Tres amigos, sus mujeres y… los otros

It can be said that Vincent, François, Paul and the Others is worth watching. The question is rather how to justify that time retrospectively because even though I have understandably seen countless worse movies, within its genre and theme, this film is purely average and I would not hesitate to even say slightly uninteresting. Some films fade from your memory after a few days, and Vincent belongs more to those whose stories and protagonists you forget after a few hours. At most, you remember when you come across the title somewhere in the TV program, that Montand, Piccoli, and Depardieu starred in it, but unfortunately, these famous figures of French cinema are fixed in your mind with different roles and their protagonists and deeds from Sautet's film are perfectly erased from your memory. This type of filmmaking tempts temps one to give it a better review simply because of the presence of the stars, and also considering the genre label of a film with artistic intent - in the commercial part of cinema, viewers would probably be more unforgiving. Vincent, François, Paul and the Others is a film about a midlife crisis and friendship, but there have been plenty of such films in French cinema, and most of them had more distinctive plots and more charismatic characters. My impression is somewhere between two and three stars, but according to my usual approach, I will lean toward a lower rating for the film, also because three stars are usually given to films that I can watch repeatedly, and I really don't want to watch this again. Overall impression: 45%. (24.05.2014)