Adaptation · written by Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman · 2002

Laroche leaves home with his family while his father remains alone in front of the television.

Scene 80 of 202 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act one

Laroche

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 45 min into a 1:57 film

The story so farBefore scene 80

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.
Scene 75
Laroche says adaptation is learning how to survive in the world.
Just before
Scene 77
Charlie wakes to Donald typing amid the mess of his stalled writing life.
Scene 78
Orlean’s history of Florida’s dangerous swamp shifts from archival images into a staged diorama.
Scene 79
Laroche says darkness descended as he and Orlean sit beside his father watching television.
Scene 80
This scene

80INT. LAROCHE'S LIVING ROOM - DAY

SUBTITLE: NORTH MIAMI, NINE YEARS EARLIER

Laroche ushers his wife, mother, and uncle out of the house. His father watches TV. There's only a photo of Laroche's sister on the TV set now.

LAROCHE

Sure you don't want to come, dad?

His father doesn't respond.