Adaptation · written by Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman · 2002

Charlie imagines the bookstore cashier exposing a heart tattoo, then hears a heartbeat become knocking.

Scene 35 of 202 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act one

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 21 min into a 1:57 film

The story so farBefore scene 35

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.
Scene 10
Valerie and Margaret give Charlie the assignment to adapt The Orchid Thief.
Scene 31
Donald’s rivalry and affection give Charlie a living counterpoint to his isolated view of himself.
Just before
Scene 32
Orlean drives through Florida and describes its mix of wildness and development.
Scene 33
Charlie drafts a van opening for the screenplay but cannot yet shape the book.
Scene 34
Laroche boasts about his horticultural expertise at the hearing as Orlean watches from the back.
Scene 35
This scene

35INT. BARNES AND NOBLE - DAY

As she rings up his books, Kaufman admires the cashier's flower tattoo. She catches him and smiles with red, wet, pierced lips. She unbuttons her blouse and shows him a breast with a heart tattoo. A sweet heartbeat turns to knocking.