Adaptation · written by Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman · 2002

Laroche tells Orlean his wife left after recovering and the hurricane destroyed his nursery, leading him to the Seminoles.

Scene 84 of 202 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act one

Laroche

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 46 min into a 1:57 film

The story so farBefore scene 84

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 81
A head-on crash kills Laroche’s mother and sister and leaves him badly injured.
Scene 82
Laroche stands at a double funeral, now missing his front teeth.
Scene 83
Laroche sits beside his comatose wife in the hospital.
Scene 84
This scene

84EXT. SEMINOLE DISCOUNT CIGARETTE STORE PARKING LOT - DAY

It's a busy street full of discount cigarette stores. Laroche and Orlean step from his van, head toward the store.

LAROCHE

She divorced me soon after she regained

consciousness. Then the hurricane

destroyed my greenhouse. Everything. I

knew it would break my heart to start

another nursery, so when the Seminoles

wanted a white guy, an expert, to get

their nursery going, I took it.