Adaptation · written by Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman · 2002

Darwin’s voice reads about life descending from a common origin.

Scene 59 of 202 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act one

Darwin

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 36 min into a 1:57 film

The story so farBefore scene 59

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 56
Charlie tells his therapist he wants to be loved for himself, then catches himself staring at her body.
Scene 57
Laroche tells Orlean that orchid collecting becomes a sickness, while she resists his enthusiasm.
Scene 58
Charlie piles up books on his abandoned interests and begins reading Darwin.
Scene 59
This scene

59INT. BOOK-LINED STUDY - NIGHT

SUBTITLE: ENGLAND, ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY NINE YEARS EARLIER

Sepia. A sickly Darwin writes at his desk.

DARWIN (V.O.)

Therefore I should infer from analogy

that probably all the organic beings

which have ever lived on this earth have

descended from some one primordial form,

into which life was first breathed.