Irma la Douce

"A story of passion, bloodshed, desire and death... everything, in fact, that makes life worth living."

1963 2h 27m EN

👍

7.4

SOLID

★7.4TMDB · 495

RomanceComedy

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

When a recently fired policeman falls in love with a French prostitute, he doesn't want her to be with other men, so he creates an alter-ego in order to become her only customer.

“A story of passion, bloodshed, desire and death... everything, in fact, that makes life worth living.”

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Cast

Shirley MacLaine
Irma La Douce
Jack Lemmon
Nestor Patou
Lou Jacobi
Moustache
Bruce Yarnell
Hippolyte
Herschel Bernardi
Inspector Lefevre
Hope Holiday
Lolita
Joan Shawlee
Amazon Annie
Grace Lee Whitney
Kiki

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Billy Wilder
Writers: Billy Wilder, I. A. L. Diamond
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 5.0× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

63 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Billy Wilder, shot by Joseph LaShelle. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by André Previn. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Daniel Mandell shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Shirley MacLaine and Jack Lemmon and Lou Jacobi carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "A story of passion, bloodshed, desire and death... everything, in fact, that makes life worth living.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0057187 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Billy Wilder directs. Joseph LaShelle behind the camera. André Previn scores. Daniel Mandell cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Made its money back 5.0× over at the box office.
263 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
3Directed by Billy Wilder, shot by Joseph LaShelle. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by André Previn. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Daniel Mandell shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Shirley MacLaine and Jack Lemmon and Lou Jacobi carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "A story of passion, bloodshed, desire and death... everything, in fact, that makes life worth living.".
8IMDB entry: tt0057187 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography: Joseph LaShelle
Original score: André Previn
Editing: Daniel Mandell
Production design: Alexandre Trauner
Costume design: Orry-Kelly
Runtime: 147 min · 2h 27m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $5,000,000
Box office: $25,200,000
Return: 504% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: Irma la Douce (1963)

Awards

Academy Award for Best Score, Adaptation or Treatment

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Billy Wilder

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2019-07-02
★ 7/10
One of Wilder's most divisive film's amongst his fans. Adapted from Alexandre Breffort's stage musical, Irma la Douce in film form turns into something of a roller-coaster ride. Even allowing for the absence of the songs (a major gripe with purists), the film is far too bloated to really achieve the heights of being a great comedy classic. If it had been condensed to perhaps a 100 minute film then I think it could have achieved the splendour that some sequences hint at. As it is though, there is still much to enjoy, and nobody should be under the impression that this film isn't funny, because it is, but just how long can you stretch the joke Mr Wilder? I think the chief thing that sticks out is just how did Wilder get such an overtly sexual farce past the censors? He pushes the boundary more than usual with this one, and I honestly would be surprised if he himself wasn't surprised to get away with so much cheeky sexual shenanigans. The sets are fabulous from Alexandre Trauner, and Andre Previn's score is perfect and in tune with the Parisian heart of the film, but the lead actors here are oddly not firing on all cylinders. Jack Lemmon's hopeless romantic Nestor is the core humour character. A character who becomes jealous of himself! His transformation into an English fop is hilarious at first, but on, and on, and on it goes till the joke becomes a heavy weight on the film's shoulders. Lemmon is fine, he's just the victim of over ambition from Wilder. Shirley MacLaine is the title character and it doesn't quite come off, sure she gives it gusto and she looks fabulous (as always), but the role cried out for a more cosmopolitan actress, and this again comes down to Wilder losing site of things with this particular project. It's a safe recommend for Lemmon fans, but for Wilder worshippers such as me the problems are evident in spite the film being his highest grossing film of the decade. A cautionary 7/10.
CinemaSerf2024-01-15
★ 7/10
I love the first half hour of this film. It's all about the fastidious policeman "Patou" (Jack Lemmon) who is unwittingly transferred into a Parisian red light district where he encounters the eponymous hooker (Shirley MacLaine) plying her trade with her little dog. He smells a rat and immediately calls for a police raid on the hotel in which she works. Bad mistake! Not least because one of his bosses is enjoying the hospitality of the house - so he gets fired. Now pretty much resident in the café of "Moustache" (Lou Jacobi) across from her workplace, he becomes increasingly frustrated that this woman that he is now enamoured of is still working, so he concocts a cunning plan to adopt the identity of a visiting British lord and to woo her into a relationship that's exclusive. Initially this is a success - paid for by borrowed money from his new best friend, but when "Moustache" starts to want repaying, "Patou" has to start working overnight in the adjacent meat market and his burning of the candles at both ends soon causes consternation with "Irma". Eventually he concludes that his lordly lark isn't sustainable and so fakes his suicide. The razor-sharp mind of "Insp. Lefevre" (Herschel Bernardi) takes a different view though, and soon "Patou" in in jail for murder! Now he has to escape, prove his innocence (quite innovatively as it happens) and hope that his gal hasn't got bored of all of these shenanigans and found true love elsewhere. MacLaine puts her heart and soul into this - dancing, teasing and playing the game for all it's worth - and she's entertaining to boot. Lemmon was never my favourite comedy actor, but here he uses her and a strong screenplay from Billy Wilder and IAL Diamond to create an engaging character that, for the most part, manages to stay on the right side of farce as the plot proceeds from the sublime to the ridiculous. It does drag a little in the middle, and the preposterous does start to overwhelm it then too, but it rebounds well for a last half hour of quirky, entertaining cinema with a twist in its tail.