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Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Lou Jacobi, Bruce Yarnell, Herschel Bernardi ... see more see more... , Hope Holiday , Joan Shawlee , Grace Lee Whitney , Paul Dubov , Howard McNear , Cliff Osmond , Diki Lerner , Herb Jones , Tura Satana , Lou Krugman , James Brown , Bill Bixby , Harriet Young , Sheryl Deauville , Billy Beck , Edgar Barrier , Richard Peel , Joe Palma , John Alvin , Donald Diamond , Louis Jourdan , James Caan , James Brown (II)

This romantic comedy opens with a resounding warning: its chief concerns are passion, bloodshed, desire, and death. "Everything," exclaims the narrator, "that makes life worth living." Irma La Douce (... read more read more...Shirley MacClaine) is Paris' most prosperous prostitute. Wise, endearing, and compulsively clad in green, Irma rules the rue Casanova. She triumphantly works the most coveted corner on a street where the cops gladly look the other way and the naughty johns leave tips. Her street is a content community of live and let live and good-natured desire, an Augean stable of human understanding. However, to upright Nester Patou (Jack Lemmon), the area's new policeman, genial wrongdoing is still wrongdoing. Freshly promoted from day patrol at a children's playground, the scrupulous Nestor arrests Irma and her colleagues in a bumbling, unauthorized raid. He takes pity on Irma, but harasses the guilty johns -- including the police captain. Promptly unemployed, Nester returns to the scene of his crime, the rue, and to Irma. After physically besting her pimp, Nester unwittingly takes his position. The two fall madly in love, but Nestor quickly grows jealous of Irma's patrons. Thus, he masquerades as a wealthy English aristocrat and becomes Irma's sole customer -- only to eventually grow violently jealous of himself. Soon enough, this formally righteous cop is comically jailed for his own brutal murder! As the film's prologue promises, Irma La Douce is a celebration of life from beginning to end -- unabashedly adoring lust, emotion, fervor and, above all, foolish love. ~ Aubry Anne D'Arminio, Rovi

Flixster Users

76% liked it

5,517 ratings

Critics

86% liked it

14 critics

Unrated, 2 hr. 24 min.

Directed by: Billy Wilder

Release Date: January 1, 1963

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DVD Release Date: September 18, 2001

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Stats: 304 reviews

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Irma La Douce Shirley MacLaine Jack Lemmon Irma La Douce Diki Lerner Bruce Yarnell Hope Holiday Grace Lee Whitney Paul Dubov Lou Krugman John Alvin Richard Peel Shirley MacLaine in Irma la Douce
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Flixster Reviews (304)

  • bookmunki
    April 5, 2012
    bookmunki
    This is a fun film, but it doesn't near comparison to wilder's work with the two stars in 'the apartment." ...but no one said that it should.
  • ajv2688
    November 24, 2010
    ajv2688
    This is another really funny movie from WIlder, and starring the great Jack Lemmon. The story isn't new, and it's predictable sometimes, but that doesn't make the movie an less funny.
  • 76Majikat
    November 23, 2010
    76Majikat
    A brilliant comedy starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley McClane where the charcters and situation escalate way out of control and have hilarious consequences. The humour is still fairly subtle, but this is a totally unique quirky gem of a film, which has gone straight into to my fav... read moreourites list.
  • 366weirdmovies
    May 5, 2008
    366weirdmovies
    In Paris, naive cop Patou (Jack Lemmon) falls in love with top prostitute Irma (Shirley MacClaine). The dialogue is witty and Lemmon shines at times, but even at two-and-a-half hours the odd mix of lighthearted comedy and should-be-sordid subject matter never gels in tone.
  • Redlats
    April 30, 2008
    Redlats
    This is a movie I heard about, but never saw until 2008. Can you have a prostitute who has a heart of gold and is proud of her work?

    Shirley MacLaine does a great job. According to Wikipedia, Marilyn Monroe was originally cast as Irma, but she didn't live long enough to make t... read morehe movie.
  • hypathio7
    November 18, 2008
    hypathio7
    Lou Jacobi played a good supporting role. I do really enjoy Billy Wilder's sense of humor. Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine are great actors. But, it's hard to explain why I didn't love it. I guess I thought it wasn't based in reality enough.
  • gator681
    July 20, 2006
    gator681
    [font=Century Gothic]In "Irma La Douce", the title character(Shirley MacLaine) is a prostitute working the streets in a Parisian neighborhood under the thumb of a particularly violent pimp, Hippolyte(Bruce Yarnell). Things are generally rosy for Hippolyte and his fellow pimps. Th... read moreey hang out all night at a bistro while their women earn money for them. They pay off the cops to look the other way and the police oblige, only occasionally making the token bust. However, one day, an honest, naive cop, Nestor Patou(Jack Lemmon), is transferred to the neighborhood. Noticing the place is rife with prostitutes, he calls in a raid on the local cathouse, the Hotel Casanova. His boss(Herschel Bernardi) is caught in the raid and is none too amused, promptly firing Nestor who retires to the bistro to drown his sorrows...[/font]

    [font=Century Gothic]"Irma La Douce" is an inspired, daft and very, very funny farce that occasionally is too silly for its own good. It is helped immensely by the performances of its two stars(and a special mention for Ms. MacLaine's hips...) and Lou Jacobi nearly steals it out from under them.[/font]
  • trisarahtops22
    February 21, 2009
    trisarahtops22
    It was funny, but too long. Enjoyable though.
  • kenscheck
    September 14, 2011
    kenscheck
    When I was 6 I saw this film. A few images, including the look of Lord X, a man dressing as X in the bathroom while talking to a woman in the other room, and the image of both the costume floating to the surface and Lord X walking back up out of the water...these images have been... read more haunting me for 17 years as I tried to figure out what the hell the film was. The search is over, and I am relieved. Having finally watched the film I found it to be okay. It isn't great, but it is an okay comedy. I was really shocked to discover that it is a comedy about french whores. This film is totally inappropriate for 6 year old me. Lemmon gives his usual all, but MacLaine is pretty awful.
  • PinkMinkPrincess
    July 21, 2011
    PinkMinkPrincess
    This is so Funny, her Poor Sweet Lover pretends he is her Wealthy Sponsor & only Client, to do that he has to work when he is not with her, he never gets to sleep.It is so delightful & she wears tacking Green Stockings & Bad Fashions throughout the whole movie.The Price of Love i... read mores Too Too Much & makes for great comedy in this Screwball Comedy.

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Critic Reviews

Jonathan Rosenbaum
August 15, 2007
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

A good example of how a movie can be utterly characteristic of its maker and still fall with a resounding thud... Full Review

Bosley Crowther
January 1, 2000
Bosley Crowther, New York Times

Mr. Lemmon is little short of brilliant... Full Review

Emanuel Levy
February 17, 2011
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com

One of Billy Wilder's lesser films, Irma La Douce relies entirely on its two stars, Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine, neither of whom is particularly good or funny, despite the masks and the accents. Full Review

Jeffrey M. Anderson
October 18, 2008
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid

Wilder somehow sustains the lively pace and humor for the two-and-a-half hour color comedy. Full Review

Cole Smithey
February 21, 2008
Cole Smithey, ColeSmithey.com

Just great fun.

August 15, 2007
TV Guide's Movie Guide

The movie was filmed on a 360-degree set so shooting could be done in any direction. Full Review

Steve Crum
May 9, 2007
Steve Crum, Video-Reviewmaster.com

Wonderful story, stars (Lemmon & MacLaine), director (WIlder). And what a great Previn score.

Dennis Schwartz
March 17, 2007
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Though the saucy French soufflé has a few tasty moments it mostly sinks into being tasteless fare. Full Review

Geoff Andrew
June 24, 2006
Geoff Andrew, Time Out

Wilder's soft-centred cynicism provides frequent enough laughs without too many longueurs. Full Review

Walter Chaw
August 6, 2003
Walter Chaw, Film Freak Central

A marriage of paradoxes. Full Review

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

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Irma La Douce Trivia

  • In 1963, director Billy Wilder made a film based on a Broadway play. A young policeman falls in love with a woman who works in the brothel he raids. The film is a colorful comedy, starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine. Which is it?  Answer »
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