The Lake House (2006)

Directed by: Alejandro Agresti | 99 minutes | drama, romance, fantasy | Actors: Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Nathan Adloff, Willeke van Ammelrooy, Mike Bacarella, Richard C. Bozek, Frank Caeti, Bill Chamberlain, April Chancy, Lynn Collins, Matthew Burton Coyle, Tavares Davies, Brandon DeShazer, Matt Dworzanczyk , Scott Elias, Steve Figg, Diane Frances Fisher, Lori Ann Gerdish, Thaddeus Griebel, Caitlin Harrington, Patricia E. Harrington, Justin D. Jones, Ernie Lang, Debra Langland, Alexandra LoRusso, Cynthia Kaye McWilliams, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, India Neilan, Nora Newbrough, Jennifer OBrien, Christopher Plummer, Rikki Ragland, Joshua Rollins, Jonathan Samuels, Jessica Schlobohm, Jason Billy Simmons, Michelle Schleger, Monica Szaflik, Dylan Walsh, Alan Bovinett, Angie Craft, Alan Deutsch, Sue Durso, John R Haley, Billy Jackson, Theophilus Jamal, Giorgiana Jianu, Andy-John G. Kalkounos, Bob Kolbey, Maceo Morgan, Haley Nero, Aaron J. Patton, Angelina Riposta, January Scarpino, Gary Sedlock, Sean Skowronsky, Ron Valdez, Andrea N winter

The Lake House is a beautiful glass house on the lake. For Dr. Kate Forster (Sandra Bullock), her inhabitation ends when she takes a job in the big city of Chicago, where she works in a hospital. For Alex Wyler (Keanu Reeves) it will be moving when Kate is over and he realizes that life must continue. The glass house symbolizes transparency, but that is an illusion. You hold back the glass if you want to touch reality. From that point of view, Kate’s move to the city is interesting. As she says herself, she keeps every relationship at a distance. So is the relationship with Alex: in this case it is due to time. He turns out to have been the resident for her and there is almost two years away.

Alex’s father Simon (Christopher Plummer), who designed and built the house, frustrated his son quite a bit during his childhood. The family once lived safely in the glass house, but Simon found his career and growing reputation in the architectural world increasingly important. The family went under, Alex’s mother ran away, away from the glass house. Since then Simon considered his (ex) wife dead (which she did not much later), but Alex has never been able to forgive his father for this behavior. Alex also eventually leaves the glass house only when he is ready to go back into reality and ready for relationships. Then his father has already passed away and the time-distance relationship with Kate is over. He finally starts a partnership with his much younger brother Henry (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) who is also a promising architect, just like Alex himself by the way.

The film mainly focuses on the correspondence between the two protagonists. When they understand about the time that stands between them, it mostly turns into swooning over how they could still meet. Because very slowly the realization grows that you don’t want to play chess with your dog in the evening or be trapped in a glass cage. you want to be with your love. Kate is the first to realize that this is not possible. The question now is whether you have to have the conviction and perseverance to wait for that one chance, that one love that comes along. The book “Persuasion” by Jane Austen symbolizes this and runs like a thread through the film.

Bullock and Reeves give their roles little depth, they play as we are used to from them: pleasant to watch. So is the movie. A great movie to entertain you. And don’t worry too much about the correctness of things. The fact is absurd, but is treated seriously. The denouement is not surprising, but still pleasant.