At this year’s Telluride Film Festival, organizers scheduled a surprise premiere for what turned out to be Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim’s Elizabeth Holmes documentary titled You Can See Everything. Ever since the movie’s debut back on September 6, it’s had the film community buzzing. Since its wider release to the public, the doc has done startlingly well at the box office, trended all over the internet, and inspired countless spoiler-warned analysis videos.
The film does not primarily relitigate Holmes and her company Theranos. That story has been told, and that verdict has been reached. Instead, it begins by documenting Holmes’ life in the days leading up to her incarceration. Fielder embeds himself within her home, spending time with her, her children, and her partner Billy Evans, in an attempt to figure out what exactly is going on with the convicted fraudster and her family. STOP
In the past decade or so, the documentary form has experienced a streaming era renaissance. Every week, new true crime docs hit streaming services and they tend to follow the same beats, feature similar drone shots, and include several talking heads to steer you in the direction of how they want you to think about things. Documentary filmmaking is at its most exciting to me when it is nothing like that. You Can See Everything is nothing like that.
You Can See Everything features stunning cinematography full of close ups. The camera lingers on the look in Holmes’ eyes, or Fielder’s, or Evans’. The documentary includes transcripts and at least one on-camera alteration to a transcript, with frank discussions on the power of one word versus another. It’s about trying to suss out the truth in an impossibly confusing situation. Not only is Holmes famously a cypher who can be frustratingly difficult to understand, but so is Fielder. Having an audience stand-in who himself can be difficult to track makes You Can See Everything a whirlwind of second guesses. Ultimately, the documentary sits with me as a frank and intoxicating look at potential deceits, manipulations, and untruths. Some might say lies, but others may not.
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