“You Can See Everything" is getting a lot of distribution and a lot of buzz, and this film deserves every bit of it. Directors Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim combine so many ideas, so many themes, and so many conventions of documentary filmmaking.
It will get the mind of every viewer racing to answer the hard questions they ask. “You Can See Everything” focuses on Elizabeth Holmes, Founder and CEO of the infamous Silicon Valley company Theranos.
After years of seemingly huge success and being named the world's youngest self-made female billionaire, Elizabeth Holmes was convicted by a jury in 2022 of conspiracy and wire fraud, her rise and fall was a huge news story. And full coverage of this complex fraud is in the 2019 documentary “The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley.”
So, most people today know who Elizabeth Holmes is and how she became a household name, but “You Can See Everything” is at least on the surface about what has happened to this woman after her public downfall.
Running at two hours and 54 minutes, the first half of this film spends time with Elizabeth and her family across 34 days before she enters federal prison in 2023 to begin her 11-year sentence. It's not about aggrandizing Elizabeth Holmes as a misunderstood visionary. This first half acts as a patient psychological examination of Holmes at an emotionally daunting time. Nathan Fielder interviews her, trying to find a piece of accountability from her and her husband, but no accountability is forthcoming.
What is forthcoming are surprising conversations revealing poignant, real feelings, or at least the feelings appear real. These ordinary observational moments in the film's first half are bumbling, then hilarious, then distressing.
From his reality TV programs “Nathan for You” and “The Rehearsal,” Nathan Fielder is the king of awkward interactions with various people, and his interactions in this film are no different.
While living in Elizabeth Holmes' house, filming her and her husband, he's shown like an obsessive, seething voyeur, staring at his subjects through cracked doorways or around corners. Fielder has a talent for combining artificial settings with startlingly real emotions, and he does that in the latter half of this film, recreating scenes from his memory that were never filmed during this documentary's primary shooting. Some scenes are from real-life recollections, and some are from his imagination.
Once Elizabeth Holmes enters prison, the second half of this film focuses more on her husband Billy Evans, who uses Holmes' name and likeness to try stirring up business and renewed interest with investors. This half of the film moves even farther into strange and confusing territory.
What I assumed would be an expected portrait of a unique, mysterious person turns into an enigmatic exploration of human agency and authenticity. That unexpected turn is a big part why this film is so brilliant. All viewers will be reeling after watching this due to the multiple twists and revelations it gives.
I know this film is long, but I promise you it's worth it. Any expectations viewers might have will be smashed, but then they'll be rebuilt into something different. How many documentaries today can do that with such unflinching mental intensity?
This documentary accomplishes a lot. It has multiple interesting human subjects. It has a wacky style, and it questions the truth of all our daily sources of information. The idea of objective reality is presented here through an offbeat, skeptical lens.
How are we being manipulated by our societal leaders, our capitalists, and our loved ones? At first look, this film might want audiences to feel sorry for Elizabeth Holmes in her dire situation, but if you take a step back, like this film does very quietly near its end, you'll see. Its wider scope, crystallizing a collective feeling of distrust for all our traditional voices of authority, and this distrust is only getting bigger.
For Flicks at 48, I'm Casey T. Allen.
