The descent of Cate Blanchett’s EGOT-winning conductor takes her all the way down to Amanda Achen’s reality.
Tár is a cerebral and surreal cliff dive form the heights of prestige and power into exile and obscurity. In it, through a series of social miscues and delayed comeuppances, Lydia Tár loses her prestigious position as the conductor of the Berlin philharmonic. Despite her initial privileged position as an Ivy-educated, wunderkint lesbian powerhouse, she’s slowly revealed as a social manipulator who blackballs a young rival artist and drives her to suicide.
Tár’s gradual demise takes her from the inner circles of the glitterati all the way down to an obscure orchestra pit in the Philippines where she directs a score for an audience of medieval cosplayers.
Amanda Achen is Bizarro Tár
When I heard an NPR feature on an a musician who lived in obscurity until she was chosen to perform the vocals of two Final Fantasy XIV expansion packs Shadowbringer and Endwalker, it sounded strangely familiar. Here was an artist who rose out of obscurity after moonlighting as an opera singer and pop artist to little acclaim in Hollywood, only to find her best self singing a score for a bunch of medieval MMORPG players in south Asia.
The opportunity to sing songs for “Final Fantasy” has helped define Achen’s vocal career as well. Previously, she struggled to fit neatly into the categories of opera, pop, or jazz.
“For the first time in my life, I feel fully seen. And I feel like I have… a home as a vocalist,” Achen rejoices. “I have had so many fans reach out to me, and tell me how this song, and how my voice, has helped them cope with the grief of the passing of their loved ones. … I’m like, wow.”
As per usual, truth is stranger than fiction.
