The Lake House is a 2006 American Romantic Sci-fi drama film, directed by Alejandro Agresti and starring Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock, Christopher Plummer, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Shohreh Aghdashloo, and Dylan Walsh.
The story begins in 2006, when Kate Forster (Bullock), a lonely doctor, begins writing letters to the frustrated architect Alex Wyler (Reeves) who lives in her former home, only to discover that they're living two years apart.
A remake of the 2000 South Korean film Il Mare, it is Agresti's only English-language film to date.
This film contains examples of:
- Actor Allusion: Once again, Christopher Plummer is a secondary character in a time-travel romance. Here however he is less of an antagonist.
- The Constant: Two:
- The Lake House itself. It's all there in the title.
- Jack the dog. She appears as a stray to Alex in 2004, and he keeps her until she runs away and meets up with Morgan, who presumably gives her to Kate.
- Dead All Along: Alex was hit by a car early in the film. Kate doesn't find out until his brother told her.
- Dogged Nice Guy: Morgan definitely gives off these vibes. He really wants to connect with Kate, but has trouble understanding her needs and his efforts to overcompensate don't tend to work.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: After years of waiting and breaking up and even preventing the accident that would lead to him dying, Alex and Kate finally meet.
- Falling-in-Love Montage: Kate and Alex spend the day exploring Alex's favorite places in Chicago, with Alex leaving her a note in graffiti to let her know he's there with her in spirit.
- Magical Realism: There is a mailbox that allows objects placed inside to travel between 2004 and 2006. Nothing else is fantastical in the film.
- Mundane Utility: Through a form of time travel that allows information to be sent between two time periods, Kate and Alex become pen pals.
- Mutual Pining: Even when Kate breaks things off with Alex, she clearly still hasn't quite gotten over him, while Alex was always heartbroken about the breakup to begin with (especially since he hadn't actually Stood Up Kate at all).
- Mythology Gag: Kate and Alex are supposed to meet at a restaurant called "Il Mare", which is the name of the original Korean film that this film is a remake of.
- No Antagonist: The closest one is Morgan, but he doesn't directly get in the way of Alex and Kate and honestly has no idea of their romance, only a brief kiss they shared in 2004 when Alex was virtually a stranger to them both.
- The Reveal: The reason Alex doesn't meet up with Kate for their date in her timeline is because he was the one who was fatally hit by the car years beforehand, therefore he couldn't possibly meet her as a result.
- San Dimas Time: Time in 2004 lines up directly with 2006, meaning it is the exact same day and season for both Kate and Alex, just two years apart.
- The Slow Path: Alex ends up waiting four years for his timeline to finally match up with Kate's.
- Symbolic Glass House: Kate and Alex lived in two years apart has huge windows overlooking the lake, underscoring their loneliness and the irony that they can't be together even as they're falling in love.
- Time-Travel Romance: Two people fall in love while separated by two years.
