La La Land Director Damien Chazelle Explores Memory in Hennessy’s Surreal Odyssey

Academy Award-winning director Damien Chazelle, known for movies such as La La Land and Whiplash, tells a mind-bending tale about memory in a 7-minute film for Hennessy X.O. that was three years in the making.

The short film continues Hennessy’s cinematic “Odyssey” campaign, which began in 2016 with a story from Drive director Nicolas Winding Refn. The second installment in 2019 saw Ridley Scott return to advertising after a 15-year break.

The concept from agency DDB Paris continues this summer with a whirlwind adventure scored by Academy Award-winning composer Justin Hurwitz. The story follows a musician who wakes up on an empty bus and strolls through empty streets, where he encounters a giant bust of himself. The surreal moment leads to him getting lost in his own memories, from a puppet show where his parents give him his first musical instrument to his performances around the world.

Shot in Prague with whimsical sets from production designer Florencia Martin, who worked with Chazelle on Babylon, the film then depicts the musician falling in love after he meets a woman at a bar and accidentally spills a bit of his Hennessy X.O. on her work. The meet-cute prompts him to imagine them growing old together.

The story ends with the couple relaxing on a couch, drinking glasses of cognac, their home filled with mementos of the events that brought them together.

“The film centers around the idea that the most fleeting of emotions can trigger an odyssey wherein childhood, early adulthood and the future overlap,” Chazelle said in a statement. “With Hennessy X.O. I looked into one person’s memories while leaving the audience to complete the picture.”

Chazelle visited Hennessy’s cognac cellars in Prague to gather inspiration before the shoot. His visit allowed him to draw parallels between the brand’s artisanal processes and the art of filmmaking.

“Damien Chazelle delicately infuses each element of the film with the craftsmanship and timelessness of cognac-making,” Hennessy president and CEO Laurent Boillot said in a statement. “A French-American storyteller with a gift for rendering larger-than-life emotions on the screen, Chazelle is the ideal partner to encapsulate the greatness that lies in each single drop of Hennessy X.O. cognac.”

CREDITS

Hennessy Maison 

Hennessy global CMO: Julie Nollet  
Hennessy X.O. brand director: Emmy Aoun Gestin 

Production: Superprime & Loveboat

Director: Damien Chazelle 
Executive producers: Rebecca Skinner & Greg Panteix 
Producers: William Green & Bertille Muguet 
DOP: Linus Sandgren 
1st AD: Michael Kahn 
Production designer: Florencia Martin
Costume designer: Emmanuelle Youchnovksi  
Make-up: Arturo Balseiro Santos 
Photographers: Christopher Anderson & Romain Laprade  
Behind the scenes pictures and movie: Jacqueline de Gorter 

Production co: Unit + Sofa 

Executive producer: Filip Hedjuk 
Line producer: Tereza Kalova 
Local production designer: Henri Boraros  

Post production: The Mill 

Executive creative director: Franck Lambertz
Head of executive: Lionel Juglair 
Post producer: Bastien Adam
Editor director’s cut: Shane Reid 
Editor: Sophie Reine 
Color grading: Matt Wallach @ Company3

Music production 

Music composer: Justin Hurwitz 
Sound production company: Justin Hurwitz & Barking Owl

Agency: DDB Paris  

Chief creative officer: Alexander Kalchev  
Creative directors: Alexis Benbehe & Pierre Mathonat  
Art directors: Mathieu Masse, Perrine Tixier, Charline Boisdon  
Producer & art buyer: Quentin Moenne-Loccoz 
Post producer: Jerôme Deplatière  
Managing director: Xavier Mendiola 
Business director: Meryl Martin  
Account director: Floriane Portaspana 
Account executive: Marie Melet & Clarisse Comte