Tre amici, le mogli e (affettuosamente) le altre

I would define this movie as an example of a job well done of France's 1970's cinema. The cast is excellent and, as I may already have said in other comments, Sautet's direction acts a magic wand in his works. A little bit like "Je Vous Aime" with Catherine Deneuve and Jean Louis Trintignant, Vincent, Francois, Paul...et les autres shows the "after life" of certain characters trying to cope with their sentimental failures and mix-ups, except the fact that in this movie not everyone is an ex-husband of one of the female stars.

This certainly isn't as dramatic as Sautet's "Les Choses de la Vie" but there is just as much of a bitter final after taste, although everyone is alive at the end. Sautet has thus far left me with a "punch in the stomach feeling after seeing several of his movies. Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud for instance is another one of his unresolved romantic story, where no one knows at the end whose feelings were hurt.

Albeit its solemn Sautenesque tones with regards to love, Vincent, Francois, Paul...et les autres keeps its focus on a bizarre yet strong friendship among several men, preventing their unsolved love relationships to tamper with its strong lesson on the fact that, often times, friends last longer than partners.