The African Queen

SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

The African Queen (1951), directed by John Huston, is a story that deals with how people who have withdrawn from adversity can subsequently tap into their heroic nature when a crisis occurs. It also shows that people who are so different and would not meet under average circumstances are able to bond when extreme circumstances bring them together. Each person is capable of bringing out hidden aspects that were submerged before meeting adversity.

The story takes place in German East Africa in September, 1914. Missionaries are trying to bring their version of civilization to the inhabitants. The opening upward shot creates a view of the all-encompassing jungle and its majesty. The animal sounds immediately tell us how far this place is from so-called civilized cultures. But the real bestiality does not come from the land. The impending war points to how humans inflict their destruction and barbarity onto the continent. 

Rose (is she a flower ready to blossom?) Sayer (Katharine Hepburn) plays the organ and helps her brother, the Rev. Samuel Sayer (Robert Morley), try to lead the natives in a Christian hymn. The result is a cacophony of noise, stressing the lack of harmony between the two cultures. Another sound intervenes, which is that of the whistle on the decrepit-looking boat, the African Queen, belonging to Charlie Allnut (Humphrey Bogart, in a Best Actor Oscar winning performance). Bogart here is very different compared to the tough man-of-few-words but mostly moral types in other films he acted in. He is overly talkative in this movie. But he initially does not try to stick his neck out and put himself in danger, similar to Rick in Casablanca. His last name may suggest that he is crazy, a tough nut to crack, or he has the “nuts” (balls) that show he, potentially, can be a brave man. Here the sound of his boat easily distracts the African congregation who look baffled by what the white missionaries are trying to foster on them. 

Charlie, dirty, unshaven and smiling, seems at home in the wilderness of the jungle. The natives are familiar with him as he hands one a cigar. The Sayers are dressed as if they are in an urban setting, wearing fancy clothing that is unsuitable for the hot climate and which shows them to be out of place. Charlie has brought them their mail. The differences between these people continue when they sit down for tea, which the Sayers act like they are drinking in a British garden. Charlie’s stomach is growling since it is taking a long time for Rose to properly serve the bread and butter with the tea. He comments on the strange sounds a man’s stomach can make, but the uppity Sayers do not want common bodily functions discussed in front of them. Samuel reads that an acquaintance is now a bishop, and he seems envious. He dismisses the man’s abilities, implying he married well and that is how he was promoted. Samuel’s behavior is not that of an unselfish religious man devoted to loving others. The Sayers do not fit in with their new surroundings, but also are out of touch with what is happening elsewhere. Charlie tells them of the coming war between many European countries, and that each nation blames the other for starting the conflict. Samuel wonders if they will be considered hostile visitors in a German occupied territory, but Charlie tries to reassure them that nobody cares about “this God forsaken place.” This remark riles Rose who says her brother's presence points to God not abandoning this area on earth. Note that she gives all credit to her sibling as she allows herself to be subordinate to his leadership.

After Charlie leaves, Samuel again shows his disdain by calling Charlie a “wretched” man because he is Canadian and doesn’t seem to care about allegiance to their matriarchal country, Britain. Samuel says he can’t leave his “flock,” so he rejects Rose’s suggestion to depart. But he can do little when the Germans arrive and burn the huts of the natives and the wooden church, taking the men to use them as soldiers. Samuel seems to be broken mentally after this brutality, as he doesn’t even seem to realize he is in Africa. He becomes delirious and then collapses.

Charlie comes back because the Africans who were working for him at the Belgium mines heard about the German raids. The mine was abandoned and Charlie’s men ran off. Rose tells Charlie that Samuel died. Charlie says they must bury him and leave, because the Germans will be after his boat because of the supplies it is carrying. Thus, it is just the two of them now who must learn to survive together.

Rose is out of her depth at first when Charlie has her steer the boat so he can tie it up to the shore. She is starting on a new journey, physically and psychologically, and she must adapt without relying on her brother. Charlie says they have food and plenty of cigarettes and booze, the latter two drawing a look of disdain from the upright Rose. She wants to get out of there, but Charlie points out the difficulty of escaping the Germans. He seems to not want to put himself in any danger and wishes to sit it out until the war blows over. Charlie points out that the Germans have a large ship called the Louisa with a huge gun that prevents the Allies from getting across the lake to rescue people like Rose and Charlie. He also informs her that it will be difficult going down the river since the Germans are stationed where it flows into the lake. 

But Rose is seeking a new mission, and her inner strength begins to appear. She finds out that they have blasting equipment, but no detonators. There are also oxygen tanks on board. Since Charlie is sort of a mechanic, Rose says he can make a torpedo out of a tank, hang it over the side of the boat, and cause it to ignite and destroy the Louisa by scraping against its hull while they jump off. Charlie’s easygoing, joking manner turns to one of alarm at the suggestion. She calls into question his patriotism, and pushes him into leaving immediately as she has found an earthly crusade to embark upon. He now feels resentful of the pushy Rose, and mocks her demanding voice. Circumstances have allowed Rose to emerge from under the shadow of her brother’s spiritual crusade. Despite Charlie's reticence, he, as well as Rose, have not stayed in their comfort zones, having come to a place where there are many challenges. Their presence in Africa shows that they have the potential to be courageous and unselfish. 

As they go down the river, Rose is very inquisitive and learns more about the boat and how to “read” the waterway so as to navigate away from dangers. Charlie has to kick the boiler to let the steam out to reduce pressure because a screwdriver fell into it. He hasn’t removed the tool because he likes kicking the engine, which is a way for him to let off steam himself. She is becoming more worldly, so in that sense Charlie is her mentor. However, she does not want to learn about his drinking gin, and is relieved that he is considerate enough to make her tea. He now tries to duplicate the hospitality she showed him at the village. He likes to put a positive spin with a smile and a laugh even when things are negative, such as when he says the tea may taste rusty, but they “can’t have everything, now can we?” This overly courteous behavior seems forced, like he doesn’t want to reveal his own anxiety, or he can possibly be trying to cover up his roughness with a veneer of civility so as to be accepted by Rose. 

She says that she left England and has been in Africa for ten years. She does get nostalgic for her homeland’s peace and quiet on Sunday afternoons. Her genteel memory contrasts with his remark about “sleeping one off” on a Sunday as he recovered from a drinking binge on Saturday night. He says he came to Africa to get employment working on building a bridge. He misses the fun he had on the weekends, but during the week he had to take “orders” from others. He is his own boss in Africa, which shows his independent nature. They both need to wash up, and he says that they can go to opposite ends of the boat and avoid exposing themselves to each other. They both keep on their undergarments, however (this is 1951), and when Rose can’t climb back on board, Charlie must close his eyes as he helps her get on the boat. After falling asleep, it begins to pour. Charlie is drenched and reluctantly tries to get under the overhead covering where Rose is. She kicks him out, but realizes he just wants to avoid the downpour. She then invites him to get out of the rain. She kindly opens her umbrella to protect him from the rain coming in on the side where he sleeps. The scene adds a bit of sexual tension between the characters.

As he navigates through the rapids, there is a smile on his face while she looks alarmed. What he hopes is that she will become frightened and will call off her dangerous mission. But she surprises him by saying how excited she was, almost acting like it was a sensual experience. He is disappointed she isn’t willing to give up. He warns that their trip will get much worse, but she wants to do more steering and looks forward to the thrill. Ruth’s taking over most of the navigation shows her learning to take control of her life. Rose is no longer a wallflower and is becoming the wildflower she really is. 

After Charlie gets drunk, Rose sees that he is no longer polite and upbeat. He drops the pretense of being agreeable and says that her idea to sink the Louisa will not happen. He mocks her civilized speech. She keeps saying they will continue with her campaign, but he refuses. She says that he promised and is a liar and a coward. He reacts angrily, saying it’s his boat, and only invited her onboard out of pity for losing her brother. But her unrealistic demands are met with Charlie nastily saying, “I ain’t sorry for you no more, ya crazy, psalm-singing, skinny old maid!” He then goes off to drink more gin.

Charlie wakes to find Rose pouring all of his gin overboard, and there is a river of bottles floating along the waterway, as he bemoans his loss. Charlie does clean himself up by shaving, which he attributes to being around a woman with “clean habits.” He compliments her countering his procrastination about cleaning up the boat's engine, as he now performs that task. He seems to want to try to get back into her good graces. But she silently ignores him as she reads, and will not even respond when he says he will make her some tea. He appears dejected since she is not reacting to his attempts at being friendly. When she will not read from the bible for him, he becomes angry, questioning her Christian charity. He says it’s only natural for a man to drink a bit, but she counters by saying, “Nature, Mr. Allnut, is what we are put in this world to rise above.” She is espousing the denial of physical temptations which exist as tests to overcome. He apologizes for what he said when he was drunk, but she says that what is really bothering her is going back on his promise to go down the river and attack the Louisa. He says it is just too dangerous, but he can’t stand her silence, so he gives in. But, he sarcastically says he will eat his breakfast, which will be his last one. 

As they get on their way, Charlie sees many crocodiles entering the river and says they’re waiting for their dinner, which he implies will consist of him and Rose. He acts ironically cheerful and says that’s because he “gave myself up for dead back where we started.” They pass by a German fortress and they stay down in the boat for protection. The Germans use the Africans they abducted to help fire on the African Queen. They damage it, but Charlie reconnects a hose to get the boat going again as bullets fly around them, just missing igniting the explosives. But Rose was right that the sun would get in the eyes of the shooters, who can’t finish them off. But they must next confront the rocks they are rushing toward. The boat is slammed by the waves as Charlie keeps trying to keep the engine functioning and Rose holds onto the rudder. They somehow get through, and they are ecstatic, shouting how they survived. They hug each other and the scene ends in a kiss, which surprises them both. Charlie goes to the front of the boat and symbolically feeds the steam engine, its fire mirroring the passion he now feels. 

There follows a suggestive scene where Rose helps with pumping water out of the boat, and Charlie is close behind her, almost hugging her, holding her hand as he shows her how to accomplish the task. As she vigorously pumps the handle, the dreamy look in her eyes implies a desire for intimacy that she longs for. She removes a thorn in his foot following the collection of firewood, and when he touches her shoulder and says some of the local flowers, “sure are pretty,” she knows he is talking about her. They then kiss.

The next day she calls him “Dear,” and wakes him with coffee. He now acts gung ho about blowing up the German ship to please her. She, trying to reciprocate, notes some ‘misgivings,” about the quest. But then she says she is strengthened by his resolve. The look on his face shows he realizes he may have blown the chance to halt the precarious journey they are on. Later, they momentarily laugh together as Charlie imitates hippos and monkeys, showing they can enjoy the jungle they are traveling through, but then the dangers quickly resurface as they approach some treacherous rushing through waterfalls. 

They get through the dangerous stretch but must bail out the boat. He dives under the craft and sees there was damage to the shaft and propeller. Despite the adversity, Rose stays positive and suggests different ways to make repairs, encouraging Charlie to push himself to realize his potential to solve problems. She joins him under the boat to help with the work. They must take off their outer garments which symbolizes their shedding of inhibitions and differences that would keep them apart under usual circumstances, and are able to make the repairs as a team. They are painting themselves as heroes now, like “Antony and Cleopatra,” as they have bolstered each other’s self-esteem.

But things do not remain “Rosie,” as Charlie now calls his companion. They are swarmed by mosquitoes, but they can’t jump into the river because there are crocodiles entering the water. He covers her so she will not get bitten, and he braves the onslaught by pushing the boat away. Charlie suggests that they will be committed to each other as he says they will have stories “to tell our grandchildren.” And there are more stories to tell as they have a difficult time steering the boat through the marshy reeds to stay on track. Even when he becomes frustrated and angry, Rose encourages him. He has to go into the river and pull the boat, so heavy is the burden he has taken on. He comes out covered in leeches, but Rose is smart enough to pour salt on the creatures to get them off. She shows her strength of character by clearing the way with a machete as Charlie continues to pull the craft. But they can’t get the African Queen off the mud, and Charlie is exhausted and shaking. But he says he doesn’t regret one moment of being with her, showing how love has given him his purpose in life. As he sleeps, she resorts to her faith, which has not been shaken, and prays that God welcomes them if it is their time.

 As if her prayers were heard, a storm occurs and the rain unleashes rushing water that frees the boat from the reeds and pushes them into the lake which is their destination. But they see the Louisa heading towards them. They hide in some reeds, this time for protection, and are safe. They then prepare the air tanks by adding the explosives, and Charlie rigs up some bullets to fire and ignite the makeshift torpedo when it rams into the Louisa through a hole in the African Queen’s hull. 

Charlie has Rosie on his shoulders as she raises the British flag on his boat as Charlie has, like Bogart’s Rick, decided that there is something worth fighting for other than one’s own interests. Love means self-sacrifice, so each says they will attack the Louisa alone, trying to protect the other. But, Rose realizes they must remain a team to get the job done. She admits that she doesn’t want to go on without him, now that she has found a rich life here on earth. They decide to attack at night, a dangerous time because of visibility, but the most efficient if they don’t want to be spotted. However, a storm adds to the problem because the boat takes on too much water and it sinks. Charlie loses track of Rose.

The Germans capture Charlie. On the Louisa, under interrogation, Charlie says he was just fishing, but is accused by the First Officer (Theodore Bikel) of spying, and he is sentenced to be hanged. Charlie is despondent since he believes Rose has drowned. But he rejoices when German sailors arrive in a rowboat and bring Rose aboard. She tells the German that they were prepared to sink the Louisa to show their resolve against their captors. She and Charlie tell the Germans proudly that they overcame impossible odds to come down the river which shows what a tough fight the enemy is in for.

There is a shot of the almost submerged African Queen, but part of it is still above water, suggesting that the plan to sink the Louisa is not dead yet. Just before they are to be hanged, Charlie asks The Captain (Peter Bull) to marry them. Rose sees it as a wonderful way to go out. The Captain delivers darkly humorous contrasting lines by saying, “I pronounce you man and wife. Proceed with the execution.” But the ship runs over the African Queen, igniting the torpedo, sinking the Louisa. Rose and Charlie jump off and are thrilled that they have completed their mission. Rose no longer needs to be subservient to anyone and Charlie requires the African Queen as his substitute companion. They sing, and their harmony as equal partners replaces the noisy voices at the beginning of the film, as they swim off together in married bliss.

The next film is Inside Llewyn Davis.

Adaptation

SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

The title of the movie, Adaptation, takes on many meanings in this 2002 film written by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Spike Jonz. It refers to adapting another person’s writing into a screenplay. So, the movie is about writing a movie, but it also is a satire on traditional Hollywood storytelling. It also deals with changing oneself in order to survive, and in that way, it points to the evolution of species that must change to continue. 

The film begins with no visuals and a voice-over by Nicholas Cage as Charlie Kaufman, which is the name of the actual screenwriter of the movie, playing a version of the real person, the way Larry David acts like a fictionalized character based on himself in Curb Your Enthusiasm. Charlie’s speech is full of insecurities about his appearance and he lists a number of desired self-improvements, including learning a foreign language, playing an instrument, etc. His focus on himself is so intense that he is a hypochondriac agonizing over bodily aches and pains and functions, like sweating. All of the above add up to someone unsure and unhappy with who he is and his place in existence.

The first visual is what appears to be real footage on the set of the movie, Being John Malkovich, as it is made, except for Nicholas Cage portraying a balding, overweight Charlie. It is a real film that Kaufman wrote that references a real actor, Malkovich. Adaptation reflects on the creative process, as reality and imagination are intertwined. Charlie questions everything, including, “Why am I here? How did I get here?” He is in self-conscious overdrive. There is a comical visual response to his angst-filled musings that shows the early melting lava of earth’s inception four billion and forty years earlier, because Charlie is forty years old. He is so self-absorbed he must include himself in the planet’s creation and subsequent evolution to include his life up to his present age. He is interested in the big picture, but movies usually need a dramatic center to hang onto. 

While having lunch with Valerie Thomas (Tilda Swinton), a studio executive, he continues to worry about his physical appearance despite her admiration for writing a great script for Being John Malkovich. They are there to discuss making a film out of a book entitled The Orchid Thief, written by Susan Orlean (Meryl Streep) who is a writer for the New Yorker magazine, which is about John Laroche (Chris Cooper who won the Best Supporting Oscar for this role), who knows a great deal about flowers. (These characters and the book exist, and writer Kaufman found it difficult to adapt the book to the screen so instead he wrote Adaptation to tell the story of his problem). Charlie’s concern, which is one that independent filmmakers always struggle with, is that he doesn’t want the story commercialized. He asks that the movie be true to the book’s story about Native Americans, the Florida landscape, and the fact that Laroche poached orchids. He does not want the project to be turned into a Hollywood film that sacrifices character studies and setting for a plot-driven narrative about drug runners. He also stresses, in neurotically sweaty speech, that he also does not wish the movie to be one that follows the usual formula of a love story or a narrative where characters find a path from despair to “learning profound life lessons” and “overcoming obstacles to succeed in the end,” because “life isn’t like that.” He wants to do a film about flowers, which is exactly what we are watching. His words mirror his own bitterness about his life and his pessimistic vision of existence. The story suggests that to produce meaningful art the artist may lead a miserable life due to delving into insights about the unhappy aspects of the human condition.

Don’t ever expect a straightforward script from the real Kaufman. The film now switches point of view and narrators as there is a jump back in time to Susan saying she went to Florida to find out about Laroche and Seminole Native Americans who were arrested for stealing orchids from a state reserve. She mentions that Laroche has his front teeth missing (has life kicked him in the teeth literally and figuratively and does it add to his outsider persona?). There is a further shift backward to Laroche using the Native Americans to acquire the lovely flowers. A state trooper says that he can’t allow them to remove the vegetation. But, Laroche in a folksy way, recites legal precedents that allow Seminoles to acquire local wildlife and plants for their tribal purposes. So, the lawman becomes flustered, but Laroche is arrested anyway.

Meanwhile, back in the present, Charlie goes home where his twin brother, Donald (an invented character also played by Cage) lives with him. Donald is better looking, and seems to take advantage of his brother, even eating food designated for Charlie. Donald needs a job, and says he will be a screenwriter, too. He figures he can be successful after taking a three-day seminar conducted by Robert McKee (Brian Cox) on how to write movies. (McKee is also a real person who teaches screenwriting). Donald is, at least at first, the superficially acceptable hack version of the artistic, though tormented, Charlie. He tells Donald that these classes that promise to have “the answer” just “attract desperate people.” Donald counters by saying McKee offers “principles” which have always worked “through all remembered time.” Charlie says art isn’t about recreation based on something old, it is doing something new and different, “a journey into the unknown,” like his project based on The Orchid Thief. (Kaufman is always innovative, as anyone who has seen Malkovich, or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind knows. But we’re not talking the huge commercial success of Marvel movies here). 

The socially inept Charlie is with Amelia (Cara Seymour) at a party, and it is interesting that the man who can write words so well can’t seem to say the right thing to ingratiate himself with women. He wants to say something funny to impress her, but he just comes off complaining. The film implies that maybe true artists can’t express themselves like average people because they have such complex ideas and feelings which can’t be readily spoken. Amelia does think it is good that Charlie will be working on a new assignment so he will not just ruminate on his own feelings of awkwardness that come from being in “his own head.” In other words, obsession with one’s own thoughts can create a self-consciousness that blocks any connection with others. There is a moment where Charlie looks as if he will kiss Amelia, but his self-doubts rule. 

Charlie faces the daunting appearance of the blank page, as many writers do. Writing is always one step removed from real life. Many times the screenwriter is two steps away, since the writing is based on another person’s rendering of reality. Maybe Charlie is so wrapped up in himself because of these degrees of separation. Charlie keeps trying to keep himself on track while fighting the temptations (like feeling that he must have a muffin) that tempt one to evade the creative process (I know all about that). 

While Charlie struggles, there is a jump back to the flowing prose of Susan who recounts the historical dangers of orchid hunting. Susan says that she came to feel that it wasn’t just the orchids, but the threat of “fatality” in acquiring them that was attractive to Laroche. In that sense, it is not the destination but the adrenaline jolt of the perilous journey that is appealing. Some who write may find a different, but similar enjoyment during the creation of the project, and a letdown when it is completed. She meets Laroche after he testifies in court concerning his arrest. Despite the prejudice associated with a backwoods appearance and dialect, Laroche upends that view as he is a highly intelligent and informed individual. He is impressed with Susan’s willingness to print whatever he has to say without censorship. So, a bond starts early on between these two. 

There is a shift back to Charlie who doesn’t know how to adapt the book into a screenplay. Writing, a solitary activity, is where he usually functions well, so he is not at home anywhere at this point. His inability to be social is evident after going to a concert with Amelia. He is complimentary about her musical ability, and she is obviously interested in Charlie romantically. But, his insecurity sinks his chances with Amelia who gives him an opportunity to join her at her place after the concert. He makes excuses about having to get home and rest so he can grapple with the script the next day and doesn’t take advantage of her desire to have a goodnight kiss. Amelia is giving up on him as she refuses his invitation to go to an orchid festival. His voice-over bemoans his gutless behavior and he tells himself that he will march up to Amelia’s door and kiss her. Of course, he doesn’t, his neurotic state of mind rendering him an inert person.

The cut to Laroche giving Susan a ride contrasts with Charlie’s static temperament. Laroche drives recklessly, while complaining about the other drivers, announcing how those that follow rules make the world “insane.” His desire to deviate from norms does connect him to Charlie. Laroche is looking to make a profit by obtaining the ghost orchid, which is endangered in the wild, and is difficult to cultivate. But Laroche declares that he is the only one who can make the flower thrive, and as long as only the Seminole Indians acquire the orchids, it is legal to remove them from the Florida state park. Susan writes in her notes that Laroche’s boasting indicates “delusions of grandeur.” In this way he is the polar opposite of Charlie who has zero self-esteem. 

Charlie, back in the present, reads Susan’s book. Her voice-over declares that “orchids are the sexiest flowers on earth.” She says the word “orchid” derives from the Latin word “orchis, which means testicle.” The story’s association of the flower with Laroche suggests that he is the male with the balls and Charlie is the eunuch. (However, if one is familiar with the paintings of Georgia O'Keeffe, orchids can possibly be considered as symbols of female sexuality. In either case, the flower is associated with sexuality). Brother Donald interrupts and says that he “pitched” his story to their mother who said it was like Silence of the Lambs meets Psycho. Charlie is anti-movie establishment, and he is annoyed by the industry jargon word “pitch.” The film here makes fun of how Hollywood loves to use past films to act as if they are creating something new while really regurgitating something old that made money. The combination that Donald uses here is nonsense because he combines one serial killer story with another, thus showing a lack of imagination. 

Flashing back, Susan goes to see Laroche but instead meets a Seminole Native American, Matthew Osceola (Jay Tavare), who accompanies Laroche on his orchid hunting. Matthew seems to be looking at Susan from a cosmic perspective, touching and commenting about her hair and seeing her “beautiful” sadness. She remains in the mundane realm, talking about having washed her hair and the conditioner she used. He says he can’t speak to her for very long because it is “the Indian way.” For him life is experienced, not watered down by secondhand words.

That scene contrasts with the next one between Laroche and Susan, where Laroche talks on and on about flowers and Charles Darwin (adaptation referring to evolution here). His ego is in full bloom as he is condescending by needlessly explaining his scholastic references to Susan. Laroche notes that every flower at the horticultural show they are attending has a “specific relationship with the insect that pollinates it.” Some flowers have evolved to fit the shape of the insect they need to attract. His statement suggests that for life to continue, there must be an “adaptation” between organisms in the environment to create intimate connections. And, by example, Laroche’s comments can refer to the relationships between people. He says that the insects and flowers don’t realize it but their apparently localized “lovemaking” behavior has vast repercussions. He makes the jump to people by analogy as he says, “when you spot your flower, you can’t let anything get in your way.” His statement would be good advice for Charlie, but the look on Susan’s face shows it also applies to her.

There is another fine transition to a dinner party that has Susan starting to stand apart from her snobbish urban intellectual friends who make disparaging remarks about Laroche’s missing teeth, his personal hygiene, and general oddness. Her internal voice declares that she wants something more primal out of her life. But she says it is not in her character to seek that goal. In that sense she is like Charlie. She says she wants to know what “it feels like to care about something passionately.” She admits to not being interested in orchids themselves, but wants to understand the force that draws people to the ghost orchid (the phantom part of the name taking on supernatural or spiritual meaning). 

Susan questions how Laroche moves from one passion to another so easily. He went from loving various forms of turtles, to ornate mirrors, and then to tropical fish. After the immersion into his fascinations with different things, he subsequently lost interest in them, like an abandoning lover who leaves after having reached his satisfying climax. She narrates her wonder at this process by asking, “if one really loved something, wouldn’t a little bit of it linger?” Laroche’s quest for self-gratification shows he is centered on himself, but in a different way than is Charlie. Laroche appears to care about ecological elements, but has no fidelity to them. Susan wishes she could emulate his ability to just keep moving on with nothing in the past to emotionally weigh her down.

We transition nicely to Charlie reading from Susan’s book, which Susan has been narrating. Does it become a sort of manual for Charlie? A waitress named Alice (Judy Greer) sees him reading the book, and notes how she loves orchids. Charlie, the written wordsmith, again can’t connect orally. It appears as if she goes with him to the orchid festival, and says that the flowers are very sexual, as she touches Charlie’s hand. She takes him into the woods, kisses him, and begins to disrobe. But, it is just an erotic dream, stressing Charlie’s only refuge is his imagination. (Later he misinterprets Alice’s friendliness for romantic interest, and she goes off embarrassed as he starts to invite her to the orchid festival. He can’t turn his imagination into reality). Donald interrupts his brother’s sleep to pitch his serial killer thriller story that mixes in dissociative personality disorder. A weary Charlie points out how derivative the story is in addition to its obvious plot gaps. He realizes it’s pointless to explain the shortcomings of Donald’s story, and placates him with the Hollywood convention of combining old stories by calling Donald’s idea, “Sybil meets Dressed to Kill.”

At the flower show he hears Susan’s words in his head describing how the orchids resemble other things and he inserts his own narrative for hers, substituting the women attending into items in an exhibit, saying different females look like either a schoolteacher, a gymnast, or an intellectual. By saying one object in nature looks like another doesn’t alter its essence. But what about labeling women as certain stereotypes? Doesn’t that attempt to define their more complicated nature just by the way they appear? But, Charlie goes beyond superficial looks and becomes poetic as he describes one woman having eyes that dance. Then he returns to what he read about how Matthew said that Susan has eyes that contain “the sadness of the world.” Charlie is a writer and he is creating characters out of what he observes in life. 

Susan is riding with Laroche, and he says that he loves plants because they are so “mutable,” and then he brings up the movie’s title by saying, “adaptation’s a profound process.” He points to how metamorphosis, adapting to the environment, ensures survival. As Brad Pitt’s character in Moneyball says, “Adapt or die.” But Susan counters with the difference between plants and people. Flowers have no memory, and when people don’t respect the history that came before, it’s like “running away,” She is upset that this man whom she admires could easily discard her if she commits to him. 

Back on the set of Being John Malkovich, actor Cage is portraying Charlie, who is a fictionalized version of the screenwriter who wrote the movie, as he observes the actual actors in Malkovich, such as Catherine Keener and John Cusack, who are playing themselves in Adaptation, which is a film that is a reproduction of their earlier roles. We thus have a story (Malkovich) within a story (Charlie’s world) that is pretending to reflect reality. Donald is also there attempting to connect with Caroline (Maggie Gyllenhaal), the makeup artist. He asks Charlie about how to kill someone in his script. Charlie is disgusted by that type of story and, using a sarcastic pun, tells him to make the killer a literature professor who cuts off parts of his victims which makes him “The Deconstructionist” murderer. But Donald wants to use the idea. Back at their home, Donald is impressing Caroline with his script that tries to appeal to a mass audience which contrasts with Charlie, in another room, staring at a blank page, frustrated by having difficulty producing great art from a story about a flower.

Charlie’s writing and life continue to spiral downward. Donald now introduces Caroline as his girlfriend and they kiss at a party where Amelia visits with her new guy, David (Bob Stephenson), a man who is not what one would consider typically handsome. That fact indicates Charlie’s worrying about his looks was not a barrier to having a relationship with Amelia. Donald is crude in describing the sex he intends to engage in with Caroline that evening, and Charlie just wants to escape. When asked by Amelia how he is doing, Charlie describes himself as a “mess.” 

Charlie starts to sound like Laroche equating evolution with adaptation. He delves into Charles Darwin’s words (the man is “dramatized” by actor Bob Yarkes, which shows what the screenwriter must do to visualize a story). Charlie says he needs to know the orchid’s “arc,” equating the flower with a character’s progression in a script. Since the flower is the story of the earth itself, Charlie feels he must go back eons, since, as Darwin states in the film, we travel on “a journey that unites each and every one of us.” Darwin says that we all developed from one cell, yet we are all separate. Charlie believes his job is to “tie all of history together.” Quite an undertaking, and not a tale easily placed in the two-hour format of a Hollywood movie. He dictates the opening of his movie that tries to sum up the tale of the planet which is just the introduction to Susan and Laroche’s tale. Charlie listens to what he dictated and looks like he is in pain at the unwieldy nature of the project. Donald bursts in interrupting him, proclaiming his screenwriting teacher, McKee (the “key” to success?) a “genius,” which is what he previously called his brother, but Donald has a substitute now. Donald says McKee thinks the only way one can be original is to stay within genres. The look on Charlie’s face suggests that what he thinks McKee urges is like putting oneself in a jail cell and then making up new ways to pace inside of it.

Back to the past, Susan calls Laroche to find out what happened to the nursery he and his wife owned. He says it was going very well, but then “darkness” descended. Instead of just him telling the story we have some visualization (which is what a movie script must do) showing what happened nine years earlier. Also, there is some action that complies with what a more mainstream movie might contain. Laroche's car, with his wife, mother, and uncle inside, is hit by another vehicle when Laroche carelessly backs into traffic (a foreshadowing). (He still drives recklessly as we have seen, so he either hasn’t learned his lesson, or he is somewhat suicidal because of guilt. Possibly he moves on so quickly from one interest to another because he doesn’t want to again experience the pain of losing someone he cares about). Only Laroche survived the accident mostly intact, except for his front teeth, but his wife went into a coma for three weeks. But she divorced him when she woke up. Then Hurricane Andrew destroyed everything he had, making him a sort of Job type of character. He subsequently joined up with the Seminole Native Americans. 

There is a shift forward to when Susan met with Valarie about making a film based on her future book which would develop out of her New Yorker article. Valerie repeats Laroche’s words about wanting to give the Native Americans something “amazing,'' (the word will change meaning later) which would be the ghost orchid. Susan is surprised by the desire to option her work to be made into a film and says she never wrote a screenplay. Valerie assures her that they have screenwriters. Then there is a cut to the dejected Charlie as he listens to a phone call telling him that Valerie wants the overdue first draft. Charlie has another erotic dream about giving Valerie the finished story and making love to him. She calls him “a genius,” as the word starts to sound tarnished by overuse under inappropriate circumstances. 

Charlie meets with his crude and unempathetic agent, Marty Bowen (Ron Livingston), saying how he can’t adapt the book which has no story structure. Marty says Charlie is good at making crazy stuff up. But Charlie says he wants to respect Susan’s work and wants to do something simple (which is not what Kaufman does, not even in this film). He wanted to show how “amazing” flowers are, the way Laroche described them, as Charlie wants to channel Laroche so he can gain Susan’s admiration. But Marty asks if flowers really are “amazing,” which stresses how the inexplicable beauty of nature is just skimmed over by some. Even the defeated Charlie admits that he isn’t sure if he understands their amazement. Charlie wants Marty to get him out of the deal, but pulling out of the project at this late date would do great harm to Charlie’s career.

Following up on this theme, Charlie returns home looking downtrodden while Donald is typing and saying his script is working so well that it’s “amazing,” at least in how much it is using overused movie story conventions. Charlie comically says it’s like Donald has joined a “cult,” the one run by his screenplay teacher, McKee. Donald has put McKee’s ten writing commandments on the wall. These rules (which by the way are helpful guidelines for writers to follow, such as creating complex characters and avoiding the use of a “deus ex machina” to solve plot conflicts) take on a mock religious aspect here. Kaufman is an iconoclast and for him rigidity can stifle creativity. 

Charlie hasn’t been able to sleep which is exacerbating his inability to transform the nondramatic book into something that must be dramatized. He picks up Susan’s writing and her voice states, “There are too many ideas and things and people. Too many directions to go,” which sums up Charlie’s dilemma with writing a script from this book. She says when one cares passionately about something, “it whittles the world down to a more manageable size.” Her explanation may suggest why Laroche must delve deeply into one thing at a time and then move on, which is his way of serially trying to experience the totality of life. Susan’s insight resonates with Charlie as he declares her observation as “so true.” He now sexually fantasizes about Susan, as he keeps hoping for an intimate link with someone who understands his unorthodox personality. However, his only satisfaction is through masturbation since his negative, awkward, insecure personality resulting from his alienation prevents an emotional connection with another person. He hallucinates hearing Susan’s voice telling him that, for his purposes, he must focus on the one thing in the book he feels “passionately about.” He starts to dictate ideas that zero in on how the story will deal with Susan’s search for passionate enthusiasm.

Charlie happens to encounter Valerie at a restaurant, and since he has been derelict in supplying a script, he tries to avoid her, but fails. Valerie is having lunch with Susan who is not at the table at the moment. Charlie’s insecurities get the better of him and he makes up an excuse about not wanting to meet the person he is writing about so as to maintain objectivity. His self-doubts soar as he realizes he is too inadequate to write about Susan since he can never meet and know her. He says he only knows about himself, and starts dictating a self-pitying story with himself at the center instead of Susan (we are obviously getting some of this part of the story in what we are watching). Donald, who is not introspective, interrupts him and says his script is completed and wants his brother to submit it to his agent. Donald’s main character makes his victims eat parts of themselves, which actually helps Charlie realize he is feeding off his own life and making the story only about himself. 

Susan is shown with Laroche who says that if they make a film out of Susan’s story he should play himself. We have an actor playing a fictionalized version of a real person who wants to be in a film (the one we are watching) expressing the desire to play himself. Kaufman is playing with the writing process here, and the blurring of reality and illusion. The two are looking for the ghost orchid, which seems like a sort of mythical quest. Susan narrates that it is intoxicating being around someone so alive in his passion. But Laroche gets lost in the swamp (representative of life?), and projects his anger resulting from his bruised ego onto Susan. He calls her a “leech” who has no interest of her own and instead is feeding off of his interests. Susan then narrates that it’s attractive to imagine that something is magical, such as the ghost orchid (and Laroche) to “fall in love with,” but which is really “out of reach,” not real. And that is how the book ends, not with a bang, but a whimper, to quote T. S. Eliot.

Charlie feels that for him to move forward on his script and on his life he must meet Susan, so he travels to The New Yorker office building. Susan actually comes into the elevator Charlie occupies, but his crippling emotional self-loathing prevents him from talking to her. During a phone call with his agent, Marty says that Donald’s screenplay is “amazing,” that word again, which keeps getting knocked down in importance. Marty thinks it’s “a smart, edgy thriller,” and “the best script” he read that year. It’s like driving a nail into Charlie’s creative and emotional coffin. Even worse, Marty suggests Charlie collaborate with his brother on the orchid book, because Donald is good at “structure,” which contradicts Charlie’s desire to write a story without that anchoring aspect.

In desperation, Charlie attends a workshop that McKee conducts. While the man speaks, Charlie has a voice-over rant, calling himself a loser who has sold out his standards because he lacks “conviction,” or possibly that word we have heard, “passion.” As he tells himself that he should leave, he hears McKee saying that a writing sin is the use of voice-over, which is “flaccid, sloppy writing.” But that is exactly what Kaufman has been using in this movie about his alter-ego, Charlie, and his subject, Susan. What McKee says was considered gospel for many years in most Hollywood projects, except maybe in film noir projects. It was considered a crutch that substituted for dramatization. (However, along came Goodfellas, Fight Club, The Shawshank Redemption, and others, which showed when done well, it augments the visuals). Charlie gets the guts to ask a question about writing a script that doesn’t have epiphanies and which shows people “frustrated” and where “nothing is resolved,” like the “real world.” McKee says that it is a waste of the audience’s time to present them with a boring story. He yells that real life is filled with violence, betrayal, corruption and other conflicts, so if one doesn’t see that, that person doesn’t understand life. 

After the seminar, Charlie summons the will to ask McKee not just for help in his writing, but with how he sees life. They go for a drink, he quotes from Susan’s book, and Charlie says he doesn’t want to sensationalize the story, saying the ending is “about disappointment.” McKee says what Charlie wants to do “is not a movie,” and he’s right by most Hollywood standards of filmmaking. He tells Charlie he has to have characters that experience arcs where they change. And, he notes successful movies have a last act that wows the audience. Of course Kaufman’s movie up to this point is doing exactly what McKee says a screenwriter shouldn’t do. 

McKee says the great script for Casablanca was written by twin brothers. So, that gives Charlie the idea to invite Donald to hang out with him in New York and work on Charlie’s script. Donald is receiving more than a million dollars for his story, called The Three. (In a way the main characters in Adaptation are three parts of Kaufman’s personality: The neurotic, insecure Charlie; the upbeat, superficial and oblivious Donald; the poetic supposed soulmate Susan; there may be a fourth, the carpe diem advocate Laroche). Donald says that his brother needs to know more about Susan because he feels that who she really is does not appear in the book, which he now has read. Actually Charlie had the same idea and that is why he went to New York. Given Charlie’s inability to meet with her, Donald pretends to be Charlie, and sees Susan. Donald says he felt there was an attraction on Susan’s part toward Laroche, but she says that any psychological intimacy between journalist and her subject ends at the end of the book. His questions seem to make Susan uneasy. Donald tells Charlie that Susan’s answers were too perfect, not revealing her truth, and therefore he concludes that she is lying.

McKee’s version, through Donald, for how a script should be written now takes over the movie as Kaufman satirizes the formulaic ending of a movie. Donald uses binoculars to spy on Susan as she makes reservations to travel to Florida. In the book, Laroche shows an interest in exploring the internet and came across porn sites. Donald finds that Laroche created one, and there is a topless picture of Susan. So, Donald is correct about Susan denying a relationship with Laroche. There is a reversal now, as Charlie is reading McKee’s book, and Donald is reading Susan’s which suggests the unstructured, undramatic story is being transformed into a commercial product. 

Susan’s story changes to fit accepted movie business standards. Susan says they found the ghost orchid but she is underwhelmed by the find. Laroche tells her the Seminoles only wanted him to help them find the ghost orchid so they could produce a drug from it to get high (the drug story that Charlie initially said he didn’t want to write). He says that it seems the intoxicant helps one “be fascinated” by what they observe. She refuses to be a part of the drug aspect and leaves, but he sends her the drug which she subsequently inhales. She becomes absorbed by everything around her, even the sound of the dial tone of a phone, which becomes a mechanical “Om” sound. Even the trivial becomes “amazing.” Instead of having a passion for one thing, she spreads herself thin by being interested in everything. She returns to Laroche and they become lovers. She seems stoned all of the time now, saying she wished she were an ant because they are “so shiny.” Her eloquent, poetic voice has turned into inane ramblings. This revised version of the story defies McKee’s prescription because the drug acts like a deus ex machina that artificially alters the plot.

The brothers go to Florida and trail Susan meeting up with Laroche. Charlie sees how much of the ghost orchid drug Laroche is cultivating and watches Susan and Laroche inhaling the drug and making love. Laroche sees Charlie spying on them and grabs Charlie. Melodrama ensues as Susan recognizes Charlie and says he knows too much about the drug business and she says she must kill him. She holds a gun on Charlie as they drive away in Laroche’s old van to the swamp. Donald is hiding in the car and creates a diversion so that the two brothers run off into the night. While Susan and Laroche track them. the brothers have a conversion while hiding. Charlie says he envies Donald’s lack of caring what others think of him, and Charlie wasted his life ruminating about how others may be devaluing him. Donald says he was aware that a girl in high school made fun of him, but he loved her, and she couldn’t take away what he felt. He tells Charlie, “You are what you love, not what loves you” which brings a tear to Charlie’s eye. It is a rather generous statement coming from what appeared to be a selfish, superficial character. But is the movie just having fun with us here, providing a sentimental line and showing the absurdity of Donald actually showing maturity when none should exist? 

After spending the night in the swamp, the brothers encounter Susan and Laroche, who accidentally shoots Donald. The brothers race off, but a pickup truck hits their vehicle, and Donald dies in the crash. Laroche and Susan follow the fleeing Charlie into the swamp. Then, to pile on the action aspects of the exaggerated ending, an alligator attacks Laroche. That shot is followed by the overly sentimental scene of Charlie having to tell his mother about Donald’s death.

Charlie now is finishing his screenplay that mostly conforms to the McKee prescription, He meets with Amelia. He finds the courage to kiss her and tells her he loves her. She is involved with someone else, but she admits her love for Charlie, giving him hope. He wants to end the script with that feeling of hope, but he self-consciously comments how he is doing a voice-over, which McKee would disapprove of, even though he doesn’t care at this point. However, he has made the story about himself, and wonders, as did Laroche, who will play him. We again have this meshing of reality and imagination within the framework of a creative work. Charlie drives away to the song “Happy Together” by The Turtles. We see flowers in bloom, symbolizing a positive ending. That shot is undercut by the film speeding up, showing cars moving quickly, days ending and starting again, as if all we are seeing is repetition, which is what happens in all of the derivative stories that come out of the show business film industry.

The next film is The African Queen.