You Can See Everything (documentary) ★★★★

Nathan Fielder is skilled at manipulation. In his breakout show Nathan For You, the comedian acted as a business consultant for small businesses, proposing ludicrous ideas as business plans. As the show progressed into multiple seasons, it became a test for Nathan on just how bizarre of an idea he could convince someone to do. His follow-up to Nathan For You, The Rehearsal, pushed past the constraints of his first show’s concept by having people act out impactful scenarios in their lives through ‘rehearsals’, and is observational of human behavior and rationale. Concepts of reality, performance, and presentation have piqued Nathan’s curiosity, and led him along with co-director Lance Oppenheim to observe and document the final month of Theranos’ founder Elizabeth Holmes’ freedom before incarceration. Nathan and the documentary crew move into Holmes’ guest house, and the outcome of their experience is the three hour documentary You Can See Everything, a view into the lifestyle and behavior of the disgraced Silicon Valley founder.

Elizabeth Holmes is known for the persona she adopted towards investors and the public when promoting her medical device startup. She was inspired by Steve Jobs and would mimic Jobs’ attire and physical presence. Also, she would speak in a false baritone voice rather than her natural voice in order to sound more authoritative and persuasive to investors. Every public appearance of Holmes’ is carefully curated, and You Can See Everything is no exception. Holmes proclaims her innocence and truly believes that she had done nothing wrong, rebuking any line of questioning from Nathan that would be incriminating or suggest any sign of deceit or wrongdoing. Her conversations with Nathan are carefully monitored by Holmes’ fiancé Billy Evans who steps in and interrupts any discussion that starts to portray Holmes negatively or when Holmes shows discomfort. Billy insists to Nathan that Holmes has not told a single lie in her life to Nathan’s disbelief, and praises the quality of Holmes’ character. Billy believes she is unlike anyone else.

On the surface, You Can See Everything is about Holmes and the month prior to her incarceration. However, as the film progresses, it deconstructs Holmes’ relationship with Billy beginning with Nathan’s skepticism of why Billy would fall in love with the soon-to-be imprisoned woman. What would Billy have to gain from his relationship with Holmes? Money? Infamy? Family? From what we observe about Billy and watching him listen to scientific journals at 2x speed while working with Holmes to rebuild Theranos, he’s either one of the most intelligent scientific minds of our generation or laboriously dedicated to Holmes, Theranos, a ruse, or some combination of the three. Billy attempts to assert control over the documentary and the power struggle that unfolds between Nathan, Holmes, and Billy easily fills the three hours while challenging audiences to uncover what they believe is true and who is in control of the narrative.

As a documentary, You Can See Everything hardly resembles films in its genre. It is more akin to reality television, and Nathan For You and reality TV fans will enjoy the exercise of uncovering truth from Fielder and Oppenheim’s film. One should always hold skepticism when viewing a documentary on a controversial subject matter, and part of the enjoyment in seeing You Can See Everything comes from unpacking micro-reactions and unusual behavior. The film’s closeups of faces emphasizes the idea that the time spent with Holmes’ family is too close for comfort, and its 4:3 Academy aspect ratio boxes us into this discomfort.

Between Holmes’ and Billy’s behavior and Nathan’s craftiness in front of the camera, You Can See Everything is a thrilling psychodrama. It’s jarring, uncomfortable, and worth seeing in a theater to hear people’s responses to what is shown onscreen. Nathan’s deadpan acting has truly met his match in Holmes and Billy, and this is clear even in the opening minutes: the bottom 5% of the film’s title card being covered where the ocean meets the horizon is suggestive enough. We may have “seen everything”, but there is something that is tantalizingly obscured. It’s hard to predict what this film will be remembered for, but I can’t help but have a worrisome feeling that You Can See Everything could be looked back on as a canary in a coal mine for how the next few years will look like for Holmes. One thing we can be certain of though: we’ll know Holmes’ response to the film shortly on X.