Irma la Douce (1963)

Irma la Douce movie storyline. In Paris, after six months working with children, the decorated rookie policeman Nestor Patou is assigned to work in the red light district on the Casanova Street, a place crowded of streetwalkers, pimps and corrupt police officers. The honest Nestor, who is naive and strictly by the book, notes the movement of couples in the Casanova Hotel and befriends the prostitute Irma La Douce (believing that she is a lady.

When he discovers that she is also a streetwalker, he calls the central station for a raid in the hotel. However, among the arrested costumers is the corrupt Chief of Police Lefevre that has a scheme with the pimps union. Nestor is fired with a dirty record and has difficulties to find a new job; he goes to the bistro of the versatile and experienced Moustache to drink, and he starts a conversation with Irma La Douce.

However, her bully pimp Hippolyte fights against Nestor, but he beats him up. Irma brings Nestor home and he becomes Irma’s pimp. However he falls in love for her and he is jealous when she meets a client. He decides to create the wealthy British Lord X to be the only regular client of Irma. But things go wrong when Nestor is jealous of Lord X and decides to end his character.

Irma la Douce (“Irma the Sweet”) is a 1963 American romantic comedy film starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine, directed by Billy Wilder. It is based on the 1956 French stage musical Irma La Douce by Marguerite Monnot and Alexandre Breffort. Though the film is not a musical, it won André Previn an Academy Award for Best Score – Adaptation or Treatment. The scene in which Shirley MacLaine exclaims “Dis-donc!” while dancing on a table appears to be a tribute to the musical from which the film is derived. The film was nominated for two other Academy Awards: Best Actress in a Leading Role (Shirley MacLaine) and Best Cinematography, Color.

About the Story

Irma la Douce tells the story of Nestor Patou (Jack Lemmon), an honest cop, who after being transferred from the park Bois de Boulogne to a more urban neighborhood in Paris, finds a street full of prostitutes working at the Hotel Casanova and proceeds to raid the place. 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. The inspector, a client of the prostitutes himself, fires Nestor,[4] who is accidentally 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 their pimps. Down on his luck, Nestor befriends Irma La Douce (Shirley MacLaine), a popular prostitute. He also 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, and a doctor, ending with the repeated line, “But that’s another story”. After Nestor defends Irma against her abusive pimp, Hippolyte, Nestor moves in with her, and he soon finds himself as Irma’s new pimp.

Jealous of the thought of Irma being with other men, Nestor comes up with a plan to stop Irma’s prostitution. 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. 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.

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 that Lord X was a fabrication. He tells him, “The jails are full of innocent people because they told the truth.” Nestor admits to having killed Lord X, but only because of his love for Irma.

Directed by: Billy Wilder
Starring: Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Lou Jacobi, Bruce Yarnell, Herschel Bernardi, Hope Holiday, Joan Shawlee, Grace Lee Whitney, Paul Dubov, Howard McNear, Cliff Osmond, Herb Jones, Ruth Earl, Jane Earl, Sheryl Deauville
Screenplay by: Billy Wilder, I. A. L. Diamond
Cinematography by: Joseph LaShelle
Film Editing by: Daniel Mandell
Costume Design by: Orry-Kelly
Set Decoration by: Maurice Barnathan, Edward G. Boyle
Art Direction by: Alexandre Trauner
Music by: André Previn
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: United Artists
Release Date: June 6, 1963