Comedian Nathan Fielder is no stranger to creating thought-provoking entertainment and challenging audiences to question what’s real and what’s not, and his newest documentary is no exception.
Known for his unorthodox humor and uncomfortable style of entertainment, Fielder is bringing these elements to the true-crime world with this unexpected documentary release, You Can See Everything, co-directed with Lance Oppenheim. Oppenheim recently released a movie starring Robert Pattinson called Primetime, which follows another fascinating subject: Chris Hansen.
This documentary generated a lot of buzz with its surprise premiere at the Telluride Film Festival this September, and it explores the enigmatic and fascinating Elizabeth Holmes, founder and CEO of Theranos. Documentaries about Theranos’s downward spiral aren’t anything revolutionary, but You Can See Everything is shaping up to be one of the most discussed movies coming out this year, thanks to Fielder’s unconventional filming approach.
Documentary on Holmes
You Can See Everything follows Holmes at her home during the 34 days leading up to her scheduled 11-year-and-3-month prison sentence. Holmes was initially praised for her revolutionary blood technology and compared to other famous entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs, promising that her blood-testing company could provide machines to the public and that one drop of blood could perform accurate medical tests and diagnoses.
However, investigations revealed that Holmes misled investors about the accuracy and success rate of her technology, and it did not work as advertised, leading to her arrest and conviction for fraud.
The big question: What is this documentary about, and why is it different from anything else we have seen before? Rather than focusing on the company, Fielder took a different approach and decided to focus on Holmes as a person. His approach proved unusual. Fielder decided to live with Holmes for 34 days, inviting a film crew to document Holmes’s day-to-day life before she went to prison.
Fielder’s most recognizable and famous works include his comedy series, Nathan For You, and his HBO show, The Rehearsal. Both shows blur the line between comedy, performance, and real life. His filmmaking consists of placing people in controlled yet unusual situations where the audience tries to determine whether anything is genuine. It’s how Fielder uses unconventional filming and uncomfortable scenarios to create a new form of comedy.
Fielder’s Filming Approach
The approach Fielder uses with others, ironically, is one he experienced himself: he physically embedded himself in Holmes’s life and, more literally, in her household. This created an opportunity to explore Holmes’s intimate, personal details through one-on-one hangouts and conversations. Still, he also had to decide whether she was being genuine, putting himself in the position he puts others in his comedy series.
The documentary premiered this September, three years after it was originally filmed in 2023, and it was produced in complete secrecy. The Telluride Film Festival tradition includes one “sneak” or secret surprise screening of a film that nobody outside the audience knows about until they arrive. The reveal after the screening to the public that the secret film was Fielder’s documentary about Holmes sparked the conversation and generated a surge of publicity.
The documentary is scheduled for release in theaters on Oct. 16 and is distributed by A24. Ultimately, this film is an opportunity for current fans of Fielder’s previous work and viewers unfamiliar with Fielder to examine one of Silicon Valley’s most polarizing figures in a new and unexpected way.
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