The Lake House

The Lake House is a 2006 American fantasy romance film directed by Alejandro Agresti and written by David Auburn. A remake of the 2000 South Korean film Il Mare, it stars Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock, who last appeared together in the 1994 action thriller film Speed. The film revolves around an architect (Reeves) living in 2004 and a doctor (Bullock) living in 2006 who meet via letters left in the mailbox of a lake house where they both lived at separate points in time. They carry on a two-year correspondence while remaining separated by the time difference. Plot In 2006, physician Kate Forster leaves a lake house she has been renting near Chicago and starts a job at a downtown hospital. She leaves a note in the mailbox asking the next tenant to forward her mail and explaining that the painted-on pawprints on the front walkway were there when she moved in as was the box in the attic. Two years earlier, architect Alex Wyler moves into the same lake house and finds Kate’s letter, which confuses him since he doesn’t see any pawprints. While he restores the house, he befriends a dog who one day runs through paint, leaving the paw prints referenced in Kate’s letter. He writes back, using the mailbox, asking how she knew about the paw prints since nobody had lived in the house prior to him. He also notices that the date on her letters is 2006. While having lunch in Daley Plaza on Valentine’s Day, 2006, Kate witnesses a man get hit by a car and tries but fails to save him. Depressed, she returns to the lake house and finds Alex’s letter. They regularly trade letters, using the mailbox’s red flag to determine when the other has received their message. Eventually, they learn that they are living two years apart, but can communicate through the mailbox almost instantly. Kate asks Alex to find a copy of Jane Austen's Persuasion that she left at a train station, which he does, and Alex takes Kate on a tour of his favorite architecture in Chicago. Both eventually meet at a birthday party Kate’s then boyfriend, an attorney named Morgan, throws for her. Despite sharing a kiss, Alex does not tell Kate about the letters.