You Can See Everything follows Elizabeth Holmes, Nathan Fielder and Billy Evans in a documentary that is less interested in revisiting the Theranos scandal than in examining performance, sincerity and the illusion of transparency. Co-directed by Fielder and Oppenheim, the film grew out of an unusual friendship and 34 days of filming with Holmes and Evans before Holmes was incarcerated.
At first glance, Fielder—who has described himself as a “Docuphantasist”—seemed as puzzling a choice to co-direct the film as Oppenheim. Fielder and Holmes met at some point, became friends and wanted to work on a project together. Holmes’s current partner, Billy Evans, was a Fielder fan, and You Can See Everything was born.
Who is playing whom?
Warning: Spoilers begin here.
Fielder and Oppenheim do not spend much time rehashing the Theranos collapse or Holmes’s subsequent trial and conviction. Those events have been covered extensively elsewhere, including in Gibney’s documentary, and they were not the filmmakers’ main interest. Instead, the film focuses more on atmosphere than on facts.
Holmes and Evans invited Fielder and the crew to stay with them for 34 days before Holmes was incarcerated, Fielder said. Because of the strangeness of their initial interactions, Fielder became a major on-camera presence in the film.
The first half is slow, with extensive footage of Fielder and Holmes looking at each other without blinking as they try to convince one another of their sincerity. Jimmy Fallon and Jamie Lee Curtis humorously faked a similar dynamic in the opening of The Tonight Show.
Another segment laboriously examines the relative meanings of “can” and “capable.” Elsewhere, the film considers whether Holmes understands the humor in the classic “Who’s on First?” sketch.
Fielder’s deadpan comedy is more effective elsewhere. Many of the first half’s laughs come from Holmes’s reactions, including her expression when Fielder makes a wide-eyed claim that he has never lied in his life. It is also inherently funny to see Fielder repeatedly appear at the edge of the frame like an awkward, shy stalker.
Much has been made of the scene in which Evans asks Fielder to film him working out at a gym. The sequence continues with Evans showering after his training, and the film casually shows him nude from the side and then from the front. It is not something audiences have not seen before, but the image is difficult to forget.
The scene nevertheless fits the film’s recurring theme of magic and illusion. On one level, viewers literally see everything. On another, Evans’s insistence—at times bordering on belligerence—on answering Fielder’s questions creates only the illusion of transparency.
Source: arstechnica.com
