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Irma La Douce Photos

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Movie Info

This entertaining comedy finds disgraced former police officer Nestor Patou (Jack Lemmon) falling for beautiful Parisian prostitute Irma La Douce (Shirley MacLaine). Though Nestor becomes Irma's pimp, he can't stand the idea of her being with clients, so he devises a way to keep her all to himself. This scheme leads to plenty of trouble, however, and soon Nestor is forced to avoid his old law-enforcement peers in an attempt to stay with Irma and out of jail.
  • Genre:
    comedy
  • Original Language:
    English
  • Director:
    Billy Wilder
  • Release Date (Theaters):
     wide
  • Release Date (Streaming):
  • Runtime:
  • Production Co:
    Phalanx Productions, Mirisch Corporation

Cast & Crew

Shirley MacLaine
Irma La Douce
Jack Lemmon
Nestor Patou, Lord X
Lou Jacobi
Moustache
Herschel Bernardi
Insp. Lefevre
Joan Shawlee
Amazon Annie
Hope Holiday
Lolita
Bill Bixby
Tattooed sailor
Grace Lee Whitney
Kiki the Cossack
Billy Wilder
Director
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Critic Reviews for Irma La Douce

All Critics (21) | Top Critics (7) | Fresh (16) | Rotten (5)

  • Set mainly in a bawdy-house that is never in the least bawdy, Billy Wilder's Irma La Douce is the kind of fantasy much favoured by Hollywood -- a sex comedy from which sex has been carefully eradicated.

    March 11, 2020 | Full Review…

    Elizabeth Sussex

    Sight & Sound

  • Though Irma's 143-minute length is more than a little too much of a very good thing, it's hard to dislike a movie that keeps giving you more good stuff.

    January 26, 2019 | Full Review…

    Sam Adams

    Philadelphia City Paper

  • Lemmon and Maclaine fail to reproduce the chemistry from The Apartment but this slight film is not as ignorable as reputation suggests.

    January 25, 2019 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…

    David Parkinson

    Empire Magazine

  • Irma also misses on several important counts, and the fact that it does illustrates the sizable problems inherent in an attempt to convert a legit musical into a tuneless motion picture farce.

    March 26, 2009 | Full Review…

    Variety Staff

    Variety

  • Billy Wilder is a great director and you can't find too many actress es better than Shirley MacLaine, so when Jack Lemmon appears on the screen, the triple-treat is complete.

    January 13, 2021 | Full Review…

    Marlene Matouk

    Tampa Bay Times

  • The latest Wilder-Diamond-J.L. gagorama has everything: lovely color shots of Paris, lots of laughs, tears, action, and two of our best film actors, Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine. Everything but charm and style, the essentials for its genre

    August 12, 2019 | Full Review…

    Dwight MacDonald

    Esquire Magazine
View All Critic Reviews (21)

Audience Reviews for Irma La Douce

  • Aug 20, 2018
    Wilder, Lemmon and MacLaine team up again after their collaboration in The Apartment to offer us a funny and audacious farce that works well enough despite being a bit overlong and clumsy in parts, especially as it becomes more and more contrived towards the end.
    Carlos M Super Reviewer
  • Feb 24, 2018
    "the apartment" with a bigger budget and less of a point, Wilder reteams lemmon and Maclaine in essentially the same roles, under different, lighter circumstances and a Parisian locale. it's not bad, per se, only light entertainment. Network television used to run the film every year.
    Kevin M. W Super Reviewer
  • Nov 04, 2013
    Thanks to Lemmon and MacLaine, we get some some great laughs about a man in love with a prostitute and the extreme lengths he takes to keeping her away from other men. Great goofiness as only Lemmon can pull off.
    John B Super Reviewer
  • Apr 05, 2012
    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.
    Stefanie C Super Reviewer
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