Adaptation.
Encyclopedia : A : AD : ADA : Adaptation.
- For other senses of the word, see adaptation (disambiguation)
Plot/ synopse
Why are we here? What is common between an orchid thief, a successful New York author who writes a book about the orchid thief, a screenwriter stuck with a book about orchids, Charles Darwin, a 4-billion year old earth, and orchids? Charlie Kaufman answers this question with the help of his twin brother Donald in this critically acclaimed film about how everything from the Earth to Charlie Kaufman adapts in this universal struggle for life.Quotes
- I was starting to think that the reason it mattered to care so passionately about something is that it whittles the world down to a more manageable size.
- I want to be a baby again. I want to be new. I want to be new...
- Point is, what's so wonderful is that every one of these flowers has a specific relationship with the insect that pollinates it. There's a certain orchid that looks exactly like a certain insect so the insect is drawn to this flower, its double, its soul mate, and wants nothing more than to make love to it. And after the insect flies off, spots another soul-mate flower and makes love to it, thus pollinating it. And neither the flower nor the insect will ever understand the significance of their lovemaking. I mean, how could they know that because of their little dance the world lives? But it does. By simply doing what they're designed to do, something large and magnificent happens. In this sense they show us how to live - how the only barometer you have is your heart. How, when you spot your flower, you can't let anything get in your way
- You are what you love, not what loves you.
Analysis
The screenplay is based on a true story. Based on the success of his screenplay for Being John Malkovich, Kaufman was hired to write a screenplay based on Orlean's book. However, he soon realized that the book simply couldn't be filmed. As he came under increasing pressure to turn in a screenplay, the "adaptation" became a story of a screenwriter's attempt to write a screenplay about a book that can't be adapted into a screenplay. Kaufman handed the script to his employers in the firm believing he would never work again. Instead, the backers enjoyed the script so much they decided to abandon the original project and film Kaufman's screenplay instead.The film is self-referential, in that we see the creative process behind the movie we are watching. At one point, Charlie is unable to think of a satisfactory ending for the script, and asks Donald how he would end it. At that moment, the style of the movie changes to Donald's style of scriptwriting, with intrigue, sex, car chases and guns replacing abstraction and angst.
Throughout the course of the film, Charlie writes or dictates ideas for his script of The Orchid Thief that are in fact used in this movie itself, such as the rapid timeline of Earth's development, or even of himself sitting there talking into a tape recorder. As well, virtually all of the things Charlie tells the producer that he doesn't want his script to turn into (a 'typical' Hollywood movie, where characters fall in love, or it turns out to be about drugs, or somebody unexpectedly dies) each occur after Donald "takes over" the writing of the movie. The forced inclusion of "Happy Together" as a meaningless pop-culture reference such as are used in movies Charlie criticizes creates yet another self-referential satire.
The self-referential nature of the film raises questions as to Donald's existence: that is, whether he is a real person, or merely an embodiment of one aspect of Charlie's personality (as he is in real life).
An ironic aspect of the film's post-modern self-referencing is the appearance of Robert McKee (Brian Cox), a real-life host of screenwriting seminars. McKee is renowned for warning his students about the technique of the deus ex machina. In the film, Kaufman represents McKee as the deus ex machina, as he gives Charlie the solution to his problematic situation.
The movie talks about the "Holy Grail", but all of the characters' quests in the story either fail or turn out to be futile:
- Charlie Kaufman wanted to write a movie just about flowers, and to impress Susan Orlean. He failed on both counts.
- John Laroche wanted to be a leader in many different and obscure fields. Whenever he accomplished this, however, he would abandon his hobby for a completely new one.
- Susan Orlean wanted desperately to see the Ghost Orchid and care passionately about something. When she saw the Ghost Orchid, she remarked that "It's. . .a flower." When she found passion, she devolved into a hopeless addict.
- Donald Kaufman didn't really want anything out of life but he lucked into all the things his brother Charlie was desperate for and wrote a hit script called The 3.
Awards
The film won one Academy Award (Cooper for Best Supporting Actor) and was nominated for, but did not win, three others:- Cage for Best Actor
- Streep for Best Supporting Actress
- Charlie and Donald Kaufman for Adapted Screenplay. Donald became the first truly fictitious person nominated for an Oscar.
- the BAFTA
- Boston Society of Film Critics
- Broadcast Film Critics Association
- Chicago Film Critics Association
- Florida Film Critics Circle
- Golden Satellite
- National Board of Review, USA
- New York Film Critics Circle
- Online Film Critics Society
- PEN Center USA West Literary
- San Diego Film Critics Society
- Southeastern Film Critics Association
- Toronto Film Critics Association
Cast
- Nicolas Cage - Charlie Kaufman / Donald Kaufman
- Meryl Streep - Susan Orlean
- Chris Cooper - John Laroche
- Cara Seymour - Amelia Kavan
- Tilda Swinton - Valerie Thomas
- Ron Livingston - Marty Bowen
- Brian Cox - Robert McKee
- Maggie Gyllenhaal - Caroline Cunningham
See also
- The Player, another satire of American films.
Box office
- Opening weekend U.S. gross: $2,636,924
- Total U.S. box office gross: $22,498,520
External links
- [Adaptation.] at BeingCharlieKaufman.com
- [}}}] at Rotten Tomatoes
- [Adaptation. September 24, 1999 draft script]
- [Adaptation. November 21, 2000 draft script]
- [Adaptation. Film Review]
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.