Adaptation · written by Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman · 2002

Laroche and his wife pose outside The Bromeliad Tree for a wedding-era photograph.

Scene 71 of 202 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act one

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 40 min into a 1:57 film

The story so farBefore scene 71

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 68
Laroche calls his broken back and pesticide poisoning strokes of luck because they led to money and a nursery.
Scene 69
A reader sees Laroche’s article about risking death for plants beside his photograph.
Scene 70
Laroche explains how disability payments and a new marriage helped him open his nursery.
Scene 71
This scene

71EXT. NURSERY - DAY

Laroche and his wife, in wedding clothes, stand outside their nursery The Bromeliad Tree posing for an auto-timed photo. Laroche wears a cumbersome back brace. The camera flashes.