Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim’s look at the disgraced founder of Theranos, You Can See Everything, had Grace Wade on the edge of her seat – but is it more concerned with entertainment or truth-seeking? A still from _You Can See Everything_, showing Nathan Fielder (left) and Elizabeth Holmes I wasn’t sure what to expect when I sat down to watch _You Can See Everything,_ a documentary that follows the disgraced founder of Theranos, Elizabeth Holmes, in her final weeks before prison. At the very least, I thought I would gain insight into who Holmes is and why she defrauded investors of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Instead, I left the theatre disoriented, my mind whirring like one of her faulty blood-testing machines. I couldn’t trust any conclusion this film spit out. I suspect that was the point.
The film’s directors, Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim, have both made their career unsettling audiences, which explains the documentary’s ridiculous premise. Fielder, a comedian known for constructing elaborate scenarios involving real people, moves in with Holmes, her partner Billy Evans and their two children for the month preceding her surrender to federal prison. The result is about as absurd as you might imagine.
Holmes is facing more than a decade in prison for falsely claiming that Theranos’s machine could run hundreds of diagnostic tests with just a single drop of blood. Yet, she is adamant she is innocent. She tells Fielder she has nothing to hide, going so far as to claim she hasn’t told a lie since childhood, not even a white one.
But despite her promise that he can see everything, it becomes increasingly apparent that isn’t the case. The film ultimately focuses less on Holmes and more on using her as a vehicle to examine how we form our perceptions of others. It casts doubt about our ability to recall information objectively and accurately, especially when the boundary between the personal and professional blurs, be it romantic partners starting a business together or a documentary maker befriending their subject.
You can’t trust anyone on screen, not even Fielder, who seems more concerned with entertainment than truth-seeking. This is one reason why I’m hesitant to call _You Can See Everything_ a documentary. The others I won’t disclose due to spoilers.
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