☰
Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows RT App News Showtimes

Irma La Douce

Play trailer Poster for Irma La Douce Released Jun 5, 1963 2h 27m Comedy Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
75% Tomatometer 20 Reviews 78% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
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.
Watch on Fandango at Home Stream Now

Where to Watch

Irma La Douce

Critics Reviews

View More (20)
Elizabeth Sussex Sight & Sound 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. Mar 11, 2020 Full Review Sam Adams Philadelphia City Paper 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. Jan 26, 2019 Full Review David Parkinson Empire Magazine Lemmon and Maclaine fail to reproduce the chemistry from The Apartment but this slight film is not as ignorable as reputation suggests. Rated: 3/5 Jan 25, 2019 Full Review Marlene Matouk Tampa Bay Times 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. Jan 13, 2021 Full Review Dwight MacDonald Esquire Magazine 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 Aug 12, 2019 Full Review Rob Aldam Backseat Mafia A magical and beguiling tale of love of the mean streets of Paris. Mar 16, 2019 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View More (275)
Isaiah Y Not one of Billy Wilder's best scripts, but still great performances by Shirley MacLaine and Jack Lemmon Rated 3 out of 5 stars 08/20/25 Full Review Alejandro E If the chequered love story between a policeman and a prostitute has its appeal, it is the chemistry between Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine. It may not be among director Billy Wilder's best, but even so, the 144 minutes are well spent. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 04/26/25 Full Review Will G Jack lemmon, Shirley maclaine, Billy wilder, Paris, 1960s. What's not to like? Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/05/25 Full Review Rare T A beautiful movie, all-around. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 11/27/24 Full Review Aldo G Too long for it's own good. Director Billy Wilder could have easily cut a few of his bits that make the movie drag. Nonetheless the films has excellent performances by the leads and while the lighting is flat the art direction makes the imagery pop. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 05/01/24 Full Review nick s This movie does feel a little stagey and would be better on an actual stage... especially with some of the slapstick humour and exaggerated acting. But it did have plenty of positives. The sets were amazing, the music was lively, Shirley MccLean was wonderful as usual and there was plenty of witty humour in there. And if course being a Billy Wilder film it came with his usual stamp of quality. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/02/24 Full Review Read all reviews
Irma La Douce

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW

Cast & Crew

View All

Billy Wilder

Director

Shirley MacLaine

Irma La Douce

Jack Lemmon

Nestor Patou

Lou Jacobi

Moustache

Herschel Bernardi

Insp. Lefevre

Joan Shawlee

Amazon Annie

More Like This

View All
Inspector Clouseau 0% 21% Inspector Clouseau Watchlist The Party 83% 88% The Party Watchlist What a Way to Go! 25% 67% What a Way to Go! Watchlist Who's Minding the Store? 57% 65% Who's Minding the Store? Watchlist The Nutty Professor 82% 67% The Nutty Professor Watchlist Discover more movies and TV shows. View More
View All

Irma La Douce

Irma La Douce (1963) Irma La Douce (1963) Irma La Douce (1963) Irma La Douce (1963) Irma La Douce (1963) Irma La Douce (1963) View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis 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.
Director
Billy Wilder
Producer
Billy Wilder
Screenwriter
Billy Wilder, I.A.L. Diamond
Distributor
United Artists, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Distributing Corp., MGM/UA Home Entertainment Inc.
Production Co
Mirisch Corporation, Phalanx Productions
Genre
Comedy
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jun 5, 1963, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Dec 26, 2016
Runtime
2h 27m
Most Popular at Home Now