{"id":54373,"date":"2020-11-24T12:22:56","date_gmt":"2020-11-24T19:22:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=54373"},"modified":"2020-11-24T17:22:34","modified_gmt":"2020-11-25T00:22:34","slug":"irma-la-douce-1963","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=54373","title":{"rendered":"Irma la Douce (1963)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;This isn&#8217;t just a job &#8212; it&#8217;s a profession!&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Irma-La-Douce-Poster.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Irma-La-Douce-Poster-202x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"202\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-54374\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Irma-La-Douce-Poster-202x300.png 202w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Irma-La-Douce-Poster-690x1024.png 690w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Irma-La-Douce-Poster-86x128.png 86w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Irma-La-Douce-Poster-182x270.png 182w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Irma-La-Douce-Poster.png 753w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 202px) 100vw, 202px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nAfter beating up the john (Bruce Yarnell) of a popular Parisian prostitute (Shirley MacLaine), a strait-laced policeman (Jack Lemmon) falls in love with Irma (MacLaine) but soon finds himself increasingly jealous and intolerant of her work. With the assistance of a local bar owner (Lou Jacobi), Lemmon concocts an elaborate plan to pretend to be a wealthy British nobleman who will pay her simply to play solitaire &#8212; but how long can the ruse last?\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Billy Wilder Films<\/li>\n<li>Feminism and Women&#8217;s Issues<\/li>\n<li>Jack Lemmon Films <\/li>\n<li>Mistaken or Hidden Identities<\/li>\n<li>Play Adaptation<\/li>\n<li>Police<\/li>\n<li>Prostitutes and Gigolos<\/li>\n<li>Romantic Comedy<\/li>\n<li>Shirley MacLaine Films<\/li>\n<li>Strong Females<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nThree years after co-starring in Billy Wilder&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=43961\"><em>The Apartment<\/em> (1961)<\/a>, Lemmon and MacLaine reunited as a romantic couple in this decidedly lighter fare, based on a <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Irma_La_Douce_(musical)\">1956 French musical play<\/a>. Unfortunately, the shift from musical to romantic comedy doesn&#8217;t do the awkward storyline any favors: we can tell from the get-go that challenges will arise if Lemmon allows himself to seriously fall for Irma (MacLaine), given her self-selected profession &#8212; <em>and<\/em> her sincere lack of desire to stop &#8220;working for her man&#8221;. The characters are so broadly drawn &#8212; and the scenes so farcically sketched &#8212; that we know we should laugh, but the situation simply isn&#8217;t funny. Irma is being duped on multiple levels &#8212; not just by Lemmon&#8217;s refusal to admit that he can&#8217;t stomach her career, but by his duplicitous enactment as Lord X (which, of course, implies that Irma is too clueless to recognize her own boyfriend-in-disguise for hours on end).<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Irma-La-Douce-Lord-X.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Irma-La-Douce-Lord-X.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"704\" height=\"304\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-54548\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Irma-La-Douce-Lord-X.png 704w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Irma-La-Douce-Lord-X-300x130.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Irma-La-Douce-Lord-X-128x55.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Irma-La-Douce-Lord-X-604x261.png 604w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 704px) 100vw, 704px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nWhile the colorful cinematography and sets are pleasant to look at, you can feel free to skip this one; it&#8217;s not essential viewing. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Shirley MacLaine as Irma<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Irma-La-Douce-MacLaine.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Irma-La-Douce-MacLaine.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"704\" height=\"304\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-54375\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Irma-La-Douce-MacLaine.png 704w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Irma-La-Douce-MacLaine-300x130.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Irma-La-Douce-MacLaine-128x55.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Irma-La-Douce-MacLaine-604x261.png 604w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 704px) 100vw, 704px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Jack Lemmon as Nestor<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Irma-la-Douce-Lemmon.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Irma-la-Douce-Lemmon.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"704\" height=\"304\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-54377\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Irma-la-Douce-Lemmon.png 704w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Irma-la-Douce-Lemmon-300x130.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Irma-la-Douce-Lemmon-128x55.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Irma-la-Douce-Lemmon-604x261.png 604w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 704px) 100vw, 704px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Joseph LaShelle&#8217;s cinematography<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Irma-La-Douce-Cinematography.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Irma-La-Douce-Cinematography.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"704\" height=\"304\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-54376\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Irma-La-Douce-Cinematography.png 704w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Irma-La-Douce-Cinematography-300x130.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Irma-La-Douce-Cinematography-128x55.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Irma-La-Douce-Cinematography-604x261.png 604w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 704px) 100vw, 704px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo; you can skip this one. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0057187\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dvdtalk.com\/dvdsavant\/s940irma.html\">DVD Savant Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/16641\/irma-la-douce#articles-reviews?articleId=31459\">TCM Article<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thespinningimage.co.uk\/cultfilms\/displaycultfilm.asp?reviewid=11898&#038;aff=13\">Spinning Image Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.nytimes.com\/www.nytimes.com\/books\/98\/12\/27\/specials\/wilder-irma.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;This isn&#8217;t just a job &#8212; it&#8217;s a profession!&#8221; Synopsis: After beating up the john (Bruce Yarnell) of a popular Parisian prostitute (Shirley MacLaine), a strait-laced policeman (Jack Lemmon) falls in love with Irma (MacLaine) but soon finds himself increasingly jealous and intolerant of her work. With the assistance of a local bar owner (Lou Jacobi), Lemmon concocts an elaborate plan to pretend to be a wealthy British nobleman who will pay her simply to play solitaire &#8212; but how&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=54373\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=54373"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54549,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54373\/revisions\/54549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=54373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=54373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=54373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}