I don’t think Nathan Fielder’s three hour film, “You Can See Everything,” is a documentary. I don’t know how A24 has convinced people that it is, but I doubt the documentary branch of the Academy will go for it.
That said, it’s a remarkable piece of work, as if Woody Allen made a Hitchcock thriller using real life sociopaths — or dare I say one of them might be a psychopath. Call it mixed media. I think it has better luck as a Best Picture nominee, frankly.
Fielder is well known for his quirky HBO series that mix fact and fiction. He’s done something similar here, moving in with Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and her family in 2023, a month before going to prison. Her crime: bilking investors of millions for a device she said could test blood for dozens of ailments. The device never worked; it was all speculation.
At the time Fielder arrived, Holmes was living in San Diego at a beachfront home with her partner Billy Evans and their two small children. Despite her public humiliation and conviction, they are plotting a new Theranos type blood tester, truly believing anyone would give them any more money. Luckily, Evans seems to have money and no worries, maybe comes from a wealthy family and says he has his own — never defined — business.
Billy was not part of the Theranos Scandal. Holmes had another partner during that adventure, a 12 year relationship with a Pakistani businessman named Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani. He’s in prison now, too.
Holmes, who believes in her innocence, allows Fielder into her home to set the record straight. But “You Will See Everything” quickly becomes not about that at all. It’s about Fielder inserting himself into these lives, and his dim view of Evans, who turns out to be controlling and crazy, even more self-deluded and manipulative than Holmes.
What the film is not about: figuring out what the hell Theranos was all about. Did Holmes think it was real, or did she know it was a scam? Does Evans — who met her after the scandal was revealed — actually think it could have worked? Or is he just in on the hustle?
None of that matters. For a month, Fielder and his crew live in their house, and he develops a rapport with the couple. But for the first half of the so-called documentary (more like a mockumentary) Fielder becomes a character in their lives. So while he’s allegedly trying to get to the root of the Theranos story, he’s on camera a lot, and not holding back from cynical comments and eye rolling.
One section sheds a little light on the weirdness when Holmes’s parents come to visit. They clearly don’t like Evans. Her dad struggles to tell Fielder some family secrets. The mother, who never says a word, looks horrified and scared. But they’re the only normal people who’ve come into the house, and we’re depending on them for clarity.
And then, Holmes — who, like Evans, seems hollow behind glassy eyes — goes off to prison in Texas. Evans and the kids move there, too. Fielder and crew (including co-director Lance Oppenheim) are left to their own devices, including dealing with Evans. And Evans is becoming more evasive, controlling, suspect, and scary now that Holmes is gone.
To deal with Holmes’s absence from the film, Fielder comes up with a unique solution. He enlists actress Amanda Seyfried, who won awards for playing Holmes in a hit miniseries called “The Dropout.” Not only is he telling Seyfried about his monthlong stay, he’s also taking her to meet Evans. Seyfried is also helping Fielder do re-enactments, as Holmes, of various episodes. At this point, the movie is inside out and upside down.
Again, it no longer matters what happened with Theranos. That’s beside the point. “You Can See Everything” is about this pair of demented con artists, and how Fielder deals with them. He’s no day at the beach, either. He’s caustic and opinionated, and films them at their worst. He even flirts with Holmes. How he got Evans to allow a full frontal scene of showering remains a mystery, but it’s to show Billy at his most vain. (You will see everything.) Fielder’s constant, judging presence breaks the agreement of a documentary. Often I thought the movie was about him more than is subjects..
Fielder Involving Seyfried is a meta masterstroke. She’s playing herself, herself playing Holmes, the actress for watching clips of herself playing Holmes in the miniseries. Even though she’s already gotten awards for “The Dropout,” Seyfried is giving the performance of her life. Can an actor be nominated for acting awards from a documentary? I have no idea. This may be a first.
The second half of the film is like a take on “Vertigo” or “Rear Window.” We’re now worried Evans will keep Fielder from visiting Holmes in prison to confront her with certain revelations. When it happens, it has to re-enacted by a luminous Seyfried, who’s giving a different take than in her own movie. And then the jarring reveal is Evans himself, finally ripping off his mask to assert himself as the villain of Fielder’s story — completely apart from Theranos.
I went to a real AMC theater tonight and plunked down my 20 bucks since A24 has done little to make “You Can See Everything” available to critics. The room was 75% full. The audience was rapt. They laughed at the most insane moments, and clapped at the end. In the corridor outside the theater, there was much discussion of this roller coaster ride. “You Can See Everything” is going to be what they used to call a “watercooler” film. After a nap, I can’t wait to see it again.
A couple of last thoughts: Holmes reminded me of Anna Delvey, the con artist played so well on TV by Julia Garner. Like Delvey, she believes her con thoroughly, and sells it like a pro. She lied and stole. But Evans is a far worse human being. I can’t imagine what the people around him will think after they’ve seen the movie.
