You Can See Everything Review: A Fascinating Elizabeth Holmes Documentary From Nathan Fielder

Nathan Fielder Examines Elizabeth Holmes in You Can See Everything

When the first scenes of Nathan Fielder speaking face-to-face with Elizabeth Holmes shocked us in early September with the surprise release of the initial trailer for ‘You Can See Everything’, I honestly couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Surely this was some elaborate trick or recreation, the kind Fielder is known for. Alas, this documentary is the real deal, and the former Theranos CEO, convicted of fraud, allowed Fielder and co-director Lance Oppenheim to film her last few weeks of freedom before beginning an 11-year prison sentence.

Beyond Theranos: Investigating Elizabeth Holmes’s Personality

Naturally, with Fielder’s involvement, the documentary plays with form. It is so much more than just a traditional fly-on-the-wall observation of Holmes and her partner, Billy Evans. It’s a true investigation into Holmes’s personality, something past interviews and documentaries haven’t really been able to dig into. There are tons of documentaries and podcasts that revel in Holmes’s history and the rise and fall of Theranos, but we’ve never seen Holmes really crack on camera.

Fielder has always blurred the lines between reality and performance, comedy and discomfort, and sincerity and absurdity. There’s something uniquely compelling about the way he explores human behavior, often putting people in situations that are simultaneously fascinating, awkward, and deeply revealing. While “You Can See Everything” is far from another season of “The Rehearsal,” it feels like a natural evolution of the work Fielder has already been doing, while also being a true piece of investigative journalism.

A Documentary Best Experienced Without Spoilers

The first half of the documentary follows a relatively traditional structure, with Fielder as an onscreen presence, until Holmes actually goes to prison. At that point, the film starts doing some really fascinating things that I can’t go into for the sake of spoilers. I can say this: if you can avoid spoilers, please try your best to do so. This is absolutely something that should be experienced on the big screen with as little prior information as possible.

Hard Questions for Elizabeth Holmes and Billy Evans

Fielder does an impressive job of asking the hard-hitting questions the audience wants answered, though that doesn’t mean the answers aren’t always frustrating or confounding. In one sequence, Fielder presses Holmes on how her word choice could easily be misconstrued or misinterpreted, but Holmes sticks to her guns as the best way she knows to communicate. Billy Evans ends up being just as mesmerizing, if not more so, than Holmes is – and not necessarily in a positive way. But again, that’s better left to be experienced by the filmgoer.

Verdict

It’s not guaranteed you will walk away from this film knowing everything you hoped to know about Elizabeth Holmes. If anything, you might have more questions than you did at first. But one thing is for sure. Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim have created something truly special that anyone who enjoys documentaries and film in general needs to experience

You Can See Everything is now playing in theaters.

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