You Can See Everything
I don’t think a great documentary has to go outside of the mold of that storytelling structure to be great. Sometimes, the story being told is so impactful that, even if it’s just presented in a straightforward nature, it can be great. But that makes moments where documentarians do break the mold so much more significant, and recognizable. Even five decades later, “Woodstock” took a conventional idea- a concert film- and turned it into a crystallization of a decade, and a time of change and transition in America. Errol Morris’s “The Thin Blue Line” literally changed the life of its subject through its probing interview process, and use of recreation. “Roger & Me” focused on the blue collar communities impacted by corporate choices when a car manufacturing plant is closed. “Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills” was granted so much access surrounding the trials of the West Memphis Three, and showed how much of the prosecution was built on the legacy of Satanic Panic, that it turned the trio into a cause celeb, and subsequent films followed the three to their eventual release almost two decades later. “Hoop Dreams” started off as a short documentary about playground basketball, but became an epic look at how two star high school athletes were recruited, and then tossed aside, when their college careers did not play out as expected.
“You Can See Everything” is a film that breaks the mold. It practically shatters it. Whatever reason Elizabeth Holmes- the founder of Theranos- and her partner, Billy Evans, had for inviting comedian Nathan Fielder and director Lance Oppenheim (“Primetime”) into their home weeks before Holmes began an 11-year prison sentence for defrauding investors, they probably did not anticipate the end results being this. Having Fielder as our interviewer is outside-the-box enough; what’s fascinating is how his awkward, almost introverted persona gets his subjects to reveal more than they likely didn’t expect to. Oppenheim and Fielder, who is also listed as Director, are building off of what makes the likes of Michael Moore, Morris, Werner Herzog, Joe Berlinger or Steve James great, and finding a riveting way to make it their own. This is not just one of the best films of its respective years, but of all-time.
It’s risky for documentary filmmakers to platform certain individuals, because the risk is we’re going to get a whitewashed version of them in the final product. What’s striking in “You Can See Everything” is that, at a key moment, someone asks Fielder if maybe he’s leaving something out to make Holmes appear more sympathetic than they really are. We can completely understand where the person is coming from, because at that point, a narrative has been built that makes us seriously reconsider the relationship between Holmes and Evans. But early on, Holmes tells Fielder the utterly preposterous idea that “she has never lied” (something that, honestly, only a liar would try to say). We’ve even seen her shown the famous “Who’s on First?” comedy sketch, and not get why it’s funny, even though she claims to find it funny. It’s when narcissists let their guard down that they truly reveal who they are.
Removing everything we know of the public life of Elizabeth Holmes and what she was convicted of, there’s an incisiveness to Oppenheim and Fielder’s film about the idea of a harmonious family that Holmes and Billy are trying to portray as she prepares to go to prison in Texas on May 30, 2023. We do get the feeling that they genuinely care about their kids, and doing what is best for them, but as the film unfolds, it’s more Holmes’s and Billy’s relationship dynamic we find ourselves digging into. Early on in the film, it is said that they offered Nathan a chance to stay in a guest room so he has constant access to them. The title is derived from one of the texts that Holmes sends him to consider the offer. A key moment early is when Elizabeth is whisking some eggs, but isn’t doing it as quickly as Billy would like. He takes them away from her for a bit before handing them back. Aggressive? Yes. Signs of a less-than-harmonious relationship? It will not be the last one. The filmmaker’s camera truly does see everything, whether the subjects want it to or not.
At this point, I want to stop because this is a movie that deserves to be seen as free of spoilers as possible. “You Can See Everything” is a masterclass in visual storytelling in the documentary form. The way the camera is placed, the way Ari Balouzian’s score is utilized to get to emotions, and the cutaways to Fielder looking at the action (including one where he has a bit of a Kubrick stare). There is not a missed opportunity in the film to engross us, or find something cringe-inducing in the story being told. Even when you might want to, you cannot look away from “You Can See Everything.”
