*** Official "ADAPTATION" Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[Gary->dee]

I don't think we'll see a movie like this come out of Hollywood again because this one practically broke the mold in terms of its story-within-a-story scenario. There's so many layers to be peeled back like an onion. Despite Spike Jonze's wonderful direction, this film is completely and quite literally a writer's project. Essentially Charlie Kaufman's home movies. I'm surprised Sony Pictures had the balls to make it and I commend them for it!
Btw did anyone see in Donald's filmography that The 3 has a release date of 2004! LOL

 

[Seth Paxton]

Btw did anyone see in Donald's filmography that The 3 has a release date of 2004! LOL

Yeah, but as Barry and I have already pointed out it actually got released in 2003.
If only there had been a part where Cusak was on a horse and Liotta had been on a motorcycle.

 

[Lanny_B]

Is Donald real, or is he really Charlie's split personality?

 

[Seth Paxton]

In the film Donald has to be real because other characters acknowledge and speak with both characters at the same time. Of course in real life he is made-up, but I suspect he not only represents Kaufman's disdain for the Hollywood norm but also his secret desire to indulge in it. In that way he might be seen as a split personality.

But in the film they are 2 real characters, one of which dies. There is a post on just how "real" he is earlier in this thread. I forget who wrote it but its an examination of Donald being real in the "real" world in which the script was written (that we see being written in the film) vs. his life in the film (in which he dies). We assume that in the "real" world Donald did not die but instead helped write that action into the film script to spice it up and give Charlie his ending. You might skim this thread for that post since it went into more detail.

 

[Derek Miner]

Had to dig this thread out of obscurity because I watched ADAPTATION again last night - first time since I saw it in a theater months ago.

On my first viewing, I thought the ending was a bit convoluted and lacking (see my first post in this thread), but last night, I found everything clicking. What I saw in the movie is similar to what Seth wrote.

Originally, I thought Donald's description of THE 3 was a clue that Donald was a part of Charlie, but that blocked me from realizing something that should have been more obvious. THE 3 seems to represent Charlie, Orlean and Laroche. ADAPTATION is a script about three people who are really one person. Or more accurately, the three people in this script all represent facets of one person - Charlie.

This interpretation seems to ignore Donald's existence, but I have always believed Donald to be part of Charlie, so I say they represent one character. Something that cemeted this for me was noticing that we are always hearing Charlie's thoughts. Though we see Donald, the portrayal is very similar to Charlie's thought processes. (Edit: I suppose there's also room to suggest THE 3 could be Donald, Orlean and Laroche, all figments of the imagination of the only real person, Charlie)

Then there's the ending... I actually had two interesting thoughts on this as the film progressed. I was actually looking for a resolution this time around knowing how the film ended. Realizing that the ending was a positive change for Charlie, my first thought was that Charlie was going to be able to have something Orlean and Laroche were not - passion. I suppose that holds up somewhat, but I had to start looking deeper when I accepted the conceit that all three were actually parts of Charlie. I realized this means the scene where Charlie is kidnapped by Orlean and Laroche represents all the facets of THE 3 together in one room.

Now I've done a complete 180 on this sequence. Something that originally seemed thematically out of place suddenly appears perfectly in step with two ideas. First Charlie begins to accept that ideas he previously rejected out of fear might have merit. Second, the most external and action-oriented section of the film exists only to dramatize Charlie's internal conflict. I found that to be possibly the most clever joke in the film (and definitely the most subtle).

Whew... I felt quite elated that this all came together for me. If anyone was still pondering this film, perhaps I've added something to consider.

 

[Rob Tomlin]

Nice post Derek.

That's the thing I love about this movie...there are several interpretations, and it definitely lends itself to repeat viewings.

I still think that Adaptation is one of the best films to be released in the last year and a half.