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"LIFE IS THE GREATEST ODYSSEY"

In a new campaign for Hennessy X.O, award-winning filmmaker Damien Chazelle defies time and space, coalescing past, present and future into a single moment. In an exclusive interview, the director discusses the making of an Odyssey.

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Please describe the arc of this film for Hennessy X.O.

It’s a universal story about memory and emotion that unfurls over various moments in a lifetime, from childhood onward. The narrative arc is simultaneously macro and micro: ultimately, fleeting in-between moments are just as decisive as big questions and milestone events. The smallest things can trigger an epic journey, and you realize that the scope of any life story is profound and emotional. It’s the memories that make a story valuable.

HNY_Damien Chazelle

What was your inspiration for this Odyssey?

"I was interested in capturing the French way of wistfully looking back and reflecting on the paths taken and the ones not taken. It’s a very emotional, almost a bittersweet way of looking at life. It was important to me to portray that."
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“If there was one overall guiding spirit behind the film, it would be the Franco-German director Max Ophuls. As a Franco-American director, I’m fascinated by his cultural cross-pollination. His movies feel timeless and almost placeless, even though they are rooted in his personal experience.”

BEHIND THE SCENES OF AN ODYSSEY

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"I have a soft spot for films where you see the seams."

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The film was shot on location in Prague.

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A window onto the world

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A movie within a movie

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Wherever you look, the magic takes hold.

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Images resonate like memories

Hennessy X.O 

In 1870, Maurice Hennessy created Hennessy X.O for his circle of friends and introduced a new style of cognac.  Hennessy X.O is the Original, the emblematic icon of the Hennessy Maison. 
Deep and powerful, the eaux-de-vie of this Hennessy X.O cognac are aged in young barrels and marked out by their power and energy, but also by their capacity to achieve a great roundness through time.
Our Tasting Committee has explored every facet of the blend and identified several emotions that were assimilated to an Odyssey through 7 chapters: 

  • Sweet Notes: The palate is warmly embraced by flavors of candied fruit.
  • Rising Heat: The intriguing sensation of an intense, rising heat slowly reveals the complex taste of eaux-de-vie patiently aged in oak barrels.
  • Spicy Edge: Perception of a strong spicy cognac note, tantalising the lips and palate with its distinct peppery flavor intertwined with a hint of chocolate. 
  • Flowing Flame: A wave of warmth grows, crests and then breaks. A robust presence, full and voluptuous, is felt. 
  • Chocolate Lull: There is the gradual discovery of something very familiar. It is the well-rounded flavor of a rich, dark chocolate.
  • Wood Crunches: A striking sensation is suddenly felt – the vigorous ebb and flow of oak notes interlaced with vanilla.
  • Infinite Echo: The evanescent oak notes leave a long, omnipresent finish in their wake. Seemingly endless, it echoes all of the subtleties of each taste and sensation that has preceded it.
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