Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim’s wild Elizabeth Holmes documentary, “You Can See Everything,” screened at the New York Film Festival Wednesday night after it received rave reviews and Oscar buzz from its surprise Telluride Film Festival premiere weeks ago.
Holmes and Evans invited Fielder and Oppenheim into their home 34 days before the Theranos founder’s 11-year prison sentence for fraud. Despite being convicted of defrauding Theranos investors, Holmes has maintained her innocence as she stepped out of the public eye. “You Can See Everything” marks the first time she’s spoken publicly at length in years, but the documentary makes you question if she’s ever telling the truth.
“When I met her, I remember having this weird experience where she seems so genuine at times. But then I’m like, ‘no,’ and clocking and tracking my thoughts and being like, ‘Okay, I know she’s a liar.’ It was a weird mental thing. From there, we were like, ‘Can we roll the dice on something if they were open to having cameras in?’” Fielder said.
Holmes and Evans agreed to let Fielder and Oppenheim film them, and A24 gave the small crew a chance to “pull the plug” on the doc if they couldn’t find a story to tell.
“It wasn’t until we started shooting that moments would happen — some of them are in the film — and then after Lance and I would talk about what we thought happened there,” Fielder said. “We’d completely disagree on what something meant to us and what we thought was happening. Then we were like, ‘Oh, this is really interesting. If we can’t agree on what’s happening, there’s something here.’ And our curiosity sort of just like drove us from there.”
The first teaser for “You Can See Everything” went viral as the camera focused on Holmes’ face and she told Fielder, “I don’t have anything to deceive you on. Of course I’m not deceiving you. I’m engaging with you as a human being. Why would I deceive you? There’s no reason for me to do that.” After that, the even-more-bizarre full trailer showed Fielder moving in to live with Holmes and Evans 24/7, sitting on the bed with them and Holmes crying during an interview.
“I cannot tell you how weird it was that we were there,” Fielder said as the audience laughed. “Truly, to this day, we’re still like — anyways, sorry. I wouldn’t think I’d be the person you would want for your final period. I’m a nice person, I do believe, but I’m not the most comforting. You know what I mean? I think you know.”
“She said, ‘First and foremost, we see this as a human story,’” Fielder recalled. “It’s so hard to understand where they may have been coming from, but maybe there was a sense that inviting someone who was like a friend of theirs, no one would take that seriously. I don’t know, it’s so hard to speculate.”
After the screening, Fielder and Oppenheim asked the audience to preserve the surprises and twists that “You Can See Everything” takes. Fans will have to wait until the film hits theaters on Oct. 16 to experience it for themselves.
