Irma la Douce

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources:  –  ·  ·  · scholar · JSTOR (January 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Irma la Douce
Italian release poster
Directed by	Billy Wilder
Written by	Billy Wilder I. A. L. Diamond Alexandre Breffort (play)
Produced by	Billy Wilder I. A. L. Diamond Edward L. Alperson Doane Harrison Alexandre Trauner
Starring	Jack Lemmon Shirley MacLaine
Narrated by	Louis Jourdan
Cinematography	Joseph LaShelle
Edited by	Daniel Mandell
Music by	André Previn
Production company	The Mirisch Corporation
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date	June 5, 1963 (1963-06-05)
Running time	147 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$5 million[1]
Box office	$25.2 million[2]

Irma la Douce (French: [iʁ.ma la dus], "Irma the Sweet") is a 1963 American romantic comedy film based on the 1956 French stage musical Irma La Douce by Marguerite Monnot and Alexandre Breffort. It was directed by Billy Wilder, and starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine.^[3]

Plot[]

Nestor Patou (Jack Lemmon), an honest cop, has been transferred from the park Bois de Boulogne to a more urban neighborhood in Paris. He finds a street full of prostitutes working at the Hotel Casanova and proceeds to raid the place.^[4] The police inspector, who is Nestor's superior, and the other policemen, have been aware of the prostitution, but tolerate it in exchange for bribes.^[5] The inspector, a client of the prostitutes himself, fires Nestor,^[4] who is mistakenly framed for bribery.

Kicked off the force and humiliated, Nestor finds himself drawn to the very neighborhood that ended his career with the Paris police - returning to Chez Moustache, a popular hangout tavern for prostitutes and pimps. Down on his luck, Nestor befriends Irma La Douce (Shirley MacLaine), a popular prostitute. He reluctantly accepts, as a confidante, the proprietor of Chez Moustache, a man known only as "Moustache." In a running joke, Moustache (Lou Jacobi), a seemingly ordinary barkeeper, tells of a storied prior life, claiming to have been, among other things, an attorney, a Colonel in the Foreign Legion, and a doctor who worked with Albert Schweitzer in Africa, ending with the repeated line, "But that's another story". After saving Irma from her abusive pimp, Hippolyte, Nestor moves in with her, and soon finds himself as Irma's new one.^[5]

Though Nestor is upset with Irma for accompanying other men, he comes up with a plan to stop her. But he soon finds out that it is not all that it is cracked up to be. Using a disguise, he invents an alter-ego, "Lord X", a British lord, who "becomes" Irma's sole client.^[4] Nestor's plans to keep Irma off the streets soon backfire, and she becomes suspicious, since Nestor must work long and hard in the market at night to earn the cash "Lord X" pays Irma.^[4] When Irma decides to leave Paris with the fictitious Lord X, Nestor decides to end the charade. Unaware he is being tailed by Hippolyte, he finds a secluded stretch along the river Seine, and tosses his disguise into it. Hippolyte, not having seen Nestor change his clothes, sees "Lord X"'s clothes floating in the water, and concludes Nestor murdered him. Before Nestor is arrested, Moustache advises him not to reveal Lord X was a fabrication. Nestor admits to having killed Lord X, but only because of his love for Irma.

Nestor is sentenced to life in prison for fifteeen years. Knowing Irma is loving him and becoming pregnant, Moustache and Nestor escape prison, and returns to her. He narrowly avoids being recaptured when the police search for him at the apartment, but donning his old uniform, Nestor simply blends in with the other police. With the help of Hippolyte, Nestor arranges for the police to search for him along the Seine from which, dressed as Lord X, he emerges. Knowing he cannot be re-arrested for a murder the police now know did not occur, Nestor goes to the church, where he plans to marry Irma. As she walks down the aisle, she begins to experience contractions, and they continue during the wedding ceremony. Nestor and Irma head to the labor, and deliver the baby. While everyone congratulates Nestor and Irma, Moustache identifies the real Lord X as a guest. As Lord X leaves, a clearly baffled Moustache looks at the audience.

Cast[]

Production[]

The film was conceived as Marilyn Monroe's vehicle in 1962.^[4] The project would have reunited her with Wilder and Lemmon, both of whom had worked with her on Some Like It Hot. After Monroe's death, Shirley MacLaine was cast in the film after starring in The Apartment.^[6] MacLaine was paid $350,000 plus a percentage.^[7]

Reception[]

The film was a hit, grossing $25,246,588 worldwide^[2] on a budget of $5 million.^[1] It was the fifth highest-grossing film of 1963, earning an estimated $12 million in North America.^[8] Irma la Douce earned over $15 million in worldwide rentals, but because of profit participation for Wilder and the two stars, United Artists only made a profit of $440,000 during the film's theatrical run.^[7]

Bosley Crowther of The New York Times called it "a brisk and bubbly film" with Lemmon "little short of brilliant" and MacLaine having "a wonderously casual and candid air that sweeps indignation before it and leaves one sweetly enamoured of her."^[9] Variety praised the "scintillating performances" by Lemmon and MacLaine but thought that the film "lacks the originality of some of Wilder's recent efforts" and that the 147-minute running time was "an awfully long haul for a frivolous farce."^[10] Philip K. Scheuer of the Los Angeles Times reported that "I found it a brilliant, though outrageously outspoken comedy."^[11] Richard L. Coe of The Washington Post panned the film as "overblown and overlong, two hours and three quarters tediously spent on a single joke."^[12] The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote, "Though the film stretches for two and a third hours, and rarely ventures away from the two principals and the studio-built Rue Casanova, the humour and spontaneity endure surprisingly well ... most credit goes to Shirley MacLaine and Jack Lemmon for yet another tour de force of comedy playing."^[13] The film gave 76% ratings on Rotten Tomatoes based on 21 reviews.^[14]

Accolades[]

Soundtrack[]

Irma La Douce
Soundtrack album by André Previn
Released	13 July 1998
Label	Rykodisc

All compositions by André Previn,^[20] using themes by Marguerite Monnot.

1. "Main Title" 2:14
2. "Meet Irma" 1:42
3. "This Is the Story" 3:16
4. "Nestor the Honest Policeman" 1:54
5. "Our Language of Love" 2:04
6. "Don't Take All Night" 5:43
7. "The Market" 6:28
8. "Easy Living the Hard Way" 3:16
9. "Escape" 2:13
10. "Wedding Ring" 1:35
11. "The Return of Lord X" 1:24
12. "In the Tub with Fieldglasses" 2:27
13. "Goodbye Lord X" 3:17
14. "I'm Sorry Irma" 1:38
15. "Juke Box: Let's Pretend Love" 3:07
16. "Juke Box: Look Again" 2:16
17. "But That's Another Story" 0:38

The film also features an a cappella enticement song set to the tune of Alouette.

Remakes[]

• Irma la Douce was remade for French television in 1972.^[21]
• The film is remade in Turkey as Kırmızı Fener Sokağı in 1968
• The film is remade in India as the controversial film Manoranjan with Sanjeev Kumar and Zeenat Aman, reprising the roles of Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine respectively.^[22]

Others[]

In 1968, the Egyptian movie Afrit Mirati (My Wife's Goblin) starring Shadia and Salah Zulfikar contained a soundtrack titled Irma la Douce performed by Shadia. The Egyptian film خمسة باب (khamsa bab) was based on the story in Irma La Douce, with Nadia El Guindy playing the part of Tragy, the Egyptian Irma character.^[23]

See also[]

• List of American films of 1963

References[]

External links[]