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."
Top Billed 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
Detailed Critic & Audience Reviews
J John ChardVerified TMDB Critic
2019-07-02
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, beca...
C CinemaSerfVerified TMDB Critic
2024-01-15
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 t...
