Irma La Douce - Plot

Plot

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 the at 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 prostitutes but are tolerating them in exchange for bribes. The inspector, a client of the prostitutes himself, fires Nestor, 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 for prostitutes and their pimps. Down on his luck, Nestor becomes close friends with Irma La Douce (Shirley MacLaine), a popular prostitute. He also reluctantly accepts, as a confidant, the proprietor of Chez Moustache, a man known only as "Moustache". (In a running joke, Moustache (Lou Jacobi), a seemingly ordinary barkeep, suggests a storied prior life – claiming to have been, among other things, an attorney and a doctor, ending with the repeated line "but that's another story".) After Irma dumps her pimp boyfriend, Nestor moves in with her, and he soon finds himself as Irma's new pimp.

Jealous of the thought of Irma with other men, Nestor comes up with a plan to stop Irma's prostitution. But he soon finds out that it's not all that it's cracked up to be. He invents an alter-ego, "Lord X", a British peer 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 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 that he's being tailed by Irma's former pimp, he finds a secluded stretch along the river Seine and tosses his disguise into it. The pimp, not having seen Nestor change his clothes, sees "Lord X"'s clothes floating in the water, and concludes that Nestor murdered him. Arrested by the police, Nestor is advised by Moustache against revealing that Lord X was a fabrication. "The jails are full of innocent people because they told the truth," the barkeep claims. Following Moustache's advice, Nestor admits to having killed Lord X, but only because of his love for Irma.

Hauled off to jail, but with Irma in love with him, Nestor is sentenced to 15 years' hard labor. Learning that Irma is pregnant Nestor escapes from prison, with Moustache's help, and returns to Irma. He narrowly avoids being recaptured when the police search for him in Irma's apartment, but donning his old uniform Nestor simply blends in with the other police. With the help of Irma's ex-pimp, Nestor arranges for the police to search for him along the Seine from which, dressed as Lord X, he emerges. Knowing he can't be rearrested for a murder that the police now know didn't occur, Nestor rushes to church, where he plans to marry Irma. They barely make it through the ceremony before Irma delivers their baby. While Nestor and everyone else is occupied with Irma, Moustache notices one of the guests sitting alone in the front row. Rising from his seat and walking past Moustache, the guest is none other than Lord X! A clearly baffled Moustache looks at Lord X, and then at the audience. "But that's another story", he says.