Unable to find a conventional story in The Orchid Thief, screenwriter Charlie Kaufman turns his own crisis into an increasingly self-referential adaptation.
- Scenes 1–9
Charlie inhabits an isolated, self-condemning world while Orlean’s book supplies a distant model of obsession.
- Scenes 10–88
Charlie wants to write honestly and make flowers matter, while also longing to be desired and understood.
- Scenes 89–105
He leaves his familiar writing room and goes to Florida to search for the story firsthand.
- Scenes 106–126
The swamp is ordinary, Orlean’s research fails, and Charlie experiments with increasingly personal versions of the book.
- Scene 127
Orlean’s imagined portrait tells Charlie to focus on what he cares about, and he turns his own life into the screenplay.
- Just before
- Scene 133
Charlie imagines an intimate life with Orlean, who corrects his version of her marriage.
- Scene 134
Charlie explains his new idea to Orlean’s photograph, then panics when Valerie says Susan wants to meet him.
- Scene 135
Charlie lashes out at Donald for pretending to be a writer and collapses in pain.
- Scene 136
This scene
