Adaptation · written by Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman · 2002

Young Laroche watches the night from a bedroom surrounded by turtles.

Scene 48 of 202 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act one

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 28 min into a 1:57 film

The story so farBefore scene 48

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 45
Orlean’s account of old orchid hunters becomes a staged display of mannequins and cardboard swamp.
Scene 46
Charlie drives past women working in shops and leaves without approaching Alice.
Scene 47
Charlie types orchid imagery while Donald proposes adding the Swamp Ape and asks to borrow a murder idea.
Scene 48
This scene

48INT. BOY'S BEDROOM (1972) - NIGHT

There are now many turtles in aquariums. Many turtle books and posters. The boy, in a turtle T-shirt, looks out the window into the darkness. His eyes are troubled.