“I’m Ouroboros…I’ve written myself into my screenplay”.
Perhaps the most fitting way to describe “Adaptation.” (2002) is embedded in its body through this analogy. The story of “Adaptation.” is really and essentially the story of the trials and tribulations faced by Charles Kaufman, the screenwriter, while adapting for “Adaptation.” Ethan Warren points out: “Adaptation is an exercise in falsehood-within-falsehood”. “Adaptation,” albeit running the risk of being perceived as a true story, is not true to its material, just like the character Kaufman fails to remain loyal to Susan’s book, “The Orchid Thief.” Not only did the sensations in the third act not happen, the character of Donald Kaufman is entirely a jotted-up fiction too.
Adaptation. (2002) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
Charles Kaufman, the scriptwriter of “Being John Malkovich,” is tasked with adapting Susan Orlean’s “The Orchid Thief.” Undramatic, still, and solely flower-centric, “The Orchid Thief” may well have presented a challenge to any other film writer to adapt as it is without any noticeable narrative devices. However, Kaufman tries to be loyal to his choice of dispensing with anything close to being artificially plot-driven just for the sake of the Hollywood movie. Charles shares his house with his diametrically opposite brother, Donald. Donald is jobless and professes that he wants to consider screenwriting as his job, like his brother. To this end, Donald plans to opt for a three-day seminar by Robert McKee. Charles, on the other hand, believes that such a method of learning the art of writing is counterproductive.
Parallely, we are taken back three years earlier and also presented with Susan and the manner in which the book came into being. Furthermore, two years earlier, Susan had read an article about a white man and three Seminole men arrested with rare orchids in a state preserve. Susan did not waste any opportunity to write a piece on the culprit, John Laroche, for The New Yorker. She kept meeting Laroche for the purpose of her article and struck a chord with him. Contemplating the absence of passion and desire in her own marriage, one could see her being all the way more attracted to the beguiling presence of Laroche. After the publishing of the article, Susan considers expanding it into a book. In no time, an offer comes to adapt her book for the screen.
In the present time, Charles struggles to adapt the book into a film script, so he resorts to binding everything together– the orchid, Laroche, Orlean, and himself. Since talking at length about the orchid in itself merits no dramatic plot, he plans to start with the beginning of time and show how the flower came into being. However, the film seems to falter and lapse into a dead-end without a watertight story. Even when he is given a choice of endowing the script with a story, he refuses as he believes that he has a responsibility to be true to the original material. Charles decides to opt out of the project but halts his decision for fear of jeopardizing his career. What frustrates Charles even more is the fact that he is measuring himself against the standards set by McKee, which his brother so ardently followed and raved about.
Amidst a bout of self-doubt clouding his vision and mind, Charles sees a silver lining and soon comes to the realization that weaving himself and his struggle with the script into the narrative is the best possible idea. However, he refuses to meet Susan in embarrassment as he is failing to stay true to her book. The tandem narrative shows Laroche guiding Susan through the swamp in search of the ghost orchid. Charles goes to New York to meet Susan but fails to confront her. The time is ticking, and Charles is still clueless about his script. On the other hand, Donald’s thriller script grabs the attention of film executives.
Finally, Charles attends McKee’s seminar but comes at the receiving end of McKee’s jibes when he vouches for a reflection of the real-world through his script, a world where nothing much happens. McKee’s stand impacts Charles, and he approaches him after the seminar. McKee is not convinced by Charles’ choice of not sensationalizing the story. When Charles proclaims that he wants to show that Orlean never saw the orchid and the story is about disappointment, McKee asks him to infuse it with drama. McKee, in turn, advises Charles to shock the audience in the last act. He also stresses on the importance of change within the characters and the futility of a deus ex machina.
After his encounter with McKee, Charles seems to have become less rigid in his approach towards the script. He calls Donald, congratulates him on his script, and asks him to fly down to New York to read the script. When Donald flies down to New York and reads his script, he highlights that the script seems incomplete and suggests that Charles should meet Susan. Upon Charles’ refusal, Donald jots up the plan to meet Susan pretending to be Charles.
What happens when Donald meets Susan?
Donald meets Susan at The New Yorker office and interrogates her with wide-ranging, often conflicting, questions in order to understand her better. Susan claims that her relationship with Laroche was strictly that of a reporter and a subject. By refusing the question of her feelings of attraction towards Laroche, Susan says that the relationship, as it was professional, ended after she finished writing the book.
However, Donald is convinced that Susan is trying to deceive him after she comes out with a clichéd answer to the question of which historical personality she would like to meet for dinner. Donald asks Charles to get him a pair of binoculars so that he can spy on Susan. Furthermore, Donald observes that Susan is upset with something with a message on her computer that hints that she will leave for Miami the following day. Donald checks the porn site of Laroche and finds a photo of Susan. Both of them decide to follow Susan into Miami.
What has Susan hidden from the rest of the world?
In the narrative of three years earlier, Laroche guides Susan through the swamp in Fakahatchee to the ghost orchid. Finally, when Susan does see the ghost orchid, she looks unaffected. Her attraction and fascination with the orchid is brought to an end. Upon observing her reaction, Laroche discloses that the mystical nature of the ghost orchid is more so due to its capability to produce a psychedelic drug. Laroche offers to supply the drug to Susie as it helps induce a state of fascination. Thus also begins a fully established sexual relationship between them.
What do Charles and Donald find in Miami?
Donald and Charles follow Susan and Laroche into a house, where they see them snorting the drug and having sex. When Laroche catches Charles snooping on them, Susan suggests he be killed as he is most definitely about to put these secrets in his screenplay. Susan drives Charles to the swamp at gunpoint, but Donald helps Charles run away and hide. Stuck in the marsh, Charles comes in close contact with the wiser side of Donald, beyond the goofball side, which was unbeknownst to him all this while.
The next morning, the brothers are found by the couple, and Laroche shoots Donald. Charles drives the car fast to flee the place, but a ranger truck collides head-on, which kills Donald instantly. Charles leaves the car and flees as he is chased by Laroche and Susan. He hides in the swamp, where he is found again. But this time, before Laroche can shoot him, an alligator kills Laroche.
Adaptation. (2002) Movie Ending Explained:
How does Kaufman finish the script?
After Charles is rescued, he calls his mother and breaks down. Ironically, every element that Charles had previously promised not to include in the script finds a place mysteriously– orchid heist, drugs, car chase, sex, and death. He puts Doald’s last words in his script. He goes back to tell Amelia, his friend, that he loves her, and Amelia reacts positively. After meeting Amelia, Charles finally understands how to finish the script. The script, as Charles decides, should end with Kaufman driving back home after his lunch with Amelia and knowing how to finish the script.
The film ends with the voice-over of Charles stating: “Kaufman drives off from his encounter with Amelia filled with the first time with hope.” Here the script is allowed due dignity through the character development of Charles, as Charles’ self-loathing personality and recalcitrant nature are diluted and consolidated to a more accommodating and hopeful viewpoint.
