Cézanne et moi (2016)
Directed by Danièle Thompson

Film Review

The unlikely friendship of Paul Cézanne and Émile Zola, two of the creative geniuses of the 19th century, is a subject worthy of a mini-series, so director Danièle Thompson has a rich vein to mine for her film Cézanne et moi.  It is hard to imagine what could have drawn two such different individuals together - one who became a great writer who achieved acclaim early in his career, the other an avant-garde painter who was barely recognised until the end of his life - so it is somewhat disappointing that instead of attempting a serious biographical portrait all that Danièle Thompson delivers is merely a fanciful buddy movie that tells us next to nothing, and takes a hell of a long time to say it.  More used to lowbrow comedy than serious drama, Thompson overreaches herself and in Cézanne et moi she turns in a vacuous crowdpleaser that revels in its kitsch glossiness without saying much of interest about the central protagonists.

Despite the abundance of facial hair that is plastered all over their faces, neither Guillaume Gallienne nor Guillaume Canet is remotely convincing in their respective roles of Cézanne and Zola.  It is not the actors who are at fault but a risible script that requires them to spout the most irksome platitudes with the utmost earnestness.  The sumptuous locations into which these two are periodically plunged (with a palate that is a pleasing near approximation to that of Cézanne's own paintings) give a visual lift to make up for the dearth of narrative content, but even these become wearisome after a while thanks to the incredibly overdone score that only succeeds in drowning out whatever genuine artistic merit and subtlety the film has.  With most of the story told in flashback, the film is painfully uneven and fails to achieve even the vaguest semblance of coherence.  As a portrait of a friendship that goes on the skids when the protagonists follow their separate destinies the film has some appeal, but as an authentic representation of the love-hate relationship of two of France's artistic luminaries Cézanne et moi is an unmitigated failure.

Film Synopsis

In 1886, Émile Zola's novel L'Oeuvre is ill-received by his old friend Paul Cézanne, who is unimpressed by what he sees as an unflattering portrait of himself as a failed artist.  Determined to give the book's author a piece of his mind, the painter rounds on Zola, but they have known each other too long for this latest falling out to end in a punch-up.  In their youth they were once the closest of friends, having met at school and discovered they had so many shared interests.  But socially they were world's apart.  Paul came from a wealthy family whilst Émile's background was far more modest.  Leaving Aix-en-Provence behind them, they had an exuberant time together in Paris, enjoying life to the full before they embarked on their separate artistic careers.  Émile became a successful writer of fiction, acquiring wealth and recognition in his lifetime, while Paul persevered as an artist and struggled to find anyone to buy his paintings.  It wasn't only their artistic leanings that drove the two men part.  They had the misfortune to fall in love with the same woman, and of course it was the ever-successful Émile who won that prize...