Melissa P.
Melissa lives with her mother and her grandmother in Sicily. She has a close relationship with her grandmother, a heavy smoker, who seems to be the only person in the world who understands Melissa. Melissa's father lives in another country. One day Melissa and her friend go to a party at a school friend's home. While there, Melissa meets Daniele, a boy from the school, and has her first sexual experience. The experience is far from being what Melissa always has dreamed it would be, because Daniele forces her and later forgets her. However, Melissa has fallen in love with Daniele. Back at school, when Melissa tries to get Daniele's attention, he barely remembers her. He takes advantage of Melissa's feelings for him, convincing her to have sex with him whenever he wants. When Melissa discovers Daniele's true motivations, she takes revenge by having even wilder sexual experiences with him and other boys. She even begins keeping a diary to document her sexual experiences. Melissa's mother is worried and tries to approach her distant daughter, while her grandmother is sent off to a rest home.
The film earned $7.5M at the global box office.
1 nomination
Plot Structure
Story beats plotted across runtime
Narrative Arc
Emotional journey through the story's key moments
Story Circle
Blueprint 15-beat structure
Arcplot Score Breakdown
Weighted: Precision (70%) + Arc (15%) + Theme (15%)
Melissa P. (2005) reveals strategically placed dramatic framework, characteristic of Luca Guadagnino's storytelling approach. This structural analysis examines how the film's 15-point plot structure maps to proven narrative frameworks across 1 hour and 40 minutes. With an Arcplot score of 7.2, the film balances conventional beats with creative variation.
Structural Analysis
The Status Quo at 1 minutes (1% through the runtime) establishes Fifteen-year-old Melissa writes in her diary in her room in Sicily, establishing her as an introspective, sensitive teenager living an ordinary adolescent life with literary aspirations.. Significantly, this early placement immediately immerses viewers in the story world.
The inciting incident occurs at 12 minutes when Melissa loses her virginity to Daniele in a rushed, painful, and emotionally empty encounter on the beach that leaves her feeling disappointed and abandoned rather than transformed.. At 12% 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 25% of the runtime. This shows the protagonist's commitment to Melissa makes the active choice to pursue a purely sexual relationship, deliberately separating physical encounters from emotional connection, entering a new world of sexual exploration., moving from reaction to action.
At 49 minutes, the Midpoint arrives at 49% of the runtime—precisely centered, creating perfect narrative symmetry. Structural examination shows that this crucial beat Melissa participates in a degrading group sexual encounter that crosses a line, representing a false defeat where she realizes the emptiness of her quest but feels unable to stop., fundamentally raising what's at risk. The emotional intensity shifts, dividing the narrative into clear before-and-after phases.
The Collapse moment at 75 minutes (75% through) represents the emotional nadir. Here, Melissa reaches her lowest point in a particularly traumatic sexual encounter that strips away all remaining illusions, confronting the death of her innocence and the emptiness of her pursuit., indicates the protagonist at their lowest point. This beat's placement in the final quarter sets up the climactic reversal.
The Second Threshold at 79 minutes initiates the final act resolution at 79% of the runtime. Melissa has a moment of clarity about her need for genuine connection rather than validation through sex, synthesizing her painful education with her original desire for love and meaning., demonstrating the transformation achieved throughout the journey.
Emotional Journey
Melissa P.'s emotional architecture traces a deliberate progression across 15 carefully calibrated beats.
Narrative Framework
This structural analysis employs proven narrative structure principles that track dramatic progression. By mapping Melissa P. against these established plot points, we can identify how Luca Guadagnino utilizes or subverts traditional narrative conventions. The plot point approach reveals not only adherence to structural principles but also creative choices that distinguish Melissa P. within the drama genre.
Luca Guadagnino's Structural Approach
Among the 7 Luca Guadagnino films analyzed on Arcplot, the average structural score is 7.0, reflecting strong command of classical structure. Melissa P. represents one of the director's most structurally precise works. For comparative analysis, explore the complete Luca Guadagnino filmography.
Comparative Analysis
Additional drama films include Eye for an Eye, South Pacific and Kiss of the Spider Woman. For more Luca Guadagnino analyses, see Call Me by Your Name, I Am Love and Bones and All.
Plot Points by Act
Act I
SetupStatus Quo
Fifteen-year-old Melissa writes in her diary in her room in Sicily, establishing her as an introspective, sensitive teenager living an ordinary adolescent life with literary aspirations.
Theme
Melissa's friend discusses the difference between love and physical desire, foreshadowing the film's exploration of a young woman's confusion between emotional connection and sexual validation.
Worldbuilding
Introduction to Melissa's world: her protective family, her school life, her friendships, her romantic poetry, and her innocent crush on an older boy, establishing her naivety and longing for experience.
Disruption
Melissa loses her virginity to Daniele in a rushed, painful, and emotionally empty encounter on the beach that leaves her feeling disappointed and abandoned rather than transformed.
Resistance
Melissa grapples with her disappointment and confusion about sex versus love, debates whether to pursue more experiences, and begins to seek validation through sexual attention from boys.
Act II
ConfrontationFirst Threshold
Melissa makes the active choice to pursue a purely sexual relationship, deliberately separating physical encounters from emotional connection, entering a new world of sexual exploration.
Mirror World
Melissa meets older men who introduce her to increasingly transgressive sexual experiences, representing the dark mirror of her romantic ideals and the emptiness of validation through sexuality.
Premise
Melissa descends into a double life, maintaining her student persona while engaging in increasingly risky sexual encounters, exploring the premise of seeking identity through transgression.
Midpoint
Melissa participates in a degrading group sexual encounter that crosses a line, representing a false defeat where she realizes the emptiness of her quest but feels unable to stop.
Opposition
Melissa spirals deeper into self-destruction as her family begins to suspect something is wrong, her schoolwork suffers, and the men she encounters become more exploitative and dangerous.
Collapse
Melissa reaches her lowest point in a particularly traumatic sexual encounter that strips away all remaining illusions, confronting the death of her innocence and the emptiness of her pursuit.
Crisis
Melissa withdraws emotionally, processing the trauma and recognizing the self-destructive pattern she has fallen into, experiencing profound isolation and despair.
Act III
ResolutionSecond Threshold
Melissa has a moment of clarity about her need for genuine connection rather than validation through sex, synthesizing her painful education with her original desire for love and meaning.
Synthesis
Melissa begins to reclaim her sense of self, distances herself from exploitative encounters, and attempts to reconnect with her writing and authentic emotional life, though scarred by her experiences.
Transformation
Melissa writes in her diary once more, mirroring the opening but now with a hardened, disillusioned perspective—transformed but wounded, having lost innocence without gaining the love she sought.