CÉZANNE ET MOI traces the parallel paths of the lives, careers and passionate friendship of post-impressionist painter Paul Cézanne (Guillaume Gallienne) and novelist Émile Zola (Guillaume Canet). The two boys grew up in Aix-en-Provence where Émile was fatherless and poor, while Paul came from a wealthy family. As young men, dreaming of glory and beautiful women, they left the south to conquer the art scene in Paris. Soon Émile had success, money, and a wonderful wife, embracing the very bourgeoisie he mocked in his books. Meanwhile, Cézanne rejected the Parisian scene to focus only on his work, ignored by his peers and the establishment.