier time.
• The movie's parallel timelines are two years apart, yet 2004 is a leap year while 2006 is not.
• The movie was parodied in a cut-scene of the Family Guy episode Stewie Kills Lois

• 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

The Lake House (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Soundtrack by Rachel Portman
Released	June 20, 2006
Genre	Soundtrack
Label	Lakeshore Records
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link

1. "This Never Happened Before" - Paul McCartney
2. "(I Can't Seem To) Make You Mine" - The Clientele
3. "Time Has Told Me" - Nick Drake
4. "Ant Farm" - Eels
5. "It’s Too Late" - Carole King
6. "The Lakehouse" - Rachel Portman
7. "Pawprints" - Rachel Portman
8. "Tough Week" - Rachel Portman
9. "Mailbox" - Rachel Portman
10. "Sunsets" - Rachel Portman
11. "Alex's Father" - Rachel Portman
12. "Il Mare" - Rachel Portman
13. "Tell Me More" - Rachel Portman
14. "She's Gone" - Rachel Portman
15. "Wait For Me" - Rachel Portman
16. "You Waited" - Rachel Portman
17. "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. However this can be argued due to the fact that the dance itself can be viewed as a recall of Bullock's character's memory in the film.

• "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

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

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 and HD DVD (courtesy of Warner Home Video).

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.

• MovieWeb
• Box Office Mojo
• Chicago Reader

• Official website,
• The Lake House at the Internet Movie Database
• The Lake House at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Lake House at Box Office Mojo