Adaptation · written by Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman · 2002

Laroche says people began visiting the nursery to admire his plants and him.

Scene 73 of 202 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act one

Laroche

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 41 min into a 1:57 film

The story so farBefore scene 73

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 70
Laroche explains how disability payments and a new marriage helped him open his nursery.
Scene 71
Laroche and his wife pose outside The Bromeliad Tree for a wedding-era photograph.
Scene 72
Charlie tries several opening ideas, loses his hair, and cannot settle on one.
Scene 73
This scene

73INT. DINER - DAY

Laroche talks to Orlean.

LAROCHE

People started coming out of the

woodwork, to ask me stuff, to admire my

plants, to admire me.