By Luke Essig, Marketing Manager 

Nathan Fielder, Lance Oppenheim and A24 released their ambitious documentary “You Can See Everything” last Thursday, which follows Theranos CEO and fraudster, Elizabeth Holmes, in the 34 days leading up to her imprisonment.  

Holmes founded Theranos with her then-boyfriend Ramesh Balwani on the claim that they had a device that could perform every blood test with only a small vial of blood from a finger stick. At its peak, the company was valued at around $10 billion, but when it was discovered they did not actually have that technology, Holmes was convicted of wire fraud and conspiracy and sentenced to 11 years and three months in prison. 

Fielder, who is known for his awkward comedic style of reality television, lived with Holmes, her husband Billy Evans and their two infant children for Holmes’ last 34 days of freedom.  

The first half of the documentary follows the family as they grapple with her impending imprisonment while trying to revive Theranos. Fielder uncomfortably watches from the background.  

Fielder makes the environment even more uneasy when he shows Holmes and Evans “The Dropout,” a Hulu original show starring Amanda Seyfried as Holmes. Holmes retains that it is a gross misrepresentation of her and Theranos, and it is heavily dramatized. Fielder, Holmes and Evans watch it together in the couple’s bed.  

When Holmes goes to prison, they lose the right to film her, so, Fielder hires the only person who has won four awards for her portrayal of Holmes: Seyfried herself. Fielder goes into the prison to meet with Holmes, and writes a script for Seyfried to play Holmes in the documentary. 

Behind Holmes’ back, Evans makes a deal with A24 to receive a cut of the financial success of the documentary. Seyfried and Fielder then set out to find out the truth: was this really done behind Holmes’ back, or did she and Evans both manipulate the audience into making her look better. 

The film closes with a shot of Holmes, Evans and their children on the Bryan County prison yard with a very zoomed in camera, which is the only footage that shows Holmes in prison in the entire film.  

Stylistically, this documentary had everything. The cameras used were specialized to zoom up to the pore, and they were positioned in their house in order to feel as natural and comfortable as possible.  

Historically, a documentary has never been this visually appealing. Holmes’ huge blue eyes burst through the screen, and her chilling quotes about her deception are haunting. And while this documentary is extremely uncomfortable, Fielder’s classic awkward tension simultaneously lightened the mood and made the viewer second guess the authenticity of it.  

A lot of the people who worked on “Primetime” also worked on “You Can See Everything,” and you can definitely see the stylistic similarities. Oppenheim brought over a lot of cinematography and retained Ari Belouzian, who wrote the score for both films.  

While documentaries are usually clear-cut, this one raises plenty of questions for the audience about Holmes’ actual involvement in the Theranos scheme, Evans’ morality and commitment to Holmes as opposed to his drive for money and Fielder’s motive for actually making this documentary in the first place. 

“You Can See Everything” eclipses “The Odyssey,” “Primetime” and “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” as the best film of the year. It could be predicted that it will be the first documentary ever nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars, and with the rave reviews it has received after its opening weekend, I would not be surprised if it broke every barrier and won.