Persuasion reference in THE LAKE HOUSE?
Hard to tell from this article, but we are intrigued!
Nor is “The Lake House” in a league with Jane Austen’s “Persuasion,” another reference.
Do they mean a thematic reference or an actual one? And if the former, to the film or the book? Hmm. Well, all that letter-writing and all. We adored Sandy and Keanu in SPEED, so we might have to put aside our horror of generic “chick flicks” and see this!
ETA June 15: Looks like it’s an actual reference.
Auburn also includes Jane Austen’s “Persuasion,” another tale of patience and longing, as a plot device.
We’re in.
June 18th, 2006 at 3:53 pm
They’re talking about real-deal written Austen (not the movie) and it’s more than a brief reference.
*** ALERT - MOVIE SPOILERS AHEAD ***
At a certain point in their time-travel correspondence, Bullock’s character decides to take advantage of the time warp, and writes Keanu that on that particular day two years before, she’d accidentally left behind a gift from her late father - a copy of Persuasion - as she raced to catch a train. Can he find it and get it for her? Then, later in the movie, Keanu coincidentally meets Sandra’s character at a party in 2004 (she has no idea who he is as she is not going to ‘meet’ him for two more years) and they talk about Persuasion, her saying it’s her favourite book and that it’s about a couple who keep meeting in the wrong time and place and you never know until the end whether or not it will work out.
June 19th, 2006 at 9:31 am
“they talk about Persuasion, her saying it’s her favourite book and that it’s about a couple who keep meeting in the wrong time and place”
Oh, so THAT’s what Persuasion is all about? Funny, all the times I’ve read it and watched the P2 movie version, I never quite saw it that way.
June 19th, 2006 at 9:47 am
LOL! Yes, they are stretching it quite a bit. But still, if it encourages a single RomDram-loving moviegoer to pick up Persuasion for the first time, I don’t mind.
June 19th, 2006 at 9:51 am
Well, if you squint and tilt your head a little, it makes sense. Sort of. Kind of?
June 19th, 2006 at 10:48 am
Girlfriend, when one wears bifocals, “squint and tilt your head a little” does not necessarily clear things up!
Yeah, I can sort of buy into the “wrong time” concept in Persuasion, but “wrong place” does not compute.
You know that now I shall have to watch P2 again tonight — for research purposes, of course.
June 19th, 2006 at 10:57 am
When she lived at Kellynch it was bad, when he lived at Kellynch it was bad, they had to flee Kellynch for Bath in order for their relationship to work out…
Evil Kellynch.
June 19th, 2006 at 6:14 pm
What was the excerpt that they used in the movie?
June 20th, 2006 at 5:25 am
I don’t think they actually used/quoted a specific excerpt from the book. There was just her asking him to see if he could ‘rescue’ it for her after she accidentally left it somewhere, and later in the movie she just gives the very general plot description as mentioned above.
June 20th, 2006 at 11:45 am
Actually she did quote from the book —
SPOILER ALERT
later in the film when she’s asked him not to write her, she discovers the book he’d retrieved for her hidden where she might find it. She opens it up (and it’s noticably worn, like he’s re-read it a ton) and she reads the last couple sentences from the 3rd paragraph in Chapter 8 - “…could have been no two hearts so open, no tastes so similar, no feelings so in unison, no countenances so beloved” that he’s bookmarked for her with either a dried flower or leaf (hard to tell)
June 20th, 2006 at 11:50 am
I should also mention that this came as quite a surprise for me - I had no idea it was going to be in there and it got me quite choked up, both from the surprise and how it tied into the theme. It does contribute significantly to the overall theme - two older people who literally meet at the wrong time and have personal issues and struggles to overcome and also the whole “waiting” thing…
June 21st, 2006 at 5:21 am
Oooh… better and better! I haven’t actually seen the movie (it’s not out in Holland yet), but after my Mom in the States did, she immediately called to tell me the details I mentioned above as she knows I delight in anything Austen.
“…could have been no two hearts so open, no tastes so similar, no feelings so in unison, no countenances so beloved”
*swoons*
And I’m telling you, I’m convinced this really IS the kind of stuff that could make some people go and read the book for the first time.
June 21st, 2006 at 9:05 pm
Yep, I’ve been lurking on IMDB helping out lost souls on the Lake House forum leading them towards JA
Uninitiates are asking things like “What was the book called? Started with a P?” and wanting to know the quote, etc….
June 23rd, 2006 at 11:14 pm
can anyone tell me who actually wrote the Lakehouse?
June 25th, 2006 at 7:44 pm
According to IMDB, it was David Auburn, based on a Japanese film. Here’s the official site. Watching the trailer, I really want to see it now…I love freaky-deaky time travel stuff, even when it’s corny!
June 26th, 2006 at 12:52 am
During the opening credits, it was written, based on the movie “IL Mare”. I’ve seen it, it is a South Korean film and basically the plot of the two are the same but IL Mare is longer and dragging and without the Persuasion reference. I like The Lake House more:)
p.s. I think the producers decided to give credit to the original film by naming the restaurant where Katie and Alex supposed to meet, IL MARE.
June 30th, 2006 at 12:02 am
Actually, Kate tells Alex that Persuasion is about “waiting,” which it sort of is, in the sense that Anne unknowingly lets the years pass (waiting) until she meets Capt. Wentworth again, and when they do meet, she does have to wait for him to figure out that he still loves her, since she knows she still loves him. It sort of fits.
I saw the movie last night, and other than being a little on the slower-paced side, it worked. One critic wrote about Alex’s “palpable yearning” for Kate, which is so understandable. The fact that they hardly are ever in the same screenshot just increases the audience’s yearning too.