電影追蹤十九世紀歐洲文化界兩位風雲人物－印象派畫家塞尚與自然主義作家左拉長達半生的友誼，十三歲初次相識，兩人結為摯友，一同長大，分享同樣的夢想、野心、甚至是對藝術及女孩共同的愛。塞尚成長在富有但守舊的家庭，之後走上畫家的道路艱難謀生；而生於貧窮家庭的左拉卻漸漸因寫作而功成名就。1888年，將近五十的二人再次對峙，塞尚堅持左拉作品中窮困潦倒的畫家是影射自己…… 電影多角度探微兩位文化巨匠，演繹左拉忠於社會的寫實文筆與塞尚新潮的形式主義畫風之間的藝術碰撞，更打破兩人的私密空間，試圖解構各自不能示人的秘密。

The film traces the decade-long friendship between the impressionist artist, Paul Cézanne and the naturalist novelist, Émile Zola, two of France’s most influential cultural figures in the19th century. Having met at the age of thirteen, the two young boys became school pals and grew up to share the same dreams, ambitions and even a mutual love of art and girls. Cézanne, who was born in a rich but conventional family, later struggled to make a living as a painter, while Zola, who came from a poor background, became successful as a novelist. In 1888, a nearly 50-year-old Cézanne confronts Zola again for his novel L’Oeuvre in which the main character, a poor failed painter, is thought to resemble Cézanne… The film represents these two cultural figures’ mysterious lives, not only underlining the artistic arguments between Zola’s writing and Cézanne’s stylishly formalistic painting, but also intimately referring to their private life and sexual experiences.