Screenplay Structure Analysis

Past Lives

Written by Celine Song · Drama/Romance · 86 pages · 103 scenes · 3-act natural structure · triptych organization · Analysis confidence: High

When childhood sweethearts from Seoul reconnect online after 12 years apart, their rekindled connection forces a now-married Korean-Canadian playwright to confront the life she might have lived.

Tone
Contemplative, melancholic, intimate

Tension curve

Dramatic intensity across Past Lives from first page to last, sampled at 40 points on a 0–10 scale. Values: 4.2, 4.3, 4, 4.2, 4.6, 5.1, 5.1, 5, 5.2, 5.2, 5, 4.5, 5, 5.8, 6.9, 6.8, 5.8, 4.8, 3.7, 4.4, 5.1, 6.4, 6.7, 7, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.3, 7.3, 6.6, 6.1, 5.7, 5.9, 5.9, 6.9, 7.8, 8.7, 8.6, 8.6, 8.5.

Structure at a glance

Inciting incident
Page 17, 20% of the script: Hae Sung wakes up hungover, drinks water his mom left, and reads Nora's Facebook message asking if he remembers her.
Act 1 break
Page 32, 37% of the script: Nora cuts off contact with Hae Sung, ending their intense online reconnection and choosing to focus on her American life.
Midpoint
Page 42, 49% of the script: Nora and Arthur make faces at each other across a New York street, then walk away hand-in-hand as Nora reveals they're married.
Act 2 break
Page 45, 52% of the script: Hae Sung arrives in New York, physically bringing Nora's past into her present reality for the first time in 24 years.
Climax
Page 82, 95% of the script: Nora and Hae Sung walk in heavy silence to his uber pickup location, wait for two excruciating minutes, then hug goodbye as he gets in the car.
Peak tension
8.7 out of 10, reached about 92% of the way through; the script averages 6.0.
Average scene length
1.3 pages

Structural personality

This script operates as a triptych examining three distinct time periods: childhood in Seoul (late 90s), online reconnection as young adults (12 years later), and physical reunion in New York (another 12 years later). Each section explores the same relationship through different lenses of time, distance, and identity. The structure mirrors the Korean concept of In-Yun that Nora explains - the idea that relationships carry forward across lifetimes, with each section representing a different 'life' of the same connection. Rather than following traditional dramatic escalation, the script builds emotional intensity through accumulation and the weight of time passing.

Pacing

The pacing shifts dramatically between sections. The childhood section (scenes 2-12) moves quickly through key moments. The middle section (scenes 19-46) slows down for extended Skype conversations that build intimacy through real-time dialogue. The final section (scenes 70-103) operates in compressed time over just a few days, with longer scenes that allow for deeper emotional excavation, culminating in the extended bar conversation (scene 98) that spans 10 pages.

Themes

Similar shapes

Screenplays whose tension curve most closely matches Past Lives.

Scene summaries and structural markers are generated by AI analysis of the screenplay text and may contain minor inaccuracies. ScriptGraph analyzes structure and does not reproduce screenplay text.

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