DVD Review: Adaptation
Simply put, the movie is about evolution. It is about how people, how love, and how writing evolves, sometimes all at once. According to the movie, it’s necessary for creative inspiration.
All of the main characters are talented specialists in mid-life slumps. Charlie Kaufmann(Nicolas Cage)plays himself, the writer the Being John Malchovich, a balding, nervous and self deprecating artist who is assigned a new project- to write a screenplay based on the brilliant novel about orchids by Susan Orlean(Meryl Streep).
Susan herself seems at the peak of her career with Orchid Theif. This is the first of her books to be considered the privilege of celluloid treatment by her agency.
The novel itself is about the brilliant and quirky horticulturist, John Laroche(Chris Cooper). Laroche illegally plucks out rare orchids from the state preserve with the help of his indian friends. He is missing his two front teeth and drives around in a smelly white van.
Then there’s David(also Nicolas Cage), Kaufmann’s annoying brother who aspires to be a writer just like him. Yet the two couldn’t be any different. David is confident in his weakness. He knows he lacks the talent and the looks, but he persists simply because he loves, in his art and in his romance.
It’s David who gets the girl.
Finally, there’s the orchid herself. The rare flower that occurs only in certain regions and under certain conditions. The orchid represents the unattainable, the beautiful, the perfect. It is the true source of inspiration for this movie and all of its characters.
Its Laroche who spends hours with his search crew to find the sought object. He hunts them down, cuts them down with single minded ambition, and risks legal reprecussions for his actions.
It’s this passion, this singularity of vision that draws the journalistic attention of Susan Orlean. Her new project is riding in this man’s van and interviewing for her fascinating New Yorker story. Laroche sees this as more opportunity for notoriety. Charlie is given this story to use as a screenplay. It quickly becomes an excercise in self examination and discovery for all of them as relationships change and the characters aren’t what they seem.
Charlie’s talent lay in his imagination and creativity. He lives in his mind, where all of his dreams come true. It is also his worst enemy. He can write all he wants about how he want things to be yet they never are. It’s precisely because of lack of pragmatism that the screenplay is taking so long. Meanwhile David reaches for the stars and hangs on to his brother’s sage advice like a puppy dog. Charlie ridicules David for taking a seminar in screenwriting.
“There are no rules.” He quips. For Charlie it’s all about creating something new. Charlie must rely only on his fantasy of what Susan Orlean is like. He is too shy to actually the subject of which he writes.
Susan Orlean is a teller of tales. She takes fact and makes fiction out of it. In this sense, she is once removed from reality.
She is the subject herself, but she is the observer who interprets other people’s passions and their interests- the writer as pirranna. Her fascination is purely vicarious.
Laroche seems like the purest character. He is the specialist of nature and his pursuit is relentless. There is no interpretation or editing with his character, or so it seems. Even he is no saint and is looking to cash in. He deftly plays off Susan’s growing attraction and strings her along until she breaks.He uses the Indians as a legal protection against nature theft. He wants his name in print.
It’s the vicious creative opportunism that the movie seems to poke fun at. Art can only be pure way for so long. In the end, we end up killing the things and people we love in order to get ahead.
The ending of the movie seems a little absurd considering the tragic tone of the movie. With little hindsight, its in perfect line with the message the movie brilliantly conveys.
