The girl Irma la Douce

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Movie
German title The girl Irma la Douce
Original title Irma la Douce
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1963
length 135 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Billy Wilder
script Alexandre Breffort
Billy Wilder
I. AL Diamond
production Edward L. Alperson
I. AL Diamond
Doane Harrison
Billy Wilder
Alexandre Trauner
music André Previn
Marguerite Monnot
camera Joseph LaShelle
cut Daniel Mandell
occupation
synchronization

The girl Irma la Douce (Original title: Irma la Douce ) is an American comedy film that was shot in 1963 under the direction of Billy Wilder . It is based on the musical Irma la Douce by Marguerite Monnot and Alexandre Breffort . However, Wilder refrained from making a film musical out of the material.

action

In the Rue Casanova in the Parisian Quartier des Halles , the business of the red light district is tolerated by the corrupt police until the young policeman Nestor Patou is transferred to the district, who immediately instigates a raid and has all prostitutes and suitors brought to the police station . - Unfortunately, among the suitors there is also the chief of the local police station, who immediately suspends Nestor from the police force.

Nestor Patou now wants to drown his grief in the pimp bar Chez Mustache . There he meets Irma la Douce (la Douce = the sweet one, French), with whom he fell in love during the raid he initiated. - When her pimp treats her badly, the former police officer Nestor confronts him and a fight breaks out. The initially defeated Nestor becomes increasingly angry and wins the fight overwhelmingly, albeit by chance.
The win earned him respect from the other pimps in the neighborhood. All members of the milieu (including Irma , the recognized prima donna in this milieu) therefore take it for granted that Nestor will now take on the role of her protector (and pimp). Irma takes Nestor into her apartment.

From now on, Nestor officially appears as Irma's pimp, but out of jealousy he cannot bear it when she has contact with suitors. - He disguises himself as a rich English Lord X with the help of the bartender Mustache ; Irma pays 500 francs for each meeting and only expects a few games of solitaire . - They agree to meet twice a week so that Irma doesn't have to accept any more suitors. In order to raise the money, however, Nestor has to work every night at the Halles Centrales wholesale market in Paris . And since Nestor is completely exhausted and tired all day long as a result of the hard work at night, Irma suspects an affair . In her disappointment, she flirts with the lord, who offers to take her to his English castle. A central scene of the film is the seduction of Lord X by Irma .



  • by giving her hopes and admitting his impotence ("war injury") - Lord X successfully appeals to her professional pride.
  • with the apparently successful seduction, Lord X now makes himself a rival to Nestor . - This dramatically motivates the murder of Lord X by Nestor and makes it clear that Nestor (whose alter ego is Lord X) suffers from a split personality.
This seduction is also a very successful further development of a central scene from Some Like It Hot : There the alleged Shell Junior motivates the singer Sugar to seduce with an equally feigned impotence. - However, the seduction in Irma la Douce is presented in a much more subtle way - and yet more erotically effective. Apparently both scenes corresponded to the Hays Code .

Nestor gets the impression that Irma loves "the Lord" more than him and sinks the costume he wore as Lord X in the Seine . Irma's former pimp watches him, interprets the incident as the murder of Lord X and denounces him. - Nestor is being arrested.

Mustache, on the other hand, advises Nestor to confess to the "murder" because the jury would not believe the bizarre story of a rival he played himself.
But Irma is also convinced that he committed the “murder” - out of love for her - and swears eternal loyalty to him.

In prison Nestor learns that Irma is pregnant from him and is about to give birth. Nestor escapes from prison with Mustache's help. You let the Lord "rise" again from the Seine.
In a particularly grotesque scene, Lord X climbs in front of the police in the dignified clothing of an English lord - over a staircase on the bank - out of the waters of the Seine.
(Initially, however, only the handle of his umbrella appears over the water, imitating the periscope of a submarine - an allusion / parody of corresponding war films).

With the return of Lord X, however, the allegations of "murder" are no longer tenable. Nestor and Irma can get married literally at the last minute before their daughter is born. An appearance here has also - as a beautiful final gag against all logic - Lord X . And the daughter's obstetrician is Mustache (which is also a running gag - because Mustache claims many skills for himself in the course of the film - from pub landlord to lawyer to obstetrician - but ultimately performs all of these activities successfully).

occupation

According to Wilder, Elizabeth Taylor was originally Irma's first choice, but the director wanted nothing to do with the Taylor- Richard Burton affair at the time . Even Marilyn Monroe was the title role in the conversation, as Wilder of her performance in Some Like It Hot's said to have been thrilled, but she died before filming began. Actress Shirley MacLaine signed the contract without reading the script because she “had confidence in Wilder and Lemmon”. As a mustache , Wilder wanted to use Charles Laughton , who suffered from cancer and died shortly afterwards. Tura Satana , who later became known from the film The Satans Wives of Tittfield , played a supporting role in the film. James Caan does not appear on the cast list as "Soldier with Radio".

German version

The German dubbing was created in 1963 in the studio of Ultra Film Synchron GmbH in Berlin under the direction of Josef Wolf . The dialogue book was written by Peter Elsholtz .

role actor Voice actor
Nestor Patou alias Lord X Jack Lemmon Georg Thomalla
Irma La Douce Shirley MacLaine Hannelore Schroth
Mustache Lou Jacobi Klaus W. Krause
Inspector Lefevre Herschel Bernardi Arnold Marquis

The film was released in theaters in the Federal Republic of Germany on September 12, 1963, and it was first broadcast on German television on August 5, 1979 in the evening program of ARD .

Awards

Academy Awards
Golden Globes
Golden canvas, Germany
  • 1964 golden canvas
Laurel Awards

criticism

“A dismissed Parisian policeman picks up a naive street girl's brutal pimp and leads her to the altar through cunning but nerve-wracking doppelganging. Amusing film adaptation of a musical of the same name. Remarkable entertainment film with many gags and some touching depths. "

- Lexicon of International Films

"Cheeky, funny and full of frivolity, Shirley MacLaine plays the famous Parisian street girl [...] The overzealous police officer Jack Lemmon unfolds his art of transformation in a double role. Wilder's most successful comedy [...] "

- Adolf Heinzlmeier and Berndt Schulz : Lexicon "Films on TV"

Publications

DVD release

  • The girl Irma La Douce . MGM Home Entertainment 2007

Soundtrack

  • André Previn : Irma La Douce Soundtrack. Deluxe Edition. MGM Soundtrack of a United Artists Film . Rykodisk, Salem and London 1998, audio carrier no. RCD 10729 - Original stereo recording of the film music conducted by the composer

literature

  • Billy Wilder, IAL Diamond: The girl Irma La Douce (OT: Irma La Douce ). Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 1964

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Certificate of release for the girl Irma la Douce . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , November 2004 (PDF; test number: 30 477 V / DVD).
  2. ↑ Thomas Bräutigam: Lexicon of film and television synchronization. More than 2000 films and series with their German voice actors etc. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-289-X , p. 241
  3. ↑ Two thousand and one film lexicon and Spiegel.de .
  4. ↑ The girl Irma la Douce. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed December 9, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  5. ^ Adolf Heinzlmeier, Berndt Schulz: Lexicon "Films on TV". Extended new edition. Rasch and Röhring, Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-89136-392-3 , p. 526