Adaptation · written by Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman · 2002

Laroche and Orlean find the road out of the swamp by following a gleam of metal.

Scene 181 of 202 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act two

Orlean

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 1:32 into a 1:57 film

The story so farBefore scene 181

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 178
Charlie dreams that Darwin, Aristotle, Hegel, and Orlean’s portrait fight brutally.
Scene 179
Charlie asks whether a screenplay can show people who fail to change, and McKee erupts at his denial of life’s conflict.
Scene 180
Charlie catches McKee outside and begs to discuss his story and his human choices.
Scene 181
This scene

181EXT. SWAMP - DAY

Laroche and Orlean slog through the water with purpose, looking only straight ahead. As they walk the sounds and colors become subdued. Soon there is silence.

ORLEAN (V.O.)

We turned to the right and saw only more

cypress and palm and sawgrass

They turn left and see metal flashing in the sunlight.

ORLEAN (V.O.) (cont'd)

So we turned to the left, and there, far

down the diagonal of the levee, we could

see the gleam of a fender. We followed

it like a beacon all the way to the road.

Orlean and Laroche walk toward the car.