The optical absorption coefficients of highly oriented laser-evaporated thin films were determined from the measured reflectance R(lambda) and transmittance T(lambda) in the wavelength range 400-1700 nm. The optical absorption spectrum of CuInSe2 thin films shows three energy gaps, which are associated with the fundamental edge and valence band splitting by the tetragonal crystal-field and spin-orbit effects, and four optical transitions from the copper d levels to the conduction bands.