Nathan Fielder’s Documentary electrifies NYFF with chaotic revelations

The documentary offers a whirlwind, unsparing portrait of Elizabeth Holmes, leaving viewers exhilarated and unsettled.

The film poses a central question: can one witness so much yet reveal so little? As Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim’s documentary You Can See Everything opened at the New York Film Festival, this tension was thrust into the spotlight.

After a limited run at Telluride, the Lincoln Center screening drew a crowd of roughly 1,100, with many more waiting outside. The audience’s enthusiastic reactions—screaming at each twist—felt more like a blockbuster sequel than a three‑hour investigative piece, yet the energy was undeniable.

After the screening, Fielder urged the Alice Tully crowd to preserve the sense of discovery they’d experienced, noting that even the directors never knew where the story would lead minute‑to‑minute.

For most of the first two hours, Fielder interrogates the convicted Theranos founder in her family home, posing direct questions while she insists she’s always told the truth—yet often seems to withhold crucial details. The final hour, however, takes a far more erratic turn, delivering surprise moments that keep the audience on edge.

Fielder admitted he spent months filming Holmes without certainty that a documentary would emerge (“I didn’t see a project in her because I thought the story was very well‑told”). A24 even gave him an escape clause should the material feel insufficient.

Holmes and her husband, Billy Evans, granted unprecedented access to multiple camera crews, becoming the film’s most compelling and inscrutable subjects. The couple’s openness allowed the directors to read their every nuance, even as new layers of mystery surfaced.

Everyone involved experienced moments of cognitive dissonance while editing. “I am still struggling to this day to understand what I went through,” Fielder said, echoing the bewilderment many viewers will feel.

Holmes was unfamiliar with Fielder’s prior work, making the collaboration oddly perfect. The director, known for deconstructing reality in projects like The Rehearsal and Primetime, found a subject who spent a decade manipulating public perception—essentially a real‑life counterpart to his artistic explorations.

Motivations for Holmes’s participation range from psychological drives to capitalist ambitions, but the most straightforward explanation seems to be her desire to clear her name.

What remains after the credits roll is a meditation on identity itself—who we are versus how we are perceived. Every attempt to pin down Holmes and Evans reveals new layers, and even the most revealing scene—like the off‑hand comment from Holmes’s father that unlocks the story—remains untethered, typical of Fielder’s style.

Following the screening, A24 set up a hallway booth handing out “I’ve Seen Everything” buttons. I accepted one, feeling the smooth surface as I left the theater into the New York night, the stark white letters on black metal echoing the film’s ambiguous closure.

I certainly had, even if I understood nothing.

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