A Haunting in Venice

The Status Quo at 1 minutes (1% through the runtime) establishes Poirot lives in peaceful retirement in Venice, protected from the outside world. He has renounced detective work, seeking solitude in his palazzo garden, deliberately isolated from humanity and his former profession.. Structural examination shows that this early placement immediately immerses viewers in the story world.

The inciting incident occurs at 12 minutes when Ariadne challenges Poirot to attend the séance and expose Joyce Reynolds as a fraud. The challenge to his rationalist worldview - either prove the supernatural is fake or confront that it might be real - disrupts his carefully maintained isolation.. At 11% through the film, this Disruption aligns precisely with traditional story structure. This beat shifts the emotional landscape, launching the protagonist into the central conflict.

The First Threshold at 25 minutes marks the transition into Act II, occurring at 24% of the runtime. This reveals the protagonist's commitment to The séance begins. Poirot actively chooses to participate, crossing from observer to participant. The palazzo is locked - no one can leave. He commits to unmasking the fraud, but enters a world where rational explanations become increasingly difficult., moving from reaction to action.

At 51 minutes, the Midpoint arrives at 49% of the runtime—precisely centered, creating perfect narrative symmetry. The analysis reveals that this crucial beat Joyce Reynolds is murdered - thrown from the palazzo balcony during the séance. False defeat: what began as exposing a fraud becomes a locked-room murder mystery. The stakes transform entirely; Poirot must solve a real crime while supernatural explanations multiply., fundamentally raising what's at risk. The emotional intensity shifts, dividing the narrative into clear before-and-after phases.

The Collapse moment at 76 minutes (73% through) represents the emotional nadir. Here, Poirot nearly drowns, experiencing a near-death hallucination of his war-dead former partner. Whiff of death achieved both literally and spiritually - his rational worldview "dies" as he confronts the possibility that the supernatural is real and his entire philosophy may be wrong., reveals the protagonist at their lowest point. This beat's placement in the final quarter sets up the climactic reversal.

The Second Threshold at 83 minutes initiates the final act resolution at 80% of the runtime. Synthesis moment: Poirot realizes the truth. The supernatural phenomena were elaborately staged, but the human emotions were real. He sees how grief, trauma, and guilt drove the crimes. He combines his detective logic with new understanding of human pain and the need for belief., demonstrating the transformation achieved throughout the journey.