Critics Can’t Believe What They’re Seeing in You Can See Everything

It’s hard to walk out of a film like You Can See Everything and know exactly, well, what exactly you’ve just seen. If there’s one thing that’s certain, however, it’s that Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim’s documentary about Elizabeth Holmes (and so much more) has entranced critics since its surprise Telluride debut. Opening in limited release on October 15, critics are more or less united in their awe, amusement, and sheer bafflement at what Fielder and Oppenheim were able to capture. In our critic Alison Willmore’s review, she writes that the film is about “the motivations and the ethics of documentary film, about what it means to label something nonfiction even when it’s edited and shaped and the camera can’t capture everything.” Just because they tell you what you’re looking at doesn’t mean you’ll see the same thing.

“Whether Holmes’s occasional blinks and tears in these chats are performative is open to question as are her grasp on language, truth, science and reality itself, all of which Fielder seizes on in a series of interactions that grow progressively weirder.” — Manohla Dargis, the New York Times

“Nothing Fielder discovers can top what’s already widely known, so his observations inevitably temper her public image. Fielder’s portrait of Holmes and his display of his methods turn his questioning to self-questioning, forcing him to assess, and even revise, basic assumptions about her and about life in general. The result is a movie of dazzling conundrums and vertiginous paradoxes, leading Fielder ever deeper into emotional and intellectual wilds. For all the unpleasantness of its backstory, its confrontations, its outcomes, and even, at times, Fielder’s own behavior, the film is more than fascinating and ingenious; it’s strangely, poetically, poignantly beautiful.” — Richard Brody, The New Yorker

“What I can tell you is that You Can See Everything is a masterpiece of who’s playing who, the fragility and absurdities of trust, seemingly begotten by chance. Oppenheim’s house style, shots tightly hugging then boring into a face with laser-like curiosity, perfectly suits the material; scenes that could be an unlikely tableau instead become a fascinating parade of inscrutable motivations, isolated actors bristling against the others.” — Adrian Horton, The Guardian

“At nearly three hours long, You Can See Everything won’t bore you for a minute. The hook is right there in the title, Fielder’s challenge to the audience: Here’s how Holmes held up to his scrutiny — do we think she’s telling the truth? But be alert. Fielder remains a trickster. One shot in particular proves you can see everything while being blind to what you’re actually watching.” — Amy Nicholson, the Los Angeles Times