A24When you really dig down into the center of it, the key question of You Can See Everything is this: Where does Nathan Fielder go from here? In this astonishingly layered, nearly three-hour documentary co-directed by Primetime and Some Kind of Heaven helmer Lance Oppenheim, Fielder so thoroughly deconstructs his approach to — can we even call it comedy at this point? — that it’s not clear whether he can continue doing what he’s been doing in the way he’s been doing it after making this movie. This isn’t a question of ethics, though. It’s deeper than that, as filming a documentary about former Theranos CEO (and current federal inmate) Elizabeth Holmes seems to have completely broken Fielder’s brain. On his shows Nathan for You and The Rehearsal, Fielder has been at least marginally in control of the absurd situations he’s put himself and his subjects into over the years. Here, Holmes proves to be the superior trickster, prompting Fielder’s subsequent slow-motion breakdown. She says she’ll answer any question, then returns those questions with another question. She can cry a single photogenic tear. She makes unblinking, direct eye contact with everyone, including the camera, and her shiny blue eyes are unnervingly hard to read. She says that she didn’t do anything wrong, and insists that the device that she claimed could perform any blood test with a simple finger prick did work. It’s just that the chemistry hasn’t caught up to it yet. Fielder’s attempt to parse this statement leads to a dizzying, circular conversation that leaves everyone more confused than when they started — everyone but Elizabeth Holmes.All the while, Holmes’ husband Billy Evans, the heir to a San Diego hotel chain, hangs around the edges of the conversation, rubbing Holmes’ shoulders and producing endless plates of sliced fruit. Billy and Liz (as she tells Fielder to call her) tell the crew that they “can see everything,” a statement that’s taken to an absurd extreme when Oppenheim and Fielder suddenly cut to a full-frontal shot of Evans naked in the shower. As a performance of intimacy, it’s startling and destabilizing — which might be exactly why Evans agreed to do it. Are they playing Fielder and Oppenheim, or are Fielder and Oppenheim playing them? You Can See Everything makes the viewer suspicious of every move its subjects make, while simultaneously making us question why we’re questioning these people at all. Oppenheim is behind the camera for most of the movie, and films his subjects in extreme close-up. Like the nude jump scare, it creates an artificially heightened feeling of intimacy; we can see every pore on these people’s noses, and all the fine lines around their eyes. Still, however, it’s hard to escape the feeling that there’s something else going on here.Is Holmes a con woman who’s exceptionally good at impersonating earnestness, or is she a truly misunderstood individual whose mind just works differently from other people’s? One illuminating scene highlights this aspect of Holmes’ personality, as Fielder shows Holmes and Evans a video of Abbott and Costello’s famous “Who’s On First?” routine. Fielder tells Holmes that it reminds him of the way that she talks. Holmes seems genuinely confused by the comparison, and asks Fielder to explain why the world play is funny. Elizabeth Holmes and Nathan Fielder in You Can See Everything. | A24It’s an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object, as when Fielder says that he’ll leave Holmes and Evans alone for a while in the last few hours before she’s supposed to report to federal prison. Holmes asks him why. Fielder says he thought that Holmes and Evans might want to have sex before they’re physically separated. (Filming on You Can See Everything began 34 days before Holmes’ sentence began on May 30, 2023.) Holmes flashes a quizzical smile. Fielder excuses himself and goes into another room to interview Holmes’ parents, feeling more uncomfortable than ever. After a while, the editing is the only thing keeping us tethered to reality, as Oppenheim, Fielder, and editor Adam Locke-Norton use the authoritative nature of video to reassure us that our memories haven’t totally failed us. The sophisticated way that the film’s structure loops around and calls back to itself is a key reason why, despite leaving viewers with more questions than they had at the start, You Can See Everything still ends on a satisfying note. The other is Fielder’s willingness to interrogate his own beliefs and methods as he attempts to solve the mystery of Elizabeth Holmes. Does he? Even he seems unsure. From A24, You Can See Everything opens in select theaters on October 16.