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AN X.O ODYSSEY THROUGH TIME

In "Life is an Odyssey," filmmaker Damien Chazelle explores how one can travel through time and space in the span of one distinct moment. "All you have to do is look inward, and the past, present and future can all happen at once," he says.

"I felt that the cinema and the tools of filmmaking could really lend themselves to bringing this Odyssey to life," says Damien Chazelle. To do so, he filmed in Prague, a city with a deep history of theater and magic. "I have a soft spot for the kind of films where you see the seams, the humanity. You see the strings but that doesn't stop you from being immersed and invested in the story."

The film was shot on location, with hundreds of extras participating. "In the end, we approached the project like a silent film, a story without a dialogue, just images and music. I tried to pull a trick or two from the silent film playbook and look at how they would have done things back then," the director explains. Working with production designer Florencia Martin, he "eaned into the concept of sets physically changing in succession, like a movie within a movie."

Sequence after sequence, there emerge clear parallels between the art of filmmaking and the artisanal methods behind cognac-making. "Life is an Odyssey" evokes all seven of Hennessy X.O's iconic tasting notes, yet leaves it up to the viewer to, as the director says, "finish the sentence themselves."

A MOVIE WITHIN A MOVIE

On location in Prague

A fleeting moment, a lasting emotion

A world of memories in every drop.

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.