Movie description: "A lonely doctor who once occupied an unusual lakeside house begins to exchange love letters with its former resident, a frustrated architect. They must try to unravel the mystery behind their extraordinary romance before it's too late."
The weird thing about their romance is that they are separated by two years' time. The makers of The Lake House know the contradictions in the story. To enjoy The Lake House, it helps to consider drawings by the artist Escher, and to accept the movie without getting too caught up in the plot contradictions.
Besides, when was love logical?
From here on there will be spoilers. You have been warned.
Let's start by considering the movie the way most will view it, as a rom com. Then we'll get to Jane Austen's Persuasion and Douglas R. Hofstadter's Gödel, Escher, Bach, which may seem like a strange combination. Bear with me!
Kate is a young doctor who has just moved out of the lake house she was renting while doing her residency. She leaves a note for the next tenant, telling whoever it is to forward her mail if any gets through. But the person who receives her letter is not the next tenant, but Alex Wyler, the guy who was living in the lake house before her. In other words, they are separated by time, but somehow the mailbox carries their letters through that time.
Both Kate and Alex are attractive people, so they don't lack for potential partners. But they are also both introverted and intellectual, and hence slow to get interested in anyone. Their confusion at what the other is claiming and the dates that seem wrong pique their interest in each other.
Moreover, both Alex and Kate have problems with loving. Alex is messed up from his parents' failed relationship, which is why he went missing for four years. As he cannot forget his father, he is working at repairing the damage. I believe that's why he bought the lake house – to fix the symbol of his parents' love for each other. When Simon is in the hospital, there's a scene where he pulls up the covers on his father: the sign that he has forgiven him.
Kate is closed off; she has trouble loving anyone. I suspect it's because she is so attractive that she has too many offers. Her relationship with Morgan exists because he is insistent, not because she loves him. She prefers one-on-one encounters, with real conversation, instead of large parties.
It's important for these somewhat dysfunctional people to have an emotional connection before they meet. One interesting thing about love – note, this is how to make someone fall in love with you! – is that the person who does things for the object of their love falls more deeply in love. Alex starts by going to her under-construction apartment building for her in order to give her a letter. He goes to the train station and picks up Persuasion (and discovers she's beautiful). He takes her on a walk through Chicago and leaves a graffiti message for her. He plants a tree for her (when it appears we see that actions in his time can change the future time).
Kate does things for Alex as well. She provides a scarf for him when there's going to be a freak winter storm. When his father dies, she gives him a copy of his father's memoirs, even though they have not yet been published in his time. Also, the correspondence requires more effort for her, as she works crazy hours and has to drive a distance in order to reach the lake house and its magical mailbox.
Their relationship is facilitated, not just by the magic mailbox, but by a wonderful dog who apparently belongs to both of them. In Alex's time, the dog arranges for Alex and Kate by running off to Morgan's house. Alex wonders if he and Morgan have met. They have not, but Alex saw Morgan before with Kate, which is why Morgan looks familiar to Alex. Morgan invites Alex and Mona to Kate's birthday party. Alex, unable to resist, goes with his colleague to Kate's birthday party.
Keanu Reeves does an amazing job with the awkwardness Alex must be feeling at that party. As Alex later says, he couldn't tell Kate about their relationship because she would have thought he was crazy or drunk (he tries several times but can't find the words). Still, he connects to her, he learns she is not in love with her boyfriend, and he kisses her. Although kissing her is a betrayal of Morgan's hospitality, it's necessary. Alex/Kate knows/will know there's an emotional attraction, but they also need to know if there's physical attraction. She invites him to dance; she responds to his kiss. He knows it's real, and she, when she remembers it, will know it's real as well.
But when they try to meet in her time, he doesn't show up. Kate decides she needs to stop waiting for what appears to be a fantasy and she tries to make a go of it with Morgan. Only on Valentine's Day 2008 does she discover that the reason Alex didn't show up was because he was hit by a bus (the proverbial bus!) back in 2006. In fact, he died in her arms.
For once, the rom com formula requiring a race at the end makes sense. Both Alex and Kate rush to the lake house: Alex, to find out where she is on that day, and Kate to stop him from getting hit by the bus.
So, what about Jane Austen's Persuasion? The Lake House uses it explicitly. I never considered it to be a book about waiting, but certainly the romance between Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth gets put on hold. Persuasion is great as a plot point, as Alex finds the book she left at the train station, uses it to break the ice with her, and even places it in her apartment.
The Lake House has no explicit mention of Escher. But, near the end of the film, the second scene at Daley Plaza, there's a moment when a whole bunch of pigeons take flight. This is reminiscent of one of Escher's drawings of doves. We see the pigeons (a type of dove) right after Kate has told Alex she loves him and begs him to wait for her. Then we see the pigeons fly away in no particular order, the symbol they have broken the loop and are out of the Escher drawing.
Title musings. The Lake House is the title of the movie. It's a remake of Il Maree (South Korean movie) which means The Sea in Italian (that's worked into the story by making that the name of the restaurant where they don't meet). The Lake House is a fine title.
Bits and pieces
Kate and Alex seem to be two years and two hours apart. Clue: Kate's two birthdays. Kate is drinking at 10 pm, but the party is taking place at 8 pm. These two extra hours allow her to save him in the end.
Bet Morgan and Kate had a fight right after Morgan and Mona caught Kate and Alex kissing! Also, the look on Mona's face means she finally realizes that Alex is not interested in her.
When Kate breaks off their correspondence, Alex has not returned Persuasion. She's no longer coming to the mailbox. To get it back to her, he sneaks it into her new apartment while it's under construction. I love how he put a dried flower in a spot with one of Persuasion's most romantic passages.
Sometimes the suspension of disbelief does get challenging. Why didn't Kate look up Alex in her own time? Why didn't it occur to her that "Henry Wyler," architect, might be related to both Simon and Alex? Also, how can she not know she was renting from Alex Wyler? He owns the lake house. And, as Alex owns the lake house, he knows he was renting to her (in fact he arranges it). So he could have found her then.
The light Simon talks about on his deathbed – how light enhances art but can also degrade it – may be a metaphor recommending us not to look too closely at the convoluted plot
Hope Alex didn't kill his father with that cup of coffee! I drink a lot of coffee!
The black and white TV scenes are from Notorious, starring Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman.
Kate doesn't say explicitly that she doesn't love Morgan, but she does say she has only been in love once, back when she was 16. Which means she is not in love with Morgan. In a way, breaking them up is a favor to Morgan. Besides, Morgan completely ignored Valentine's Day in 2008.
The tree inside the lake house must be something like a Japanese maple, to keep it from growing too tall. As filming must take place whenever filming can take place, the condition of the inside tree's leaves (or lack of them) signal the season in the story.
On the other hand, the tree Alex planted for Kate grew far too much for just two years.
Hmm, we never saw any actual letter carriers using the mailbox.
Quotes
Dr. Klyczynski: Kate, I'm going to tell you what I tell every young doctor. Hopefully, you'll be the first to listen. On your day off, get as far away from this place as you can.
Kate: Oh, by the way, it's 2006. Has been all year. Ask anyone.
Alex: 2006? What does she mean, 2006?
Henry: Obviously I derive my inspiration for the metaphor of the fugue, the loop...
Kate: But if she's not careful, she could spend her whole life waiting.
Kate: Oh. Well, of course I love my husband, who is also a doctor. Plastic surgeon for small farm animals.
Alex: Good. I'm married too. I've got eight children, and none of them look like me.
Simon: Come on. Tell me. Where have you been? I really want to know.
Alex: I was trying to forget you. Or forgive you.
Alex: Dad knew how to build a house, not a home. But you know, I think he wants us to do what he couldn't.
Kate: One man I can never meet. Him, I would like to give my whole heart to.
Dr. Klyczynski: Christ, he's in prison, isn't he?
Simon Wyler: You mentioned Meier. His Barcelona museum stands in the same area as Casa de la Caritat. It drinks the same light. Meier designed a series of louvered skylights to capture that light and cast it inward to illuminate the art within, but indirectly. And, that was important, because although light enhances art, it can also degrade it.
Kate: If I could do one thing for you today, from here, one small, simple thing from the future, I hope this is it. It won't be published for a couple of years, but I don't think you should have to wait that long. I hope it helps you know how much you were loved.
Alex: What about Persuasion? You told me. They wait. They meet again. They have another chance.
Kate: Life is not a book, Alex.
Alex: She's more real to me than anything I've ever known.
Kate reading from Persuasion: "There could have been no two hearts so open, no tastes so similar, no feelings so in unison..."
Kate: I love you. And it's taken me all this time to say it, but I love you. And if you still care for me, wait for me.
Overall rating
Obviously, I liked this movie, or I would never have written so much. I liked how it treated love, but also the references to Austen and the allusions to Hofstadter, two of my favorite authors. I doubt many others will see as much as I see in it, but I can't resist four out of four magic mailboxes.
Victoria Grossack loves math, birds, Greek mythology, Jane Austen and great storytelling in many forms.
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