| Cast: Jack Lemmon (Nestor Patou/Lord X), Shirley MacLaine (Irma La Douce), Lou Jacobi (Moustache), Bruce Yarnell (Hippolyte), Herschel Bernardi (detective Lefevre), Hope Holiday (Lolita), Paul Dubov (Andre), Diki Lerner (Jojo), Cliff Osmond (police sergeant). |
| The setting of this story, which is considered as the most dramatic of Wilder’s comedies, is the city of Paris, entirely reconstructed in the studios. Irma (Shirley MacLaine) is a prostitute, ill-treated by her pimp. She meets in a café a young policeman just sacked, Nestor Patou (Jack Lemmon), who has decided to drown his sorrows in alcohols. In this occasion, Nestor saves Irma from the brutality of her pimp and she seduces him in a hotel room to thank him. She also asks him to become her protector. Nestor accepts but, after a while, starts to be jealous of her clients and decides to become Lord X, a mysterious impotent gentleman, longing for Irma’s company. The owner of the bistro helps him for a certain period of time, lending him the money.
The mise-en-scène goes on. But when Nestor is obliged to work by night to the warehouses and, during the day, he is tired and can not stay with Irma, the situation deteriorates. Believing that Nestor betrays her, Irma proposes to Lord X to leave together for England. At this point, Nestor decides to suppress the character which he has created. He throws Lord X’s dress on the river Seine, but he is uncovered and arrested. When he learns that Irma is pregnant, Nestor escapes from the prison and asks the woman to marry him. The happy ending is obvious. Irma decides to quit from her job and to dedicate herself to her new activity of mother. Nestor is reintegrated into the police force.
The movie obtained an Oscar for its soundtrack (music by André Prévin) and would also have deserved an award for its setting which reproduced the city of Paris, so perfect to looks true (thanks to Alexandre Tranner).
A marvellous Shirley MacLaine and an excellent Jack Lemmon play very well in this paradoxes farce with dressing-up and the character slitting in two. The comedy is described with a cynic view by a director at the top of his career.
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