Adaptation · written by Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman · 2002

Laroche leads Orlean into the black water and points out orchids while promising to find her a ghost.

Scene 155 of 202 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act two

Laroche
Orlean

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 1:19 into a 1:57 film

The story so farBefore scene 155

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.
Scenes 127–144
Charlie finds a way to focus the material by putting himself in it, then commits to meeting Orlean.
Just before
Scene 152
Orlean interprets Laroche’s memory as a story of striving for something exceptional rather than ordinary life.
Scene 153
Charlie walks into the New Yorker building with determined anxiety.
Scene 154
Charlie waits outside the elevator as people pass without him getting on.
Scene 155
This scene

155EXT. SWAMP - MORNING

Laroche and Orlean step off the levee into black water. They sink to their knees. The ground is soft; it's a struggle to pull their feet up to walk. Things slither past in the water. Something big runs by in the distance. Bees, and dragonflies hover. Gnats and mosquitoes bite. Birds screech. Frogs croak. Laroche points to a yellow flower.

LAROCHE

Here we go. Encyclia tempensis.

Laroche lights a cigarette.

LAROCHE (cont'd)

Nice little sucker, isn't it?

Orlean examines it from a distance.

ORLEAN

Cute.

Laroche continues walking and Orlean attempts to keep pace. He points at a tiny orchid on another tree.

LAROCHE

Clamshell orchid. You know that.

ORLEAN

Uh-huh.

LAROCHE

See, I found you two already. I'll show

you every orchid you want today. I'll

find you a fucking ghost if it kills me.

(pointing to another orchid)

Rigid Epidendrum. That's an ugly-ass

orchid. But I'm no snob. I'm interested

in all orchids. Not just pretty ones.