You Can See Everything ~ Review

By: [email protected] on
I walked out of Lance Oppenheim and Nathan Fielder’s You Can See Everything slightly dizzy and completely confused as to what I had just witnessed. The documentary is a hilarious, bizarre, Hitchcockian-esque thriller about lies, perception, and reality itself. One part character study and an episode of Fielder’s The Rehearsal. I’m still not quite sure what to make of the whole three-hour endeavor! Does it actually have something to say about the human condition or is it all one big practical joke? I don’t know, and it might take decades to sort it all out.
But let’s backtrack a bit. Explain the dramatis personae of this bizarre film. Elizabeth Holmes is an entrepreneur and founder of the company Theranos. Holmes’ big claim to fame is inventing a device that would be able to test for any type of illness from a drop of blood. The thing is, the device did not actually work, and Holmes was charged with fraud in 2018 and convicted of defrauding investors in 2022. Now, Nathan Fielder is a comedian and filmmaker who created the series Nathan for You and The Rehearsal. Nathan for You involves Fielder giving bizarre business advice to small business owners, while The Rehearsal involves Fielder helping ordinary people with difficult situations they are scared of.
In 2023, Nathan Fielder moved in with Holmes and her partner Billy Evans. The goal was to make a documentary following the family during the thirty-four days prior to Holmes going to federal prison for eleven years. Fielder was granted unprecedented access to the couple, witnessing them and their two children in a San Diego beach house they had rented. Basically, the film follows two master manipulators interacting with each other, creating a feedback loop of deception. Fielder asks Holmes about the court case, Theranos, and how she could be indicted for fraud. Holmes claims that she’s innocent and doesn’t understand how she could be heading to prison in the first place. Meanwhile, she and Billy are trying to start up Theranos 2.0. Nathan is perplexed by the couple, and intrigued by how Holmes seems to perceive the world. But is there more to it? Is Holmes playing him?
The film is shot in uncomfortable close-ups and, coupled with Fielder’s awkward character, creates an extremely nervous tension throughout the film. The movie keeps us guessing: does Holmes believe what she’s saying? And if she does, is she lying? On the other hand, is she trying to manipulate Fielder and the film to show her in the best light possible? You Can See Everything is maddening, becacuse every time it gives you a glimpse at what you think is the real Elizabeth Holmes, another piece of information drops, making you question everything. Or maybe Elizabeth is telling the truth and Billy is manipulating everything to his benefit? On the other hand, Nathan’s whole schtick is playing with reality! So, how can you actually believe anything you’re seeing in the first place? This “documentary” only brings up more questions than it answers, and that’s before the film starts providing re-enactments in its second half. Who’s lying? Who’s playing who? What even is reality anymore? There’s no one to trust when everyone involved is either: 1) couched in ten levels of irony, 2) actual liars and fraudsters, and 3) filmmakers who love to play with the nature of reality.
We live in an age surrounded by unreality. Politicians lie all the time, the internet is filled with A.I. generated videos, and a sophisticated propaganda machine pumps out stories 24/7 that keep us angry and believing lies. Oppenheim and Fielder have created, perhaps, the film of 2026 about how we can never trust our own reality. What does it all mean? I’m not sure, but You Can See Everything is extremely entertaining as it attempts to answer these questions. See it with a crowd.
Four Stars out of Four