The crystal and molecular structures of 2-benzoyl-5-phenylpyrazolidin-3-one have been characterized by X-ray diffraction along with density functional theory studies. Cinnamic acid chloride was reacted with benzhydrazide, yielding 2-benzoyl-5-phenylpyrazolidin-3-one. This product was formed in the transformation comprising the nucleophilic addition of benzhydrazide to the styryl fragment of the α,β-unsaturated arrangement and subsequent cyclization. The molecule contains two benzene rings and one five-membered heterocyclic ring with an N–N single bond. The five-membered ring is composed of three atoms of sp3 hybridization and two atoms of sp2 hybridization, which cause the flattening of the heterocyclic ring. The Harmonic Oscillator Model of Aromaticity and Nucleus-Independent Chemical Shift indexes, calculated for the benzene rings, demonstrate that there are no substantial interactions between the regions of π-electron delocalization in the molecule. In the crystal structure, there are N–H···O hydrogen bonds that link the molecules along the crystallographic c axis and weak intermolecular C–H···O hydrogen bonds.